More Arguments Against Rent Stablization

Park Owner Argument – Rent control is bad for residents because it creates conflict in the form of rent hearings.

Homeowner Response – It is high rents, and not hearings, which cause conflict. Rent hearings offer a way for both sides to argue and resolve their differences in a dignified manner. A rent ordinance does not start battles. It ends them, and can restore control to an out-of-control situation.

Park Owner Argument – Rent control is bad for the city because it causes litigation.

Homeowner Response – Park owners have challenged rent ordinances in court on a variety of legal theories.  But they have consistently lost in the courts.  Much of the cost borne by some jurisdictions to defeat these constitutional challenges need not be repeated.  Those brave cities have already won those battles!  The legality of rent control and vacancy control is now clear.  It will be a sad day when the mere threat of lawsuits prevents the enactment of protections for needy and vulnerable citizens.

Park Owner Argument – Rent control is too expensive to administer and defend, and will result in local tax increases to pay for it.

Homeowner Response – Any argument which "hits the listener in the wallet" is always going to sound appealing. But this argument can be defeated by looking at the facts.  Certainly rent control is not free. Wherever a government acts in the public interest the protections may have a price tag attached. This question has been faced by over 100 jurisdictions, who felt that the health and safety of their citizens was more important than the cost to administer the ordinance. And since both park owners and residents typically share an annual administration fee, rent control can be cost effective. Park owners should be asked to cite any tax increase which has ever been caused as a result of a rent ordinance. In fact, city or county residents who do not live in a mobilehome park will not be directly affected by the passage of an ordinance.

Source: The GSMOL Mobilehome Rent Stabilization Ordinance Handbook, Second Edition: Guidelines for Drafting and Enacting a Mobilehome Rent Stabilization Ordinance.

Prepared by: Bruce Stanton, Esq., Corporate Counsel

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