Hello,
My husband and I find ourselves in a situation where the park management is choosing to ignore the property line markers that were installed when the park was established. Unfortunately, this was 40+ years ago and the management is saying that they have "moved" them over the years. What does anyone know about this subject. ANY input would be greatly appreciated.
Property Line Markers
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Jon
Re: Property Line Markers
Sue:
The specific answer to your inquiry depends upon where your park is located and the initial municipal requirements when the park was constructed.
For example, in this area a park needs an operating permit but is not required to show "dividing" lines between individual manufactured home sites on the park property. Only the overall park property lines must be respected. State law and fire codes generally require the manufactured homes to maintain a separation that is no less than ten feet.
The fundamental reason for this is the overwhelming majority of parks are land-lease facilities. This means the sites are rented or leased, not owned. Accordingly, there cannot be property lines that separate the sites within a park (except in the case of condominium-style site ownership) because those sites all rest on the same single real estate parcel, which is the park property.
Still, resident questions about areas of responsibility frequently arise. A professional management team would definitively address them to minimize neighborhood disputes, though this appears not to be the case in your situation. So refer to your site lease. In some cases the leases do make an attempt to "mark" the site boundaries. If not, it should at elast state the size of the size of your site (often in square feet) and if it does you may be able to "force" the issue by insisting that management show you the area for which you pay rent. Their failure to do this may--may!--be a lease violation by the park (check this out with your attorney). Hopefully you won't need to take this matter to that point.
Good luck.
The specific answer to your inquiry depends upon where your park is located and the initial municipal requirements when the park was constructed.
For example, in this area a park needs an operating permit but is not required to show "dividing" lines between individual manufactured home sites on the park property. Only the overall park property lines must be respected. State law and fire codes generally require the manufactured homes to maintain a separation that is no less than ten feet.
The fundamental reason for this is the overwhelming majority of parks are land-lease facilities. This means the sites are rented or leased, not owned. Accordingly, there cannot be property lines that separate the sites within a park (except in the case of condominium-style site ownership) because those sites all rest on the same single real estate parcel, which is the park property.
Still, resident questions about areas of responsibility frequently arise. A professional management team would definitively address them to minimize neighborhood disputes, though this appears not to be the case in your situation. So refer to your site lease. In some cases the leases do make an attempt to "mark" the site boundaries. If not, it should at elast state the size of the size of your site (often in square feet) and if it does you may be able to "force" the issue by insisting that management show you the area for which you pay rent. Their failure to do this may--may!--be a lease violation by the park (check this out with your attorney). Hopefully you won't need to take this matter to that point.
Good luck.
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Sue
Re: Property Line Markers
Dear Jon,
Thank you, thank you for your input. We do have the Park's site plan that shows the lots to all be the same width when the park was created. We obtained this from the City Building Department. It appears that because of the change in the size of homes (increased) over the years, lot sizes have "changed" to accommodate the larger homes when an old home was removed. Permits were not pulled for installation of these new homes. Our lease does not have dimensions listed, however. What we do know is this: what was represented to us as the boundaries of our space, where previous surrounding homes were placed in respect to the Fire and Safety laws of our state, and that each lot to either side of us was increased by 3+ feet (decreasing our lot by 6+ feet) to comply with the 3 foot setback from the "lot line" as required by law. As you have probably figured out, we have one of the original installations from the 1960's. We all pay the same space lease. What could be the explanation for the change in the size of the space?
Do you have any additional information for us? Your time is truly appreciated.
Thank you, thank you for your input. We do have the Park's site plan that shows the lots to all be the same width when the park was created. We obtained this from the City Building Department. It appears that because of the change in the size of homes (increased) over the years, lot sizes have "changed" to accommodate the larger homes when an old home was removed. Permits were not pulled for installation of these new homes. Our lease does not have dimensions listed, however. What we do know is this: what was represented to us as the boundaries of our space, where previous surrounding homes were placed in respect to the Fire and Safety laws of our state, and that each lot to either side of us was increased by 3+ feet (decreasing our lot by 6+ feet) to comply with the 3 foot setback from the "lot line" as required by law. As you have probably figured out, we have one of the original installations from the 1960's. We all pay the same space lease. What could be the explanation for the change in the size of the space?
Do you have any additional information for us? Your time is truly appreciated.
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Jon
Re: Property Line Markers
Sue:
Unless these things are commited to paper, time has a funny way of distorting the rationale for various actions.
You asked why a site size might change. You mentioned one of the more common causes ... to accommodate larger homes sizes. But there likely are numerous reasons that occur through the years. We've listed some of the ones we've seen.
(1) Infrastructure repairs to the park that cause the "temporary" shift in site dimensions. When the repair takes a long time, folks just seem to get used to the new configuration and the "temporary" change remains. As someone once said "There is nothing as permanent as that which is temporary."
(2) To allow for the placement of a structure, such as a deck, carport, over-sized shed, etc.
(3) To allow a garden or other yard use, like the installation of a swimming pool.
(4) To preserve an old tree or other landscape feature.
Of interest, though, is the fact that your lease fails to describe the land you rent. If actual dimensions are not given it should at least state the square footage you may occupy. If not, the lease must state the site number. Perhaps you should ask your manager to show you the "rough" physical limitations of your site so you have some idea what you are renting.
Hope this helps.
Unless these things are commited to paper, time has a funny way of distorting the rationale for various actions.
You asked why a site size might change. You mentioned one of the more common causes ... to accommodate larger homes sizes. But there likely are numerous reasons that occur through the years. We've listed some of the ones we've seen.
(1) Infrastructure repairs to the park that cause the "temporary" shift in site dimensions. When the repair takes a long time, folks just seem to get used to the new configuration and the "temporary" change remains. As someone once said "There is nothing as permanent as that which is temporary."
(2) To allow for the placement of a structure, such as a deck, carport, over-sized shed, etc.
(3) To allow a garden or other yard use, like the installation of a swimming pool.
(4) To preserve an old tree or other landscape feature.
Of interest, though, is the fact that your lease fails to describe the land you rent. If actual dimensions are not given it should at least state the square footage you may occupy. If not, the lease must state the site number. Perhaps you should ask your manager to show you the "rough" physical limitations of your site so you have some idea what you are renting.
Hope this helps.
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