Manufactured Home Parks Guide

DOES THIS BOOKLET APPLY TO YOU?

This booklet is a guide for tenant’s rights in Nova Scotia. In Nova

Scotia, the Residential Tenancies Act and Regulations (the RTA) are

the law for rental housing. This means that your rights as a tenant

are covered by the RTA.

Are You Covered by the RTA?

If you pay rent you are probably covered by the RTA, even if you did-

n’t sign a lease. However, there are some exceptions.

In other words, the RTA DOES apply if you live in:

• Apartment, Flat or Rooming House

• House or Housing Co-operative (Co-op)

• Public / Metro Housing

• Manufactured home spaces

The RTA does NOT apply if you live in:

• University Residences

• Shelters

• Hospitals or Nursing Homes / Care Facilities

• Correctional Facilities

• Hotels / Motels

THIS GUIDE CONTAINS LEGAL INFORMATION, NOT LEGAL ADVICE

AND IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE TALKING TO A LEGAL PROFESS-

SIONAL

Everything depends on the individual circumstance. You should only

rely on this as a guide. If you need further help, see the Resources

page at the back of this guide. This guide is current as of: June 11,

2019.

CONTENTS

Manufactured Home Parks 1

The Law 2

Landlord’s Rules 5

Assigning Your Lease to Someone Else 6

What if Your Landlord Sells the Park 11

Ending a Lease 12

Evictions 13

Rental Increases 15

If You Rent Your Manufactured Home 18

Submetering 19

Police & Emergency Services 20

Terms / Glossary 21

Resources 23

MANUFACTURED HOME

PARKS

Manufactured home parks are land-lease communities where a landlord

owns a plot of land and rents sections (lots) of it. People can own or

rent their manufactured home, but they rent the lot on which the home

lies from the owner of the manufactured home park.

This guide uses the terms manufactured homes and manufactured

home parks, but there are a variety of other terms for them. These in-

clude:

• Mobile homes or trailers are other terms for Manufactured Homes.

• Mobile home space, trailer space, lot or pad are all other terms for

Manufactured Home Space.

• Mobile home park, trailer park, or manufactured home park are

other terms for Land-lease community.

NOTE: To nd contact information or the forms referred to in

this section for Residential Tenancies you can:

 Call Service NS at (902) 424-5200 or toll free at either 1-800-

670-4357 or 1-877-404-0867

 Or check the website: http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/access/

land/residential-tenancies.asp

THE LAW

Statutory Conditions are listed in the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA).

They are rules that all landlords and tenants must follow no matter

what and apply to ALL residential leases in Nova Scotia, including manu-

factured homes. There are also special Statutory Conditions that apply

to manufactured home parks. If any part of a lease contradicts any Stat-

utory Condition (special or not), it will not be valid.

Statutory Conditions:

Condition of Premises:

• The landlord must keep the manufactured home park clean and in

a good state of repair. They have to do this for the manufactured

home park’s shared spaces (such as roads) and lots, but not for the

manufactured home itself.

Services:

• If the landlord provides a service as part of the rent then they can-

not discontinue it without giving you notice of a rental increase, or

without permission from the Director. For example, if your land-

lord provides gravel for your driveway, they cannot stop doing this

unless they give you notice.

Good Behaviour:

• Both you and your landlord have an obligation of good behaviour

towards one another and other tenants in the park.

Obligation of the Tenant:

• As a tenant you have an obligation to keep your lot clean, and are

also responsible for repairing any damage you or your guests

cause. This could mean either repairing the damage yourself, or

paying for the cost of repairs.

Subletting Premises:

• As a tenant you can sublet or assign their manufactured home, but

you need the landlord’s permission to do so. Subletting and assign-

ing your lot can be complicated. For more information, see the

“Assigning Your Lease to Someone Else” section.

Entry of Premises:

• The landlord cannot enter the lot if they do not have your permis-

sion, unless there is an emergency. The landlord can also go onto

the lot without permission in two other cases. First, if they give 24

hours’ notice and enter during the day. Second, if you have given a

notice to quit and your landlord is showing the lot to prospective

tenants at a reasonable hour.

Late Payment Penalty:

• If the lease has a penalty for paying the rent late, the cost of the

penalty cannot be more than 1% of the cost of the monthly rent.

For example, if you pay $300 a month the maximum amount for

that month’s penalty would be $3.

Special Statutory Conditions for Manufactured Home Parks:

Selling or Leasing a Manufactured Home:

• You have the right to sell or lease your manufactured home.

Your landlord cannot restrict or interfere with this right.

• Your landlord cannot ask for compensation for helping you

sell or rent your manufactured home, unless you explicitly

asked for their help and signed a contract saying so.

