Relating to property law, including mobile homes and manufactured housing, rental agreements, landlord and tenant remedies for retaliation, wrongful failure to provide essential services, rent increases, the sale of manufactured home community or mobile home park, regulation by counties and cities of continuing nonconforming uses of manufactured, modular, and mobile homes, forcible entry and detainer actions, abandoned mobile homes, and including effective date and applicability provisions

In an action by or against the tenant, evidence of a complaint within one year prior to the alleged act of retaliation creates a presumption that the landlord’s conduct was in retaliation. DIVISION II —— RENTAL AGREEMENTS. The bill defines “rent” to include base rent, utilities, late fees, and other payments made by the tenant to the landlord under the rental agreement. Written notice to cancel a rental agreement by either party must be provided days prior to cancellation. The landlord must provide written notice days prior to a rent increase effective date. This division is effective upon enactment and applies to rent increase first noticed under Code chapter 562B (manufactured home communities or mobile home parks residential landlord and tenant law) occurring on or after the effective date of the division. DIVISION III —— DISCLOSURE OF UTILITY CHARGES. The bill provides that tenants shall be notified of any increase in utility rates or charges in writing days before the effective date of the increase, unless the landlord does not receive at least days’ prior notice of such increase from the utility provider. A landlord is authorized to meter a premises and to assess a utility charge to the tenant unless doing so would be contrary to applicable law, rule, or tariff. DIVISION IV —— WRONGFUL FAILURE TO PROVIDE ESSENTIAL SERVICES. The bill provides that if the landlord deliberately or negligently fails to supply running water or other essential services, the tenant may give written notice to the landlord specifying the breach and may do one of the following: (1) procure reasonable amounts of water or other essential services, (2) recover damages based upon the diminution in the fair market value of the mobile home space, or (3) recover any rent already paid for the period of the landlord’s noncompliance unless the condition was caused by the deliberate or negligent act or omission of the tenant, a member of the tenant’s family, or other person on the premises with the consent of the tenant. This division is effective upon enactment. DIVISION V —— DENIAL OF RENTAL OR REFUSAL OF SALE. Current law allows a landlord the right to approve the purchaser of a mobile home as a tenant when a current mobile home park resident sells the mobile home, so long as permission is not unreasonably withheld. The bill provides that if the landlord does not approve a purchaser as a tenant, the landlord shall provide the purchaser with written notice of such denial and the general reason for the denial. DIVISION VI —— PROHIBITED RENTAL AGREEMENT PROVISION —— HOME EQUIPMENT. The bill provides that a rental agreement shall not allow a landlord to modify the mobile home, manufactured home, or modular home in a way that would substantially impair the ability of the tenant to move the home from the mobile home space, unless such modification is required by federal law, by state or local law, the manufacturer’s installation instructions, any requirement arising from the landlord’s financing of the home or of the mobile home park or manufactured home community in which the home is located, or unless such modification is otherwise necessary for the safe and proper installation of the home. DIVISION VII —— LANDLORD SALES. The bill provides that any sale of a mobile home located in a manufactured home community or mobile home park by a landlord or landlord’s agent shall be by written agreement and the landlord shall, upon the buyer’s fulfillment of all payment and other terms under the agreement, produce and assign the current certificate of title obtained from the department of transportation. The agreement shall state the basic terms of sale. If a sale does not comply, the court may award monetary or equitable relief, including voiding the sale, and the buyer may recover damages incurred, amounts paid as a rental deposit in excess of two months’ rent, and reasonable attorney fees. DIVISION VIII —— SALE OF MANUFACTURED HOME COMMUNITY OR MOBILE HOME PARK. The bill provides that in a sale of a manufactured home community or mobile home park, upon termination of the landlord’s interest in the manufactured home community or mobile home park, the landlord’s successor in interest shall have the same legal obligations, rights, and remedies of the landlord, including with respect to all rental agreements. This division applies to manufactured home community or mobile home park sales made on or after the effective date of the bill. DIVISION IX —— MANUFACTURED AND MOBILE HOME TAX. Code chapter 435 imposes a square footage tax on mobile homes and manufactured homes placed in a mobile home park or manufactured home community. Division IX strikes the portions of Code chapter 435 imposing the square footage tax and provides instead that such homes are exempt from property tax. However, the bill does not modify the provisions of law governing the taxation of mobile homes and manufactured homes placed outside of manufactured home communities and mobile home parks, which are assessed and taxed in the same manner as other real property. Division IX also makes corresponding changes to several other provisions of law that relate to Code chapter 435. Division IX of the bill applies to taxes due and payable under Code chapter 435 in fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2022. Division IX of the bill does not affect the operation of, or prohibit the application of, prior provisions of Code chapter 435, or rules adopted to administer prior provisions of Code chapter 435, for taxes due and payable in fiscal years beginning before July 1, 2022, and for duties, powers, protests, appeals, proceedings, actions, or remedies attributable to taxes due and payable under Code chapter 435 in fiscal years beginning before July 1, 2022. DIVISION X —— FORCIBLE ENTRY AND DETAINER. The bill provides the setting of the initial hearing in a forcible entry and detainer action is not a jurisdictional requirement and does not affect the court’s subject matter jurisdiction to hear the action for forcible entry and detainer. In computing time for completion of service for a forcible detainer and entry action, the first day shall be excluded and the final day shall be included