H. B. 2483


(By Delegates Gallagher, Rowe and L. White)
[Introduced March 5, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend chapter thirty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated article fifteen, relating to factory-built home site rentals generally; defining terms; requiring written agreements; limiting liability of secured parties; prohibiting certain acts and conduct; providing procedures for terminating tenancy; limiting affect on taxation.

 Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter thirty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new article, designated article fifteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. HOUSE TRAILERS, MOBILE HOMES, MANUFACTURED HOMES AND MODULAR HOMES.

§37-15-1. Purpose and applicability.

The purpose of this article is to recognize the distinctionbetween a house trailer, a mobile home, a manufactured home and a modular home. While it is the intent of this article to include the different classifications of factory-built homes into a single category for the purposes of this article, it is also the intent of this article to acknowledge the differences between the various types of factory-built homes for other purposes.
In addition, it is the purpose of this article to clarify the ambiguity and confusion related to the classification of factory-built homes as real or personal property, particularly relating to security interests. The provisions of this article apply to factory-built homes, as defined herein, which are held as personal property situated on real property owned by another in conjunction with a landlord/tenant relationship.
§37-15-2. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article, unless expressly stated otherwise:
(a) "Abandoned factory-built home" means a factory-built home occupying a factory-built home site, pursuant to a written agreement under which the tenant has defaulted in rent or the landlord has exercised any right to terminate the rental agreement;
(b) "Factory-built home" includes modular homes, mobile homes and manufactured homes;
(c) "Factory-built home rental community" means a parcel of land under single or common ownership upon which two or more factory-built homes are located on a continual, nonrecreationalbasis together with any structure, equipment, road or facility intended for use incidental to the occupancy of the factory-built homes, but does not include premises used solely for storage or display of uninhabited factory-built homes, or premises occupied solely by a landowner and members of his family;
(d) "Factory-built home site" means a parcel of land within the boundaries of a factory-built home rental community provided for the placement of a single factory-built home and the exclusive use of its occupants;
(e) "House trailers" means all trailers designed or intended for human occupancy and commonly referred to as mobile homes or house trailers, but does not include fold down camping and travel trailers as these terms are defined in section one, article six, chapter seventeen-a of this code;
(f) "Landlord" means the factory-built home rental community owner, lessor or sublessor of the factory-built home rental community, or a manager who fails to disclose the name of such owner, lessor or sublessor;
(g) "Manufactured home" has the same meaning as the term is defined in section two, article nine, chapter twenty-one of this code which meets the National Manufacture Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §5401 et. seq.), effective on the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and the federal manufactured home construction and safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of the United States department of housing and urban development;
(h) "Mobile home" means a transportable structure that is wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and designed for long-term residential use and built prior to enactment of the Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §5401 et seq.), effective on the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and usually built to the voluntary industry standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - A119.1 Standards for Mobile Homes;
(i) "Modular home" means any structure that is wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and installation on a building site and designed for long-term residential use and is certified as meeting the standards contained in the state fire code encompassed in the legislative rules promulgated by the state fire commission pursuant to subsection (b), section five, article three, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(j) "Owner" means one or more persons, jointly or severally, in whom is vested (i) all or part of the legal title to the factory-built home rental community, or (ii) all or part of the beneficial ownership and right to present use and enjoyment of the premises, and the term includes a mortgagee in possession;
(k) "Rent" means payments made by the tenant to the landlord for use of a factory-built home site and as payment for otherfacilities or services provided by the landlord; and
(l) "Tenant" means a person entitled pursuant to a rental agreement to occupy a factory-built home site to the exclusion of others.
§37-15-3. Written agreement required.

(a) All terms governing the rental and occupancy of a factory-built home site shall be contained in a written agreement which shall be dated and signed by all parties thereto prior to commencement of tenancy. A copy of the signed and dated written agreement and a copy of this article shall be given by the landlord to the tenant within seven days after the tenant signs the written agreement. The written agreement may not contain any provisions contrary to the provisions of this article and shall not contain a provision prohibiting the tenant who owns his or her factory-built home from selling his or her factory-built home. In the event of the sale of a factory-built home by the tenant, the new factory-built home owner must meet the same standards and restrictions contained in the rental agreement as the tenant if the factory-built home continues to occupy the factory-built home site. The agreement may not provide that the tenant pay any recurring charges except fixed rent, utility charges or reasonable incidental charges for services or facilities supplied by the landlord.
(b) In the event any person possesses a security interest in the factory-built home, the written agreement or rental application shall contain the name and address of any securedparties. The written agreement shall require the tenant to notify the landlord within ten days of any new security interest, change of existing security interest, or settlement or release of the security interest.
§37-15-4. Liability of secured party taking possession of an abandoned factory-built home.