Purchasing Goods or Services:

• Your landlord can’t restrict your right to purchase goods or

services from the person of your choice. For example, they

can’t force you to buy supplies from a particular store.

• Your landlord can set reasonable standards for manufac-

tured home equipment. For example, the landlord may be

allowed to set minimum safety standards for certain pieces

of manufactured home equipment.

Municipal By-laws:

• The landlord must follow any municipal by-laws that apply to

the common areas of the manufactured home park. The ser-

vices your landlord provides must also follow municipal by-

laws.

• You must follow any municipal by-laws that apply to manu-

factured homes.

NOTE: There is no longer a Mobile / Manufactured Home Advis-

ory Committee.

LANDLORD’S RULES

A landlord can put their own rules into a lease as long as the rules don’t

conict with the RTA. The landlord’s rules must be “reasonable.”

A rule is “reasonable” if:

• It ensures that services are fairly distributed to all tenants in

the park.

• It promotes the safety, comfort, and well-being of all park

residents.

• It protects the park’s property from abuse.

• It conforms to municipal by-laws.

For instance, a rule that says that tenants can only park in a designated

parking spot would be reasonable. On the other hand, a rule requiring

that the manufactured home have a pitched roof, or that you have to

paint your home a specic colour would not be reasonable.

ASSIGNING YOUR LEASE TO

SOMEONE ELSE

If you own your manufactured home and want to sell it to someone

else, the person buying your house will need to take over your lease in

the manufactured home park. This is known as “assigning” your lease.

There are specic rules for assigning your lease.

Specic Rules:

• If you choose to sell or rent your manufactured home to

someone else, and they want to take over your lot, you must

have the landlord’s permission. The landlord cannot refuse to

give you permission unless they have a good reason to do so.

• There are two steps involved in getting the landlord’s permis-

sion:

1. You apply to the landlord (in writing) for the land-

lord’s permission to have the new person take over

the mobile park space.

2. Within ten days of receiving your written request,

the landlord must give you permission in writing or

give you a reason why permission was denied.

• If the landlord does not reply in writing within ten days then

the law will treat the situation as though the landlord gave

you permission.

• The landlord is not allowed to charge you a fee for granting

permission. But the landlord can ask you to pay reasonable

out of pocket expenses related to granting permission, such

as the cost of a credit check for the new tenant.

Information you must give the buyer:

Before applying to the landlord for permission, you must give all of the

following information to the person who wants to take over your lease

(the buyer):

• A copy of the Landlord’s Rules (if there are any)

• A copy of your written lease (if your lease is in writing)

• How much rent you currently pay

• The date that your landlord last raised the rent and how

much the landlord raised the rent

Information you must give your landlord:

Your request for permission to assign your lease must be made in writ-

ing to your landlord. It must include the following information:

• The address of the space on which your manufactured home

is located

• Your name, telephone number, and mailing address

• The name, telephone number, and current address of the

person who wants to take over your lease. Also include their

mailing address if dierent from their current address.

• If the person who wants to take over your lease is currently

renting, then you must also include the name and telephone

number of their current landlord

• If the person who wants to take over your lease has lived at

their current address for less than 2 years, you must include

the address for the previous place they lived. You must also

include the name and telephone number of the landlord for

that previous place.

• The names and telephone numbers for two personal refer-

ences for the person who wants to take over your lease.

• You must specify if you want the landlord to enter into a new

lease with the buyer, OR if you want the landlord to assign

your existing lease to the buyer.

• What date you want the buyer’s lease to start.

• The signature of the buyer indicating that they consent to

the following:

1. Your landlord contacting their current and/or previous

landlords whose names are included in the application;

2. Your landlord contacting their personal references;

3. Your landlord checking their income and getting an up-to-

date credit report

• You must also include a signed acknowledgement from the

buyer that indicates that you have given them all of the re-

quired information about the lease.

You can deliver the application for consent to your landlord in person or

by registered mail.

When your landlord is allowed to refuse:

Your landlord cannot unreasonably or arbitrarily refuse to grant per-

mission to assign your lease. In some cases, your landlord can legally

refuse to grant permission, for instance where:

• You did not provide all of the required information

• Your landlord has good reason to think that the buyer might

not comply with the lease or the Landlord’s Rules

• Your landlord does not believe that the buyer can or will pay

the rent

• The buyer does not plan to live in the manufactured home

and either:

1. Wants to use it to run a business

2. Or has bought more than one manufactured home in the

manufactured home park

• The manufactured home has been moved away from the

manufactured home park space or has been destroyed

• You are behind on your rent

• You have been ordered to pay money to your landlord by the

Director of Residential Tenancies or Small Claims Court and

have not yet paid that money

• The manufactured home does not comply with municipal by-

laws

• The manufactured home does not comply with the Land-

lord’s Rules

Your landlord can also legally refuse to give permission if they are not

able to contact one or more of the buyer’s personal references and,

because of this, does not have enough information to make a decision.

