Court Opinion

ID: 9744703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 22:13:17.983486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:21:07.451121
License: Public Domain

YEGAN, J.
— I respectfully dissent. While the parties, the trial court, and the majority put various interpretations on what is at stake, I believe the issue is straightforward: Can a mobilehome park owner adopt a rule which has the effect of precluding subleasing? The answer is “yes.”
The Legislature has apparently elected not to treat the issue of subleasing in the otherwise comprehensive Mobilehome Residency Law. (Civ. Code, *1150§ 798 et seq.)1 Section 798.23 provides that the owners of mobilehome parks must comply with the park rules and regulations but “(c) . . . this section shall not affect in any way, either to validate or invalidate, nor does this section express a legislative policy judgment in favor of or against, the enforcement of a park rule or regulation which prohibits or restricts the subletting of a mobilehome park space by a tenant.” The fair import of this section is that subletting is to be governed by the rental agreement between managment and the homeowner and/or the rules and regulations adopted by the mobilehome park. Whether this is a good idea or a bad one is not an appropriate question to be decided by the judiciary. (Rubin v. Green (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1187,1205 [17 Cal.Rptr.2d 828, 847 P.2d 1044].) We take the law, or the absence of it, as we find it.
In 1987 Barbara Evans purchased a mobilehome and rented space in respondent’s mobilehome park. The park rules were incorporated by reference into the space rental agreement between the park and the mobilehome owner. On July 27, 1992, the rules were amended. Before the amendment, park rule l.C. provided: “No person may regularly occupy or reside in a mobilehome unless at least one person is at least fifty-five (55) years of age and that person will regularly reside in and occupy the mobilehome on a full-time basis at all times in the future. All other persons who will regularly reside in and occupy the mobilehome must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or older.”
Park rule 2 provided: “Guests: A. All guests must register in the Park if they stay more than a total of twenty (20) consecutive days or thirty (30) days in a calendar year. No guest may, however, stay with you more than total of forty five (45) days in a calendar year.
“B. You must acquaint all your guests with the conditions of tenancy of the Park, including these Rules and Regulations. You are also personally responsible for all the actions and conduct of your guests.
“C. Except when guests are entering or leaving the Park, a resident must accompany guests at all times. If the resident is not residing in the mobile-home, a guest may not occupy or use the mobilehome without management’s consent.”
The new rules, and more particularly, rule 1. C., distributed on July 27, 1992, provide: “No person may regularly occupy or reside in a mobilehome unless at least one person is at least fifty-five (55) years of age and that *1151person will regularly reside in and occupy the mobilehome on a full-time basis at all times in the future. That person must also appear on the registration as a registered owner of the home. All other persons who will regularly reside in and occupy the mobilehome must be at least eighteen (18) years of age or older.” (Italics added.) These new rules left in tact the guest provisions.
On June 28, 1992, Evans sublet her mobilehome in violation of the rules. Management successfully petitioned the superior court for an injunction. The injunction recites: “Respondent Mrs. Evans is enjoined from allowing or permitting an unlawful occupant to reside in her mobilehome at Space 23 and Mrs. Erb is enjoined from residing there as a tenant without the written consent of the Mobilehome Park.”
At no time has management promulgated a rule allowing subleasing. As I shall explain, a “subtenant” is not a “tenant” within the meaning of the Mobilehome Residency Law. Such a person is, at best, a “guest” who may not reside in the park without management’s consent. (Rule 2.C, ante, p. 1150.)
The terms given to us by the Legislature are instructive: “ ‘Management’ means the owner of a mobilehome park or an agent or representative authorized to act on his behalf in connection with matters relating to tenancy in the park.” (§ 798.2.) “ ‘Homeowner’ is a person who has a tenancy in a mobilehome park under a rental agreement.” (§ 798.9.) “ ‘Rental agreement’ is an agreement between the management and the homeowner establishing the terms and conditions of a park tenancy. A lease is a rental agreement.” (§ 798.8.) “ ‘Tenancy’ is the right of a homeowner to the use of a site within a mobilehome park on which to locate, maintain, and occupy a mobilehome, site improvements, and accessory structures for human habitation, including the use of the services and facilities of the park.” (§ 798.12.) Section 798.34 precludes the charging of fees for guests who stay 20 consecutive days or less, or less than 30 days in a calendar year. Thus, a fee may be charged for guests who stay longer.
