ICYMI: Mobile Home Park Protections Bill Signed Into Law

DENVER, CO – Yesterday, legislation to make mobile home park sales more fair and transparent was signed into law.

HB26-1224, sponsored by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Lisa Cutter, D-Jefferson County, Senator Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, House Speaker Pro Tempore Andy Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, and Representative Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs, strengthens Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act (MHPA) to ensure that residents have a fair chance to purchase the land underneath their mobile home. 

“This legislation builds upon years of work to level the playing field for mobile home park residents who often own their home but not the land beneath it,” said Cutter. “We’ve implemented laws to help residents join together to purchase their parks, keeping costs down and creating opportunities for stability and ownership. This new law adds additional measures to facilitate residents’ ability to purchase their park when it goes up for sale.” 

“Mobile home residents are uniquely vulnerable to displacement, which is why we passed this law to strengthen protections for residents to prevent housing instability,” said Velasco. “Mobile homes are one of the most common affordable housing options we have in Colorado, especially on the Western Slope. This law builds on our work to protect mobile home residents and create opportunities for them to build generational wealth by bolstering resident protections and improving disclosure and notice requirements. This will help give residents the time and information they need to present a strong bid to purchase the park, preserving existing affordable housing.”

“I've seen firsthand the opportunity for residents to purchase their mobile home park in action in my district – and it's transformational for preserving affordable, local housing,” said Roberts. “This new law ensures that more residents in our state will have the time and information they need to make that decision, including operating costs and financial disclosures, and adds new protections to prevent families from losing their home. It continues upon years of work to keep mobile home parks – which provide essential affordable housing – in the hands of our communities.”

“Mobile home parks are a great source of unsubsidized affordable housing, and it is crucial that we protect this resource for hardworking Coloradans to bring down housing costs,” said Boesenecker. “Colorado Democrats have passed key protections for mobile home residents in recent years, but residents are still struggling to compete against better-resourced external buyers when presented with the opportunity to purchase the park. This law ensures that mobile home residents have a fair shot at buying the mobile home park that they live in, which will help maintain affordable housing options for low- and middle-income Coloradans.”

Beginning January 1, 2027, the law will give residents at least 90 days to conduct inspections and protect residents who negotiate in good faith. The law will ban anti-competitive practices that inflate prices above market value to make it harder for residents to purchase the mobile home park.

HB26-1224 will improve transparency by requiring a landlord to disclose documentation upon request of a mobile home resident to justify the list price of the property, the age and history of major infrastructure on the property, rental information and operating expenses. Upon request, the law will also require a landlord to disclose any financial ties to potential buyers of the property and any agreements between the landlord and the potential buyer.

To prevent evictions and keep housing costs down, the law will:

• Ensure that residents receive notice when a park owner is temporarily prohibited from raising lot rents;

• Require evictions to be based on an official government finding of a violated law, ordinance, or rule, not just an informal claim; and

• Limit the amount of the annual MHPA registration fee that can be passed onto homeowners.

In 2020, the legislature passed a law to create a pathway for mobile home park residents to join together to purchase the land under their communities. Democrats have also passed laws to improve water quality in mobile home parks, strengthen tenant protections, improve language accessibility for important park notices and meetings and clarify the conditions of a sale of mobile homes and parks. The legislature also passed a bill this session, also sponsored by Senator Cutter and Representative Velasco, to strengthen water quality protections for Coloradans in mobile home parks.