If your landlord denies consent for this reason, the landlord must have:

• Promptly told you that they were not able to contact the

personal references, and

• Made reasonable eorts to contact those references (or to

contact any other personal references that the buyer pro-

vides if the rst ones cannot be contacted)

WHAT IF YOUR LANDLORD

SELLS THE MANUFACTURED

HOME PARK?

If you rent a lot in a manufactured home park and the landlord decides

to sell it you do not have to move out. In short, you cannot be evicted

because the landlord has sold the property or is trying to sell the prop-

erty. Everything in your lease stays the same after the sale; you just

have a new landlord.

ENDING A LEASE

If you want to sell your manufactured home and the closing date of the

sale coincides with the end of the lease of your lot, then you will need

to ocially end your lease. You cannot just assign it to someone else in

this situation.

Giving notice to move out of a manufactured home park:

As a tenant, you can end your lease at the end of a rental term (the end

of the lease), but you MUST give your landlord ‘Notice to Quit’ at least

one month before the end of the lease. You must also ll out Form C:

Tenant’s Notice to Quit.

EVICTIONS

Security of Tenure:

In Nova Scotia once you start renting a lot in a manufactured home

park, you can keep renting it for as long as you want. The legal term for

this is immediate security of tenure. There is one exception to this:

xed-term leases. If you have a xed-term lease then your rental agree-

ment ends on the date set out in your lease.

Evictions:

If your landlord wants to evict you they must have a good reason for

evicting you. The landlord is allowed to evict you for the following rea-

sons:

• You have not paid your rent

• Your behaviour has interfered with the “peaceful living” of

the landlord or the other tenants.

• You or your guests have caused damage or have not kept

your manufactured home up to basic standards of cleanli-

ness

• You have sublet your manufactured home to someone else

without getting permission from the landlord

• You have not complied with municipal by-laws that apply to

your manufactured home

If your landlord gives you a Notice to Quit (eviction notice), and you

think you shouldn’t be evicted then you can apply to the Director of

Residential Tenancies to ask for the Notice to Quit be set aside.

For more information on what happens and what you can do if

your landlord tries to evict you from your manufactured home

park please see our Legal Procedures & Dispute Resolution

Guide.

RENTAL INCRESASES

The law on increasing rent for manufactured homes is dierent from

the general law for increasing rent.

WHEN your landlord can raise your rent:

• Your landlord can only raise the rent once every 12 months.

• Your landlord CANNOT raise your rent for the rst 12 months

after you start your lease.

• Your landlord must give you proper notice that your rent will

be increasing.

• Your landlord can set one date to increase the rent for all the

manufactured home spaces in the manufactured home park.

HOW MUCH your landlord can raise your rent:

• Each year Service Nova Scotia sets the maximum amount

that a landlord can increase the rent for a manufactured

home space in a mobile home park. This is called the “Annual

Allowable Rental Increase Amount.”

• Service Nova Scotia publishes the Annual Allowable Rental

Increase Amount on its website: http://www.gov.ns.ca/

snsmr/access/land/residential-tenancies/allowable-rent-

Increase.asp

• If your landlord does not raise your rent by the maximum

allowable amount one year, they cannot apply the unused

amount in a future year. For example, if the landlord is legally

allowed to raise the rent by 3% one year but only raises it by

2%, they cannot add the unused 1% to a rent increase the fol-

lowing year to make it 4%.

If your landlord wants to increase your rent by more than the Annual

Allowable Rental Increase Amount they must:

• Apply in writing to the Director of Residential Tenancies for

permission.

• Give you a copy of the application to the Director of Residen-

tial Tenancies AND a Notice of Rental Increase for Manufac-

tured Home Space (Form M).

• Give you these documents at least 7 months before your an-

niversary date. (For example, if you start your lease on Janu-

ary 1, your anniversary date is always January 1 so your land-

lord must give you these documents by June 1 the year be-

fore the rent is set to increase.)

• If your landlord does not give you copies of the documents

at least 7 months before your anniversary date, the landlord

is not allowed to raise your rent more than the maximum

amount.

You can OBJECT to your Landlord’s application:

• You have a right to respond to the landlord’s application to

increase your rent to the Director of Residential Tenancies

and give your own information.

• For example, if you think that the landlord is making an un-

reasonable request to raise the rent above the maximum

amount, you can explain why in writing.

• You must give your written submissions to the Director of

Residential Tenancies within 14 days of the day that your

landlord gives you a copy of the application.

IMPORTANT: If your landlord gives you the application

early, for example, 8 months before the anniversary date

instead of 7 months before, you have 14 days after the

very last date your landlord could have given you notice.

