(On Behalf of the Division of Manufactured Housing of the Department of Business and Industry)
February 6, 1997
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Referred to Committee on Commerce
SUMMARY--Makes various changes regarding trust fund for low-income owners of mobile homes. (BDR 10-419)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to mobile homes; requiring a landlord of a mobile home park to notify the manufactured housing division of the department of business and industry of a rent increase that affects a tenant who receives assistance from the trust fund for low-income owners of mobile homes; requiring a tenant to be the registered owner of a mobile home to be eligible for assistance from the trust fund; expanding eligibility for assistance from the trust fund to include persons who are registered owners of travel trailers that are located on mobile home lots in mobile home parks; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
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Section 1 NRS 118B.150 is hereby amended to read as follows:
118B.150 The landlord or his agent or employee shall not:
1. Increase rent or additional charges unless:
(a) The rental increase is the same for mobile homes of the same size or lots of the same size or of a similar location or classification within the park, except that a discount may be selectively given to persons who are handicapped or who are 62 years of age or older, and any increase in additional charges for special services is the same amount for each tenant using the special service; and
(b) Written notice advising a tenant of the increase is received by the tenant 90 days [in advance of] before the first payment to be increased and written notice of the increase is given to prospective tenants before commencement of their tenancy. In addition to the notice provided to a tenant pursuant to this paragraph, if the landlord or his agent or employee knows or reasonably should know that the tenant receives assistance from the trust fund created pursuant to NRS 118B.215, the landlord or his agent or employee shall provide to the administrator written notice of the increase 90 days before the first payment to be increased.
2. Require a tenant to pay for an improvement to the common area of a mobile home park unless the landlord is required to make the improvement pursuant to an ordinance of a local government.
3. Require a tenant to pay for a capital improvement to the mobile home park unless the tenant has notice of the requirement at the time he enters into the rental agreement. A tenant may not be required to pay for a capital improvement after the tenant enters into the rental agreement unless the tenant consents to it in writing or is given 60 days' notice of the requirement in writing. The landlord may not establish such a requirement unless a meeting of the tenants is held to discuss the proposal and the landlord provides each tenant with notice of the proposal and the date, time and place of the meeting not less than 60 days before the meeting. The notice must include a copy of the proposal. A notice in a periodic publication of the park does not constitute notice for the purposes of this subsection.
4. Require a tenant to pay his rent by check or money order.
5. Require a tenant who pays his rent in cash to apply any change to which he is entitled to the next periodic payment that is due. The landlord or his agent or employee shall have an adequate amount of money available to provide change to such a tenant.
6. Prohibit or require fees or deposits for any meetings held in the park's community or recreational facility by the tenants or occupants of any mobile home or recreational vehicle in the park to discuss the park's affairs, or any political or social meeting sponsored by a tenant, if the meetings are held at reasonable hours and when the facility is not otherwise in use, or prohibit the distribution of notices of those meetings.
7. Interrupt, with the intent to terminate occupancy, any utility service furnished the tenant except for nonpayment of utility charges when due. Any landlord who violates this subsection is liable to the tenant for actual damages.
8. Prohibit a tenant from having guests, but he may require the tenant to register the guest within 48 hours after his arrival, Sundays and holidays excluded, and if the park is a secured park, a guest may be required to register upon entering and leaving.
9. Charge a fee for a guest who does not stay with the tenant for more than a total of 60 days in a calendar year. The tenant of a mobile home lot who is living alone may allow one other person to live in his home without paying any additional charge or fee. No agreement between a tenant and his guest alters or varies the terms of the rental contract between the tenant and the landlord and the guest is subject to the rules and regulations of the landlord.
10. Prohibit a tenant from erecting a fence along the perimeter of the tenant's lot if the fence complies with any standards for fences established by the landlord, including limitations established for the height of fences, the materials used for fences and the manner in which fences are to be constructed.
11. Prohibit any tenant from soliciting membership in any association which is formed by the tenants who live in the park. As used in this subsection, "solicit" means to make an oral or written request for membership or the payment of dues or to distribute, circulate or post a notice for payment of those dues.
12. Prohibit a public officer or candidate for public office from walking through the park to talk with the tenants.
Sec. 2. NRS 118B.215 is hereby amended to read as follows:
118B.215 1. There is hereby created in the state treasury the trust fund for low-income owners of mobile homes, to be administered by the division. All money received for the use of the trust fund pursuant to NRS 118B.213 or from any other source must be deposited in the trust fund.
2. The interest and income earned on the money in the trust fund, after deducting any applicable charges, must be credited to the trust fund. All claims against the trust fund must be paid as other claims against the state are paid.
3. The money in the trust fund may be used only to pay necessary administrative costs and to assist eligible persons by supplementing their monthly rent for the mobile home lot on which their mobile home is located. To be eligible for assistance from the trust fund a person must:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, have been a tenant in the same mobile home park in this state for at least 1 year immediately preceding his application for assistance;
(b) [Own] Be the registered owner of the mobile home which is subject to the tenancy [;] , as indicated on the certificate of ownership that is issued by the division pursuant to NRS 489.541;
(c) Have a monthly household income which is at or below:
(1) The federally designated level signifying poverty or $750, whichever is greater, if the person is the sole occupant of the mobile home; or
(2) The federally designated level signifying poverty or $1,125, whichever is greater, if the person is not the sole occupant of the mobile home;
(d) Be a tenant in a mobile home park and maintain continuous tenancy in that park during the duration of the supplemental assistance; and
(e) Not have assets whose value is more than $10,000, excluding the value of the mobile home which is subject to the tenancy, the contents of that mobile home and one motor vehicle.
A person who has been a tenant of a mobile home park in this state for at least 1 year, but has not been a tenant of the mobile home park in which he resides at the time he applies for assistance for at least 1 year, is eligible for assistance from the trust fund if he moved to the mobile home park in which he resides at the time of his application because he was unable to pay the rent at the mobile home park from which he moved or because that park was closed.
4. The administrator shall adopt regulations establishing:
(a) The annual reporting requirements for persons receiving assistance pursuant to this section. The regulations must require that each such person provide the division with a written acknowledgment of his continued eligibility for assistance.
(b) The maximum amount of assistance which may be distributed to a person to supplement his monthly rent pursuant to this section.
5. As used in this section [, "monthly] :
(a) "Mobile home" includes a travel trailer that is located on a mobile home lot within a mobile home park.
(b) "Monthly household income" means the combined monthly incomes of the occupants of a mobile home which is subject to the tenancy for which assistance from the trust fund is requested.
(c) "Travel trailer" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 489.150.
Sec. 3. This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.