What should I know before buying a home in a BC manufactured home park?

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You buy the home and take over the rented site under it, which needs the park landlord's written consent, and the Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act then limits the pad rent and protects you if the park closes. Buying one means two deals: the home, registered in the Manufactured Home Registry, and the site tenancy, which passes to you only with the park landlord's consent. The Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, not the Residential Tenancy Act, sets the rules for the site. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. Taking over the site: A home owner may assign the site tenancy to a buyer only with the landlord's prior written consent (Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act s. 28 (1)), and the landlord may not charge for considering it (s. 28 (3)). The seller must give the buyer the tenancy agreement and the park rules first, then serve the request in the approved form (Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Regulation ss. 43, 44). The landlord must answer within 10 days, giving the grounds and their source if it refuses; with no answer by then, consent is deemed given (ss. 45, 46). When the landlord may refuse: Only on the grounds the regulation lists, among them reasonable grounds from references or credit information that the buyer won't follow the tenancy agreement or rules or won't pay the rent, a park for people 55 and over, the buyer owning another home in the park or using the home for business, rent the seller owes, or a home that doesn't meet housing, health and safety standards (Regulation s. 48). Park rules: A park committee, or the landlord where there's none, may make and change the park's rules, which must agree with the Act (s. 32). Read them before you buy: they can cover pets, additions and sheds, the home's upkeep, who may live there and vehicles. Pad rent: The landlord may raise the rent at most once every 12 months, on 3 months' notice in the approved form (ss. 35, 36). The increase is capped at the inflation rate plus the park's share of the year's change in local government levies and utility fees, divided by the number of sites (Regulation s. 32); more needs the Residential Tenancy Branch's approval, for significant repairs or extraordinary costs (Regulation s. 33). If the park closes: A landlord converting the park, with every permit in hand, must give at least 12 months' notice (s. 42) and pay each tenant $20,000 by the notice's end date (s. 44 (1); Regulation s. 33.1 (1)). A home that can't be moved, with the permits refused or no site within a reasonable distance, can earn its last assessed value above $20,000 too (s. 44.1; Regulation s. 33.2; the RTB's Policy Guideline 33). If the landlord doesn't go ahead within a reasonable time, the tenant gets the greater of $5,000 or 12 months' rent more (s. 44 (2); Regulation s. 33.1 (2)). Parks on reserve land: A park on reserve land is under the First Nation's leases and laws, and the provincial Act's protections may not apply there (our reading): see leasehold and ask a lawyer. What a report on the lot shows: A report on the park's lot reads the land under every site: hazards, water, zoning and what's planned nearby. It can't read a site's rent, rules or tenancy. What it means for a buyer: The price buys a home on land you don't control: weigh the rent, how it can rise, the park's rules and the park's future (a rezoning application on the lot is a sign), and a lender's terms for a home in a park (our reading).

What should I know before buying a home in a BC manufactured home park?

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Before you buy: who to ask