Florida Senate - 2013                                    SB 1168
       
       
       
       By Senator Dean
       
       
       
       
       5-01460-13                                            20131168__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to mobile home park lot tenancies;
    3         amending s. 723.059, F.S.; providing for a mobile home
    4         park owner to increase the lot rental of the purchaser
    5         of a mobile home on a leased lot in the mobile home
    6         park; providing limitations on the amount of rent
    7         increase; providing guidelines for determining the
    8         amount of the adjustment; requiring a disclosure
    9         statement to be executed before or at the time of
   10         purchase; limiting the amount of lot rental increase
   11         on a lot that was previously subject to a lifetime
   12         lease; providing a penalty; providing an effective
   13         date.
   14  
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 723.059, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   18  read:
   19         723.059 Rights of purchaser.—
   20         (1) The purchaser of a mobile home within a mobile home
   21  park may become a tenant of the park if such purchaser would
   22  otherwise qualify with the requirements of entry into the park
   23  under the park rules and regulations, subject to the approval of
   24  the park owner, but such approval may not be unreasonably
   25  withheld.
   26         (2) Properly adopted promulgated rules may provide for the
   27  screening of a any prospective purchaser to determine whether or
   28  not the such purchaser is qualified to become a tenant of the
   29  park.
   30         (3) The purchaser of a mobile home who becomes a resident
   31  of the mobile home park in accordance with this section has the
   32  right to assume the remainder of the term of a any rental
   33  agreement then in effect between the mobile home park owner and
   34  the seller and is shall be entitled to rely on the terms and
   35  conditions of the prospectus or offering circular as delivered
   36  to the initial recipient.
   37         (4) The section does not However, nothing herein shall be
   38  construed to prohibit a mobile home park owner from increasing
   39  the rental amount to be paid by the purchaser upon the
   40  expiration of the assumed rental agreement. However, the initial
   41  increase is limited to a one-time market rent adjustment based
   42  upon the September Consumer Price Index in the year of purchase.
   43  The adjustment may not take effect until January 1 of the next
   44  calendar year or the time of the next scheduled annual rent
   45  increase after January 1. However, if the purchase date follows
   46  the publication date of the Consumer Price Index for September,
   47  the rent increase may not take effect until the date of the next
   48  scheduled annual rent increase that provides at least 90 days
   49  notice of the rent increase in an amount deemed appropriate by
   50  the mobile home park owner, so long as such increase is
   51  disclosed to the purchaser prior to his or her occupancy and is
   52  imposed in a manner consistent with the initial offering
   53  circular or prospectus and this act.
   54         (5) At the time of purchase, the purchaser and the mobile
   55  home park owner must sign a disclosure statement affirming that
   56  the provisions required by this section and the terms of the
   57  market rent adjustment were explained to the purchaser before or
   58  at the time of the transaction. The mobile home park owner shall
   59  give the purchaser a signed copy, maintain a copy, and forward a
   60  copy to the department within 15 days after the sales
   61  transaction.
   62         (6)(5) Lifetime leases, both those existing and those
   63  entered into after July 1, 1986, are shall be nonassumable
   64  unless otherwise provided in the lot rental agreement or unless
   65  the transferee is the home owner’s spouse. The mobile home park
   66  owner may increase the rent due under such lease to an amount no
   67  greater than the lowest monthly rental in the mobile home park
   68  at the time of the sale. The renewal provisions in automatically
   69  renewable leases, both those existing and those entered into
   70  after July 1, 1986, are not assumable unless otherwise provided
   71  in the lease agreement.
   72         (7) The Department of Business and Professional Regulation
   73  shall impose a penalty of up to $5,000 on a mobile home park
   74  owner who fails to comply with the requirements of this section.
   75         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.