Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Governor Minner Signs Manufactured Housing Protections
House Bill 2 Protects the Rights of Residents
Dover – Governor Ruth Ann Minner on Tuesday signed House Bill 2, which will offer consumer protection for manufactured housing community residents when the owner of a community decides to change the use of the land. The bill also will create a fund to help relocate any manufactured housing residents who are living in parks sold to new owners.
“This is a bill that will bring stability and peace of mind to thousands of manufactured home owners throughout our state,” Gov. Minner said.
Gov. Minner also recognized Sen. George Bunting, who has championed the manufactured homeowners issue for years in the General Assembly, as well as Rep. Donna Stone, who sponsored H.B. 2.
“House Bill 2 is creating a better balance between landlord and tenant with landlords able to make land use changes in a shorter time and a relocation fund or safety net for tenants,” Sen. Bunting said.
“House Bill 2 rewrites the Delaware Mobile Home Lots and Leases Act of 1986 and reflects the significant changes that have taken place in the manufactured housing industry during the past 17 years,” Rep. Stone said. “This bill is the result of months of work by a group of stakeholders representing every aspect of the manufactured home industry, and affords protections for both the community owners and the homeowners in a fair and balanced way.”
The legislation was crafted by manufactured home owners and park owners who sat down to work through difficult issues that resulted in a consensus bill. Gov. Minner gave special credit to Ed Speraw, president of the Delaware Manufactured Homeowners Association and Jerome Heisler of Reybold Homes, who led the negotiations.
Speraw thanked all the organizations involved for their efforts on the bill. He said the teamwork was the key to getting the bill passed and signed. “From that, we got a good bill,” he said.
Heisler also credited the hard work given to putting together a bill that will help benefit manufactured homeowners in the state.
“This is a really good foundation,” Heisler said.
Members of the Delaware AARP lobbied for passage of the bill, in large part because of the number of people over 50 who live in manufactured housing.
“AARP is very selective in what it chooses to support legislatively,” said Charles E. Jackson, AARP Delaware state president. “We see this bill as an important piece of consumer protection legislation, especially for our population over 50.”