That means that if your landlord must give you your 7

months’ notice on June 1, but gives you notice on May 1,

you have until 14 days after the June 1 deadline (so by

June 15) to hand in your written submission.

• The Director will give your landlord a copy of any written sub-

missions you make.

• The landlord has a right to make additional written argu-

ments in response to your written submissions. The landlord

must give these additional submissions to the Director of

Residential Tenancies within 14 days after they receives cop-

ies of your written submissions from the Director.

• The Director will not hold a hearing. The Director will make a

decision about the rental increase based on all of the written

material that your landlord and you have submitted. Once

the decision is made, the Director will send you and your

landlord a written notice that explains whether your landlord

is allowed to raise your rent above the Annual Allowable

Rental Increase Amount, and by how much.

IF YOU RENT YOUR

MANUFACTURED HOME

Most people who live in manufactured home parks own their home, but

some people rent their manufactured home.

If you rent, then your landlord is the owner of the manufactured home

(not the owner of the manufactured home park). Your landlord needs

permission from the owner of the manufactured home park (their land-

lord) to be able to rent to you.

NOTE: The RTA applies to you and for more information on

how to navigate it, or for any general information on renting

please see our Tenant Rights Guide.

SUBMETERING

Submetering is the name of a process for measuring various utilities,

including water consumption, in multi-unit residential areas like apart-

ment buildings or manufactured home parks. It uses submeters to

measure the consumption in each individual unit as opposed to the

whole of the residential area. This means that landlords of manufac-

tured home parks that use submetering can track the water consump-

tion of each lot and charge each lot accordingly.

According to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board 2012 decision Re

the Halifax Regional Water Commission there is no problem with subme-

tering as a practice. The provision of water is still a public service and

even if it goes through a submeter, the landlord is allowed to use it and

charge lots individually.

POLICE & EMERGENCY

SERVICES

The police are allowed to enter manufactured home parks as they

would in any other neighbourhood. They can come in for regular patrols

or in an emergency situation.

TERMS / GLOSSARY

Manufactured Home: Any trailer that is intended to be equipped with

wheels, whether or not it is equipped with them. It also needs to pro-

vide residence for one or more persons, but does not include a travel

trailer or tent trailer.

Mobile: Another term for a manufactured home.

Trailer: Another term for a manufactured home.

Manufactured Home Space: Means a plot of ground within a land-lease

community designed to accommodate one manufactured home.

Mobile Home Space: Another term for a manufactured home space.

Lot: Another term for a manufactured home space.

Land-lease Community: It is another term for a manufactured home

park. It stands for any lot, piece or parcel of land upon which two or

more occupied manufactured homes are located for a period of ten

days or more, either free of charge or for revenue purposes, and in-

cludes any building, structure or enclosure or intended for use as part

of the equipment of such land-lease community.

Manufactured Home Park: Another term for a land-lease community.

Mobile Home Park: Another term for a land-lease community.

Trailer Park: Another term for a land-lease community.

Skirting: It is a term used to describe a non-structural enclosure of a

foundation crawl space. It is often made of lightweight material like

vinyl or metal and attached to the side of the structure, extending to

the ground. It acts as a barrier between the manufactured home and

the outside world. It often covers the space between the manufactured

home and the ground.

An example of skirting:

Tie-downs: Tie-downs are a way of stabilizing manufactured homes dur-

ing high winds with strong straps and anchors. They work to keep the

manufactured home in place.

RESOURCES

Dalhousie Legal Aid Service — Specialized Guides:

• Tenant Rights Guide

• Finding a Place & Being a Good Tenant Guide

• Legal Procedures & Dispute Resolution Guide

• Public Housing Guide

• Enforcement Guide

Residential Tenancies — Access Nova Scotia:

• Telephone: (902) 424-5200 or 1-800-670-4357 (toll free in North

America)

• Online: https://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/access/land/residential-

tenancies.asp

• Halifax: 300 Horseshoe Lake Drive, Bayers Lake Business Park

• Dartmouth: 250 Baker Drive, Suite 134

Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM):

• Telephone: 311 in HRM

Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia:

• Telephone: (902) 455-3135 or 1-800-665-9779 (toll free in Nova Sco-

tia)

• Email: questions@legalinfo.org

• Web: https://www.legalinfo.org

Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission — Halifax:

• Telephone: (902) 424-4111 or 1-877-269-7699 (toll free in Nova Sco-

tia)

• Email: hrcin[email protected]s.ca

Nova Scotia Legal Aid:

• Representation and summary advice for people with low income.

There are 19 locations throughout the province.

• Main Oce (Halifax): (902) 420-3450 or 1-866-420-3450 (toll free)

• Web: http://www.nslegalaid.ca/