regardless of whether the fourth day is a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday. DIVISION XI —— ABANDONED MOBILE HOMES. The bill provides that in an action for abandonment, except when there is a lien on the property other than a tax lien, the court shall set a hearing no sooner than days of the date of receipt of the petition to allow service on the lienholder. The bill provides that if a lien other than a tax lien exists on the mobile home or personal property at the time an action for abandonment is initiated, the personal service shall be made upon the lienholder no less than days before the hearing. The notice to the lienholder shall describe the mobile home and shall state the docket, case number, date, and time at which the hearing is scheduled, and the lienholder’s right to assert a claim to the mobile home at the hearing. The notice shall state that failure to assert a claim to the mobile home within the judicial proceedings is deemed a waiver of all rights, title, claims, and interest in the mobile home and deemed to be consent to the sale or disposal of the mobile home. If personal service cannot be completed in time to give the lienholder the minimum notice, the court may set a new hearing date. The bill provides that in the event a tenant who was sole owner of a mobile home dies during the term of the rental agreement resulting in the mobile home being abandoned, then that person’s heirs or legal representative or the landlord shall have the right to cancel the tenant’s lease by giving days’ written notice to the person’s heirs or legal representative or to the landlord, whichever is appropriate, and the heirs or the legal representative shall have the same rights, privileges and liabilities of the original tenant. The bill provides that if a claimant that asserts a claim to the property, the judgment shall be satisfied before the claimant may take possession of the property except as otherwise ordered by the court. Unless the court otherwise provides, if a claimant satisfies the judgment at the time of entry, the court shall enter an order allowing the claimant to remove the property from its location, and the court shall direct the amount of rent or storage charged. The bill provides that in a proceeding for disposal of property, if a lienholder or other claimant asserts a claim to the property within a judicial proceeding, that person shall be notified of the sale by restricted certified mail not less than five days before the sale. A sale made after the notice is provided shall discharge any lien. The real property owner may propose to retain the mobile home and personal property in satisfaction of the judgment by written notice of the proposal sent to the mobile home owner, lienholder, or other claimant, if that person has asserted a claim to the mobile home or personal property in the judicial proceedings. If the real property owner receives objection in writing from the mobile home owner, lienholder, or other claimant within days after the notice was sent, the real property owner shall dispose of the mobile home and personal property. If no written objection is received by the real property owner, the mobile home and personal property may be retained. Retention of the mobile home and personal property discharges the judgment of the real property owner, any tax lien, and any other lien. Current law provides that any proceeds in a proceeding for the disposal of a mobile home and personal property shall be distributed in the following order: (1) to satisfy the real property owner’s judgment, (2) to satisfy any tax lien, and (3) into a surplus which is held by the real property owner for six months to be reclaimed by the mobile home owner, and if the mobile home owner fails to claim the surplus, the surplus may be retained by the real property owner. The bill provides that after using proceeds to satisfy a tax lien, the proceeds must be used to satisfy any other lien, and then any remaining amounts are the surplus. The bill provides that if a tenant who was sole owner of a mobile home dies during the term of a rental agreement, then that person’s heirs at law or the personal representative of the decedent’s estate, or the landlord shall have the right to cancel the tenant’s lease by giving days’ written notice to the person’s heirs at law or the personal representative of the decedent’s estate, or to the landlord, whichever is appropriate, and the heirs at law or the personal representative of the decedent’s estate shall have the same rights, privileges, and liabilities of the original tenant, provided that such heirs at law or personal representative of the estate shall not have the right to occupy or otherwise use the home or mobile home space as a tenant unless approved by the landlord as a tenant. In the event the landlord, after such a written notice is given and the tenant’s lease is canceled, brings an action for forcible entry and detainer or action for abandonment, the estate of the tenant and the person’s located heirs at law or personal representative shall be named as defendants in the action.27A or by mailing notice by both regular mail and certified mail to the defendant’s last known address. The bill provides that if a tenant who was sole owner of a mobile home dies during the term of a rental agreement resulting in the mobile home being abandoned and the landlord cannot locate such a tenant’s heirs at law or personal representative, then the landlord may bring an action for abandonment naming as defendants the estate of the tenant and all unknown heirs at law of the tenant, and, upon the landlord’s filing of an affidavit that personal service cannot be had on any heirs at law, personal representative, or estate of the tenant, the court shall permit original notice of such action to be served by publication once each week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county where the petition is filed. Service is complete after the third consecutive weekly publication. The bill provides in the event any tax lien or other liens exist on the mobile home, the landlord may proceed with an action for abandonment with notice provided to the county treasurer if a tax lien exists, and personal service upon any lienholder no less than days before the hearing. Any notice to a lienholder shall state that failure to assert a claim to the mobile home is deemed a waiver of all rights, title, claims, and interest in the mobile home and is deemed consent to the sale or disposal of the mobile home. If personal service upon the lienholder cannot be completed in time to give the lienholder the minimum notice required by the bill, the court may set a new hearing date.