Opinion ID: 2595517
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: termination of the lease without cause

Text: ¶ 17 We must next determine whether the MHPRA precluded Coleman from terminating the lease without cause. The MHPRA limits the grounds for terminating a lease as follows: (1) An agreement for the lease of mobile home space in a mobile home park may be terminated by mutual agreement or for any one or more of the following causes: (a) failure of a resident to comply with a mobile home park rule . . . after receipt of a notice of noncompliance from the mobile home park . . .; (b) repeated failure of a resident to abide by a mobile home park rule . . .; (c) behavior by a resident which substantially endangers the security and health of the other residents or threatens the property in the park; (d) nonpayment of rent, fees, or service charges; (e) a change in the land use or condemnation of the mobile home park or any part of it. Utah Code Ann. § 57-16-5(1) (Supp.1999) (emphasis added). If a park owner elects to terminate a lease for any of these stated causes, the park owner must first provide proper notice to the resident, which must include, among other requisites,  cause for the notice. Id. § 57-16-6(2) (emphasis added). Moreover, the MHPRA dictates that [n]o park or resident may agree to waive any right, duty, or privilege that the MHPRA confers. Id. § 57-16-12 (1994). ¶ 18 In light of the plain language of the MHPRA, it is clear that absent a mutual agreement to terminate the lease, cause is necessary to terminate a lease for a mobile home space. As the plain language of section 57-16-5 makes clear, a mutual agreement involves an agreement to terminate the lease, not an antecedent agreement as to the manner in which the lease may be terminated, as occurred in the instant case. The MHPRA forbids a park resident to waive these protections and requires a park owner seeking to terminate a lease to provide notice that sets forth a cause listed in the statute. [4] ¶ 19 Our conclusion is in harmony with the overall purpose of the MHPRA, codified when the MHPRA was enacted, which states: The fundamental right to own and protect land and to establish conditions for its use by others necessitate[s] that the owner of a mobile home park be provided with speedy and adequate remedies against those who abuse the terms of a tenancy. The high cost of moving mobile homes, the requirements of mobile home parks relating to their installation, and the cost of landscaping and lot preparation necessitate that the owners of mobile homes occupied within mobile home parks be provided with protection from actual or constructive eviction. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide protection for both the owners of mobile homes located in mobile home parks and ... the owners of mobile home parks. Id. § 57-16-2. Indeed, protecting against termination without cause serves the twofold purpose of protecting both park residents and park owners. The cause requirement prevents a park owner from terminating residents' leases at whim and forcing them to undergo great expense uprooting their homes, along with their footings, skirting, decks, and landscaping, and attempting to secure another lease elsewhere. The protection that the MHPRA provides to a park owner is the power to promulgate rules related to the health, safety, and appropriate conduct of residents and to the maintenance and upkeep of such park, id. § 57-16-7(1)(a) (Supp.1999), and to terminate a resident's lease if the resident fails to abide by any of the park rules, see id. § 57-16-5(1). Thus, while the MHPRA protects a park resident from sudden, unjustifiable eviction, it provides a park owner speedy remedies against a tenant who violates reasonable rules. ¶ 20 Furthermore, Utah is not alone in placing restrictions upon a park owner's ability to terminate a resident's lease. Most states have enacted similar statutes protecting mobile home park residents from eviction or lease termination without cause, including nearly every western state. See Alaska Stat. § 34.03.225 (Lexis 1998); Ariz.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 33-1476 (West 2000); Cal. Civ.Code § 798.56 (West Supp.2000); Colo.Rev.Stat. § 38-12-203 (1999); Idaho Code § 55-2010 (1994); Mont.Code Ann. § 70-24-436 (1999); Nev.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 118B.200 (Lexis 1998); N.M. Stat. Ann. § 47-10-5 (Michie 1999); Or.Rev.Stat. § 90.630 (1997); Wash. Rev. Code § 59.20.080 (Supp.1999). These statutes have been routinely upheld and enforced by state appellate courts, which cite the importance of protecting mobile home park residents from the expense, difficulty, and unfairness of being required to move solely at the whim of park owners. See, e.g., Osness v. Dimond Estates, Inc., 615 P.2d 605, 607-08 (Alaska 1980); Lindquist v. Hart, 1999 Ariz.App. LEXIS 193, at -, 1999 WL 711048; Greening v. Johnson, 53 Cal.App.4th 1223, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 214, 215 (1997); Hurricane v. Kanover, Ltd., 651 P.2d 1218, 1223 (Colo.1982); Post Falls Trailer Park v. Fredekind, 131 Idaho 634, 962 P.2d 1018, 1020-21 (1998); Green Valley Mobile Home Park v. Mulvaney, 121 N.M. 817, 918 P.2d 1317, 1320-21 (1996); Ostlund v. Hendricks, 289 Or. 543, 615 P.2d 327, 330 (1980); cf. Yee v. City of Escondido, 503 U.S. 519, 523, 112 S.Ct. 1522, 118 L.Ed.2d 153 (1992) (The term `mobile home' is somewhat misleading. Mobile homes are largely immobile as a practical matter, because the cost of moving one is often a significant fraction of the value of the mobile home itself.). ¶ 21 In the case at hand, Coleman failed to satisfy the requirements of the MHPRA. There was no mutual agreement to terminate the lease. Moreover, Coleman failed to establish that he was entitled to terminate the lease for any of the causes listed in section 57-16-5, and his notices to the Thomases stated no such cause. [5] The lease term upon which Coleman relies, permitting either party to terminate the lease with simple notice, is ineffective because Michael Thomas could not waive his protections under the MHPRA. ¶ 22 In determining that the Thomases wrongfully occupied the premises, the trial court looked to the unlawful detainer statute, Utah Code Ann. § 78-36-3 (1996). Because the lease in this case was not terminated, however, the Thomases are not in unlawful detainer. Moreover, Utah's unlawful detainer statute is inapposite in the instant case because the statute clearly states that unlawful detainer by a resident of a mobile home park shall be determined by the MHPRA, see id. § 78-36-3(2), except in limited circumstances not pertinent to the case before us.