Despite broad support from both sides of the aisle, a proposal by a Missoula-area lawmaker to increase the rights of mobile home park tenants was vetoed by Gov. Greg Gianforte on Tuesday.
House Bill 889, from Rep. Jonathan Karlen (D-Frenchtown/Huson), was labeled as a "mobile home tenant bill of rights."
The bill passed the GOP-controlled Legislature with a 30-20 vote in the Senate and a 68-31 vote in the House.
“The governor’s veto made it clear that, when it’s time to act rather than talk, he stands with a minority of bad landlords and out-of-state corporations rather than with the tens of thousands of hardworking Montanans and senior citizens suffering from unfair and predatory practices,” Karlen said in a statement. “HB 889 was a compromise that I crafted with legislators of both parties and with stakeholders, who all recognize that Montanans living in mobile home parks are on the frontline of our housing crisis and deserve the same rights as other homeowners.”
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In his veto letter, Gianforte said he's committed to increasing Montanans' access to affordable, attainable housing, including measures that ensure the availability of rental lots for owners of mobile homes.
"House Bill 889, however, unduly increases regulation of mobile home parks, disincentivizes landlords from maintaining or increasing the inventory of mobile home rental lots, and, in general, compromises the property rights of mobile home park owners."
The bill had been opposed by the Montana Landlords Association.
Officially titled Revise the Residential Mobile Home Lot Rental Act, the bill would have banned mobile home park owners from instituting month-to-month lease agreements and instead would require year-long leases unless a month-to-month lease agreement is mutually agreed upon.
The bill would have codified that if a landlord terminates a rental agreement due to nonpayment, the tenant has 45 days to correct the issue instead of the current seven-day period. It also would have meant a landlord cannot require a resident or a resident association to obtain liability insurance in order to use common areas or facilities unless alcohol is being served. And it stipulates that a landlord may not retaliate by altering or refusing to renew an existing rental agreement, by imposing any fee, by changing park rules, by enforcing park rules in an unreasonable or non-uniform manner or by bringing or threatening to bring an action for eviction.
Cindy Newman, a resident of a trailer park in Great Falls, had testified in support of the bill. She's concerned because an out-of-state private equity firm bought her trailer court, something that's happening across Montana.
She said she was disappointed on Tuesday.
"HB 889 had been revised to the point that any fair landlord would not have a problem with it," she said. "Of the 150 legislators who debated, considered and revised this bill, 98 voted yes and 51 voted no. I did not think the governor would veto his/our Legislature's efforts. In spite of this meager attempt at fair treatment Gov. Gianforte vetoed HB 889 today. Another win for the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful economic actors, be they billionaires, corporations or both."
Gianforte said that the Montana Residential Mobile Home Lot Rental Act, which HB 889 would have revised, provides a balance between responsibilities and duties of landlords and mobile home owners. The bill, he said, would alter that balance and impose numerous additional regulations on landlords that would deter investment in new or expanded mobile home parks.
"For example, HB 889 prohibits landlords from the long-standing and currently lawful practice of considering the age of a mobile home in determining whether to allow a transfer of a lease to a new buyer to whom and existing tenant has sold the mobile home," Gianforte wrote. "If a landlord and tenant do not specifically agree upon a term of lease, HB 889 provides for a one-year lease instead of the current month-to-month lease and imposes extended notice periods before being able to terminate or modify longer leases without imposing similar notice requirements on tenants."
Gianforte also said the bill unreasonably limits a landlord's ability to change the use of a mobile home park by imposing a moratorium on termination of existing leases for a period of at lease 12 months after receiving local government approval of a proposed change of use.
"This provision encumbers the property rights of the landlord and his or her ability to use the land as he or she sees fit within the rule of law," Gianforte said.
He also said the bill unnecessarily inserts the Montana Board of Housing into mobile home parks by requiring landlords to notify the board at least one year in advance of any proposed change of use.
Hannah VanHoose, the chief of staff for the Montana House Democrats, decried the veto in a press release.
"(Gianforte's) decision lets mobile park landlords give little to no notice when they let a homeowner’s lot lease expire, interfere with the homeowner’s right to sell their home, change park rules without notice, and engage in retaliation against homeowners and resident associations, such as increasing rent or decreasing services in the mobile park," she wrote.
