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Home My WebLink About1997-04-22 - AGENDA REPORTS - HOME PARK RENT (2)NEW BUSINESS DATE: SUBJECT: DEPARTMENT: BACKGROUND 9 1 } 1 ' 11 MA City Manager ApprovIyv.:ez Item to be presented Jeff Lambert April 22, 1997 AMENDMENTS TO THE MANUFACTURED HOME PARK RENT STABILIZATION ORDINANCE ORDINANCE NO. 97-8 Community Development At its meeting of April 8, 1997, the City Council considered an ordinance establishing requirements for the relocation impact of manufactured home parks. As part of the agenda material for that item it was mentioned that related subjects would be addressed by amending the rent stabilization ordinance. The main subject of the attached ordinance addresses vacancy control. A citizen committee has been working with City staff on various mobilehome related issues over the past two years. The committee concurred and recommended a provision that staff is amenable to. This would provide that a ten (10%) percent maximum rent increase be allowed when a mobilehome owner sells a mobilehome, moves out of the park, and a new owner buys the mobilehome and moves in. An appeal procedure is also provided to address the potential that a ten percent increase may prove to be an unreasonable hardship on the park owner: Agreement on this point has avoided the need for a lengthy vacancy control ordinance. Minor clarifications are also recommended. One deals with defining the annual increase as meaning once every 365 days, not twice within two calendar years, and removing some former language which now clearly gives the City Clerk the authority to set hearing dates for appeals received for annual rent increases. Receive public testimony; introduce Ordinance No. 97-8, waive further reading and pass to second reading. y ATTACHMENTS to N� Ordinance No. 97-8 I`A �LI�j ll 7;;, ' 0^ sAcd\wuneMarord968.mar fpw\ E Agenda lteem ORDINANCE NO. 97-8 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA CLARITA, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING CHAPTER 6.02 OF THE SANTA CLARITA MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO MANUFACTURED HOME PARK RENT ADJUSTMENT PROCEDURES AND VACANCY CONTROL WHEREAS, the City of Santa Clarita has found it necessary to provide a method by which manufactured home park rent increases may be reasonably managed; WHEREAS, the purchase of manufactured homes involves a substantial investment, and the relocation of manufactured homes is expensive and difficult, manufactured home owners are placed in a unique position, unlike apartment tenants or residents of other rental units who do not make such an investment; when forced to relocate; WHEREAS, the City of Santa Clarita finds it necessary to protect this investment by ensuring that upon transfer of ownership of a manufactured home that exorbitant increases in rent do not occur on the spaces on which such manufactured homes are located. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA CLARITA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 6.02.090, subsection B shall be amended to read as follows: "B. Notice. Prior to the annual rent adjustment, which adjustment shall occur no more than once every 365 days, the park owner shall provide the resident with a Notice of.Proposed Rent Adjustment at least 90 days prior to the effective date of such adjustment and issue such notice no later than October first, to be effective either on January first or on the Resident's anniversary date following January 1st. The park owner shall post a'summary of this Chapter approved_ by the Panel on the park bulletin board by the date on which the first Notice of Rent Adjustment is sent. The City Clerk shall subsequently set the date of the hearing for all appeals received. A Notice of Rent Adjustment shall set forth all of the following information:" [Subsections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Section B shall remain unchanged.] Section 2. Section 6.02.090, subsection D shall be amended to read as follows: IAX2:177795.2 "D. Effective Date of Adjustment. The rent increase specified in the Notice of Rent Adjustment shall become effective on the date specified in said Notice or on the ninety-first (91) day after the notice was served on the Resident, whichever is later, unless an appeal petition signed by residents of at least fifty percent (50%).of the spaces regulated by this Chapter and affected by the proposed rent increase, plus one additional regulated and affected space, requests a hearing on the proposed rent increase before the Panel. A request for a hearing must be filed with the City Clerk within forty-five (45) days of service of the Notice of Rent Adjustment. The City Clerk shall notify .the Park Owner or other person designated on the Park's registration and the affected Residents of the time, date, and place of the hearing. Such notice shall be mailed, fust -class postage prepaid, at least fifteen (15) calendar days prior to the scheduled hearing date." Section 3. Subsections E and F shall be added to Section 6.02.090 to read as follows: "E. Notwithstanding the above, if a mobilehome is voluntarily vacated by all tenants as a result of a sale of the mobilehome, and the mobilehome is not removed from the site, then the maximum rent or maximum adjusted rent may be increased by an amount not to exceed ten percent (10%). As long as the mobilehome continues to be owned by one or more of the same persons, no other rent increase shall be imposed pursuant to this section. The rent may only be increased pursuant to this Subsection E once in any twelve consecutive month period. F. A manufactured home owner may provide notice to a Park Owner of the home owner's intent to sell the manufactured home. If such notice is provided, the park owner may file an appeal of the ten percent (10%) rent increase limitation set forth in Section 6.02.090, Subsection E, above. If such a notice is provided by the manufactured home owner, then the Park Owner may file a rent increase adjustment request for hearing with the City Clerk and serve a copy of such notice upon the manufactured home owner, within thirty (30) days of such notice. If no such notice is provided by the manufactured home owner, then the Park Owner shall be entitled to file a rent increase adjustment request for hearing with the City Clerk within thirty (30) days of the sale of a manufactured home. Such requests shall be made on the basis that the increase is necessary to achieve a fair and reasonable return. The standards of reasonableness shall be those set forth in Section 6.02.120, subsection B and the request shall be processed and decided by the Panel in the same manner as prescribed in this Chapter 6.02 for annual rent adjustments." SECTION 4. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage of this ordinance and shall cause the same to be published as required by law. w2a7n95.2 -2- PASSED AND APPROVED this _ day of , 19_ MAYOR ATTEST: CITY CLERK STATE OF CALIFORNIA . ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) CITY OF SANTA CLARITA ) I, Sharon Dawson, City Clerk of the City of Santa Clarita, do hereby certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. was regularly introduced and placed upon its first reading at a regular meeting of the City Council on the day of , 19 That thereafter, said Ordinance was duly adopted and passed at a regular meeting of the City Council on the day of , 19_, by the following vote; to wit: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS: CITY CLERK APPROVED: CITY ATTORNEY LkMArn95a -3-