The fair import of these provisions is that the Legislature has determined that management should have some control over long-term residents of the mobilehome park.
When the statutes and rules are read together, it is apparent that a “subtenant” who resides in the mobilehome park without the consent of the management is not a tenant at all. Rather, such a person, at best, can only be a “guest,” and may only lawfully reside in the mobilehome park with the *1152management’s consent pursuant to the park rules. As indicated, the Mobile-home Residency Law makes no provision for subtenants. Since this is so, there is no statutory authorization or mechanism for enforcement of the park rules and regulations against such a person. If such a person is permitted to stay, it may impinge on the rights of the lawful residents of the park who are required to follow the rules.
Section 798.88 provides that “(a) . . . any person in violation of a reasonable rule or regulation of a mobilehome park may be enjoined from the violation . . . .”
In essence, the majority declare that the rule which effectively prohibits subleasing is unreasonable and not subject to enforcement pursuant to injunction and that such is an unreasonable restraint on alienation. Given the sui generis nature of the mobilehome park-true tenant relationship, the rule which effectively prohibits subleasing without the consent of the park owner is not unreasonable and is not an unlawful restraint on alienation.
In granting the injunction, the trial court said: “On the facts presented in the verified petition, the declarations, and at the injunction hearing, this court also factually finds the mobilehome park’s written rule limiting occupancy to owners to be reasonable as applied in the circumstances here.” Substantial evidence supports this factual determination (Monogram Industries, Inc. v. Star Industries Inc. (1976) 64 Cal.App.3d 692, 703 [134 Cal.Rptr. 714]; American Academy of Pediatrics v. Van de Kamp (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 831, 838 [263 Cal.Rptr. 46]) and, as explained, the legal determination is not erroneous.
The parties, the trial court, and the majority analyze condominium cases with respect to the reasonableness of the instant park rules. The analogy is, however, inapposite. Condominiums are not analogous to mobilehomes. The owner of a mobilehome has no ownership interest in the land. The owner of a mobilehome has a lease for space upon which to park his or her mobile-home. “Conditions restraining alienation, where repugnant to the interest created, are void.” (§711.) “Where the interest created is a leasehold, a restriction on alienation is less likely to be considered repugnant.” (Carma Developers (Cal.), Inc. v. Marathon Development California, Inc. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 342, 358 [6 Cal.Rptr.2d 467, 826 P.2d 710].)
The instant park rules are not unreasonable and are not repugnant to the leasehold for space upon which a mobilehome is to be parked. Subletting, without the consent of management, may result in a deterioration in the quality of the rented mobilehome and the mobilehome common areas. *1153Experience has shown that people take better care of their own property than that of the property of others. Other homeowners in the park have operated under the assumption that no subletting is permissible. As indicated, the “subtenant” is not bound by the park rules and there is no mechanism for enforcement of the rules against the subtenant.
The Mobilehome Residency Law was designed to protect “. . . the owners of mobilehomes occupied within mobilehome parks . . . .” (§ 798.55, subd. (a).) It was not designed to protect subtenants. Enforcement of the rules will not result in an eviction. Evans has many choices: 1) she can move into the mobilehome, 2) she can sell the mobilehome at whatever the market will bring, 3) she can come to some accommodation with management, 4) she can move the mobilehome from the park. What she cannot do is an end-run around the Mobilehome Residency Law and the rules which were extant both before and after July 27, 1992. Even though the cost of moving a mobilehome is not insignificant, a mobilehome is mobile and is designed to be moved.
In my view, section 798.55, subdivision (a) envisions protections for a homeowner who actually resides in the park. It was not enacted as a springboard for a homeowner to sublease his or her mobilehome. The judgment should be affirmed.

All further references are to the Civil Code.