If you own a mobile home and rent the space it sits on in a California park, your rights come primarily from the Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL), codified at Civil Code Section 798. Mobile home park tenant rights in California go well beyond ordinary landlord-tenant law: the park cannot evict you without one of seven specific legal grounds, cannot raise rent without 90 days’ notice, cannot block you from selling your home in place, and cannot close the park without long notice periods and, in some cases, paying you the in-place value of your home.
The MRL is automatically part of every park rental agreement, and a copy must be attached as an exhibit. Its terms apply whether or not your written lease repeats them, which means a park cannot enforce contract language that contradicts the law, and you can assert MRL rights even when your lease is silent.1California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code CIV 798.15
Rent Increases and What the Park Can Charge
Park management must give at least 90 days’ written notice before any rent increase takes effect.2California State Senate. Appendix MRL FAQs – Mobilehome Residency Law California has no statewide rent cap on mobile home parks, but many cities and counties have local ordinances that limit how much and how often space rent can rise. One important trap: leases longer than 12 months are exempt from local rent control. If a park offers you a long-term lease, you have 30 days to reject it and keep a 12-month or month-to-month agreement instead.3California Legislative Information. California Code Civil Code 798.17 – Rental Agreement
Beyond rent and utilities, the MRL tightly limits what the park can bill you for. Management cannot charge you for a service that isn’t in your rental agreement unless it gives at least 60 days’ written notice before starting the charge.4California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.32 – Fees for Services Guests who stay no more than 20 consecutive days, or 30 total days in a calendar year, cannot be charged for and are not required to register with management.5California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.34 – Guests and Companions Parks also cannot charge entry, installation, or utility-hookup fees as a condition of moving in, aside from a narrow exception for fees a local government has imposed on the specific site.6Justia. California Civil Code 798.37 – Entry, Installation, and Hookup Fees
One legitimate pass-through is the $10 annual per-lot fee for the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program. The state collects it from park management, and management can pass it to you within 90 days. It must appear as a separate line item on your bill and cannot be rolled into rent.7California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code HSC 18804
Eviction: The Seven Grounds
This is where mobile home park residency departs most sharply from ordinary California tenancy. A park cannot end your tenancy without establishing one of seven specific grounds under Civil Code Section 798.56. It cannot decline to renew your lease. It cannot issue a no-fault notice. The seven grounds are:
- Failure to comply with a local ordinance or state law affecting mobile homes, after notice from the relevant government agency.
- Conduct on the park premises that substantially annoys other residents.
- Conviction for certain serious offenses committed on park premises, including assault, arson, or felony drug offenses. The tenancy cannot be ended on this ground if the convicted person permanently vacates the home.
- Failure to follow a reasonable park rule that is part of the rental agreement.
- Nonpayment of rent, utilities, or reasonable service charges.
- Condemnation of the park by a government authority.
- Change of use of the park land (see below).
For most of these grounds, the park must give at least 60 days’ written notice before the tenancy ends.8California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.56 – Termination of Tenancy
How Nonpayment of Rent Actually Works
Nonpayment has its own clock and is more forgiving than most tenants expect. The park cannot act until rent has been unpaid for at least five days after the due date (the due date itself is not counted). Only then can management serve a three-day written notice to pay or vacate. Pay within those three days and the matter is closed.9California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.56
Repeated late payments raise the stakes. Once you have received three or more three-day pay-or-quit notices within a 12-month period, management no longer has to give you a cure opportunity on the next occurrence. It can go straight to a 60-day termination notice.9California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.56 If you do not leave after a termination notice expires, the park still cannot lock you out or shut off utilities. The only legal path is an unlawful detainer lawsuit in court.
Selling Your Home in Place
You have the right to sell your mobile home while it stays on the space, and the park cannot force you to use any particular agent or service.10California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.70 Management also cannot list or show your home without your written authorization. You or your agent must notify management before the sale closes.
Management can require prior approval of the buyer, but only on three grounds: the buyer’s prior tenancy history suggests they won’t follow park rules, the buyer lacks the financial ability to pay rent and park charges, or the buyer committed fraud in the application. Within 15 days of receiving your notice of intent to sell, management must give the buyer its approval standards, including any minimum credit score, and a list of required documentation. Once management has a complete application, it has 15 business days to accept or reject in writing, and any rejection must state the specific reason.11California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.74
A buyer rejected on financial grounds gets a second chance to submit additional documentation, such as savings, certificates of deposit, or other assets showing ability to pay. Management cannot charge the buyer a fee as a condition of approving residency, and any prospective buyer can request a copy of the park rules and the MRL before deciding to go through with the purchase.12California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.74.5
Repairs and Management Access
The rental agreement must state that management maintains the park’s common facilities and physical improvements in good working order. Health and safety problems must be repaired as soon as possible; other repairs must be handled within 30 days unless unusual circumstances justify longer.13California Legislative Information. California Civil Code Article 2 – Rental Agreement
Management has no right to enter your home or an enclosed accessory structure without your prior written consent, and you can revoke that consent at any time. The two exceptions are emergencies and abandoned homes. Management can enter the land around your home to maintain utilities, trees, and driveways, and to enforce park rules if you neglect the space, but the entry must be at a reasonable time and cannot interfere with your quiet enjoyment of the property.
Park Rules the Park Can and Cannot Impose
Parks can adopt and enforce reasonable rules on landscaping, pets, parking, noise, and modifications to your home. Rules must be part of the rental agreement or a written amendment, and changes require written notice. What management cannot do is use its rule-making authority to steer your money to a chosen vendor. You cannot be required to buy, rent, or lease landscaping, remodeling, or maintenance services from any particular company.14Justia. California Civil Code 798.37
If the Park Closes or Converts to Another Use
Park closure is one of the biggest risks a mobile home owner faces, because you own a home but not the land beneath it. The MRL and companion provisions in the Government Code set out layered notice requirements and a required impact study.
If the new use requires local government permits, management must give you at least 60 days’ written notice before appearing before the local board to request them. After permits are approved, you get at least six more months of written notice before your tenancy actually ends. If no local permits are needed, the notice period is longer: at least 12 months before the change of use takes effect.9California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.56
Before conversion or closure can be approved, the park owner must file an impact report that includes a replacement and relocation plan for displaced residents. If you cannot find adequate housing in another mobile home park, the owner must pay you the in-place market value of your home, set by a state-certified appraiser at the owner’s expense. That appraisal is based on the home’s value where it sits, assuming the park continues to operate.15California Legislative Information. California Government Code GOV 65863.7
Notice Before the Park Is Sold
Under Civil Code Section 798.80, an owner selling the park must give the residents’ organization at least 30 days’ written notice before listing the park for sale or making an offer to sell. This is not a right of first refusal, and the owner has no obligation to sell to residents. It is a window to explore a resident-led purchase before the park hits the open market.16California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 798.80
The notice is not automatic. To trigger it, the residents’ organization must have given the park owner written notice that residents are interested in purchasing, provided the names and addresses of its officers, and renewed that notice each year. Without those steps, the owner owes no notice to anyone before selling.
Filing a Complaint
If you believe the park is violating the MRL or health and safety standards, you can file a complaint with the California Department of Housing and Community Development through its Mobilehome Assistance Center. HCD reviews each complaint for jurisdiction and, where appropriate, refers it for investigation and enforcement. For disputes outside HCD’s authority, such as rent disagreements or lease interpretation, you may need to use mediation or civil court. The Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program, funded by the $10 per-lot annual fee, was created to provide resources for exactly these disputes.