(a) A secured party has no liability for rent to a landlord except as provided below:
(1) In the event a factory-built home subject to a security interest becomes an abandoned factory-built home, notice of abandonment shall be sent by the landlord to the owner of the factory-built home and the secured party by certified mail, at the addresses shown in the rental agreement or rental application. The notice shall include any rental agreement previously signed by the tenant and the landlord.
(2) A secured party who has a security interest in an abandoned factory-built home, and who has taken title to the factory-built home under court order or under the applicable security agreement, shall be liable to the landlord under the same rental agreement terms as agreed on by the tenant and the landlord prior to the accrual of the right of possession by the secured party.
(3) If the tenant has defaulted on paying rent for the factory-built home site and for the services provided, the tenant shall remain liable to the landlord for all rent and services provided during the period while the secured party is attemptingto gain title or exercise a right of possession to the factory- built home, unless the landlord has terminated the rental agreement in which case no further rent or payment for services shall be due to the landlord. The secured party is not liable to the landlord or tenant for rent or services until the secured party completes foreclosure proceedings under the terms of the security agreement or otherwise takes title or exercises a right of possession to the factory-built home.
(4) After the conveyance of title to or the exercise of a right of possession of the secured party, the secured party shall have ten business days to remove the factory-built home. If a secured party who has a security interest in an abandoned factory-built home takes title to or possession of the factory- built home and the factory-built home remains in the factory-built home rental community for a period longer than ten business days, the relationship between the secured party and the landlord shall be governed by the rental agreement previously signed by the tenant and the landlord, except that the term of the rental agreement shall convert to a month-to-month tenancy. No waiver is required to convert the rental agreement to a month- to-month tenancy. Either the landlord or the secured party may terminate the month-to-month tenancy upon giving written notice of a desire to terminate to the other party thirty days or more in advance of the proposed date of termination. The secured party and the landlord may enter into a subsequent agreement but are not required to execute a new rental agreement.
(b) Nothing in this section may be construed to be a waiver of any rights by the tenant.
§37-15-5. Demands and charges prohibited; access by tenant's invitee; purchases by factory-built home owner not restricted; exception; conditions of occupancy.

(a) A landlord may not demand or collect:
(1) An entrance fee for the privilege of renting or occupying a factory-built home site;
(2) A commission on the sale of a factory-built home located in the factory-built home rental community unless the tenant expressly employs the landlord to perform a service in connection with the sale but employment of the landlord by the tenant may not be a condition or term of the initial sale or rental; or
(3) A fee for improvements or installations on the interior of a factory-built home, unless the tenant expressly employs the landlord to perform a service in connection with such installation, improvement or sale.
(b) An invitee of the tenant has free access to the tenant's factory-built home site without charge unless a court of competent jurisdiction has ordered otherwise.
(c) A factory-built home owner may not be restricted in his or her choice of vendors from whom he or she may purchase his or her (i) factory-built home, except in connection with the initial renting of a newly constructed factory-built home site not previously rented to any other person, or (ii) goods and services. However, nothing in this article prohibits a landlordfrom proscribing reasonable requirements governing, as a condition of occupancy, the style, size or quality of the factory-built home, or other structures placed on the factory- built home site.
§37-15-6. Termination of tenancy.

(a) Either party may terminate a rental agreement which is for a term of thirty days or more by giving written notice to the other party at least thirty days prior to the termination date: Provided, That the rental agreement may specify a period of notice in excess of thirty days. A landlord may not cause the eviction of a tenant by willfully interrupting gas, electricity, water or any other essential service, or by removal of the factory-built home from the factory-built home site, or by any other willful self-help measure.
(b) If the termination of a rental agreement is due to rehabilitation or a change in the use of all or any part of a factory-built home rental community by the landlord, a one hundred twenty-day written notice is required to terminate a rental agreement. Changes in use shall include, but not be limited to, conversion to hotel, motel or other commercial use; planned unit development; rehabilitation; demolition; or sale to a contract purchaser. The one hundred twenty-day notice requirement may not be waived: Provided, That a period of less than one hundred twenty days may be agreed upon by both the landlord and tenant in a written agreement separate from the rental agreement executed after the notice is given andapplicable only to the one hundred twenty-day notice period.
§37-15-7. Retaliatory conduct prohibited.

(a) Except as provided in this section, or as otherwise provided by law, a landlord may not retaliate by selectively increasing rent or decreasing services or by bringing or threatening to bring an action for possession after the landlord has knowledge that: (1) The tenant has complained to a governmental agency charged with responsibility for enforcement of a building or housing code of a violation applicable to the premises materially affecting health or safety; (2) the tenant has made a complaint to or filed a suit against the landlord for a violation of any provision of this article; (3) the tenant has organized or become a member of a tenant's organization; or (4) the tenant has testified in a court proceeding against the landlord.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, a landlord may terminate the rental agreement pursuant to subsection (a) of section six of this article or for any reason not prohibited by law unless the magistrate or circuit court finds that the primary reason for the termination was retaliation.
§37-15-8. Effect on taxation.

Nothing in this article shall be construed to affect the taxation of factory-built homes.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a distinction between a house trailer, a mobile home, a modular home and a factory-built home. This bill also clarifies the ambiguity and confusion related to the classification of factory-built homes as real or personal property.

This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.