Senate Bill No. 279

Introduced By crippen, estrada, sands, mcculloch, dowell, eck, ewer, carey, harper, j. johnson, mood, cocchiarella, gillan, squires, stovall, ellingson

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act eliminating a REVISING THE provision allowing the landlord of a mobile home park to terminate a rental agreement if a tenant has violated the same rule of the park two or more times within a 12-month period; INCREASING THE NUMBER OF VIOLATIONS THAT ALLOW TERMINATION FROM TWO TO FOUR IN A 12-MONTH PERIOD; and amending section

70-24-436, MCA."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

Section 1.  Section 70-24-436, MCA, is amended to read:

"70-24-436.   Mobile home parks -- grounds for termination of rental agreement. (1) A landlord of a mobile home park may terminate a rental agreement only by following the procedure set forth in 70-24-422, except as specifically provided in this section, and only for one or more of the following reasons:

(a)  nonpayment of rent, late charges, or common area maintenance fees as established in the rental agreement;

(b)  late payment of rent, late charges, or common area maintenance fees as established in the rental agreement three or more times within a 12-month period if written notice is given by the landlord after each failure to pay, as required by 70-24-422. For this subsection (1)(b), the notice period referred to in 70-24-422(1) is 30 days.

(c)  violation of a mobile home park rule that creates an immediate threat to the health and safety of any resident of the mobile home park if the violation has not been remedied 24 hours after the violator is given written notice of the violation;

(d)  two or more violations within a 12-month period of any combination of one or more mobile home park rules, the violation of which would have a significant adverse impact on the mobile home park or its residents and which that are so designated;

(e)  two or more violations within a 12-month period of the same rule. For this subsection (1)(e), the notice period referred to in 70-24-422(1) is 60 days.

(E) FOUR OR MORE VIOLATIONS WITHIN A 12-MONTH PERIOD OF THE SAME RULE. FOR THIS SUBSECTION (1)(E), THE NOTICE PERIOD REFERRED TO IN 70-24-422(1) IS 60 DAYS.

(f)(e)(F)  two or more violations of 70-24-321(1) within a 12-month period or any violation of 70-24-321(2);

(g)(f)(G)  disorderly conduct that results in disruption of the rights of others to the peaceful enjoyment and use of the premises. For this subsection (1)(g) (1)(f) (1)(G), the notice period referred to in 70-24-422(1) is 30 days.

(h)(g)(H) endangers endangering other residents or mobile home park personnel, or causes causing substantial damage to the mobile home park premises;

(i)(h)(I)  conviction of the mobile home owner or a tenant of the mobile home owner of a violation of a federal or state law or local ordinance, when the violation is detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of other residents or the landlord of the mobile home park, or the landlord's documentation of a violation of the provisions of Title 45, chapter 9;

(j)(i)(J)  changes in the use of the land if the requirements of subsection (2) are met. For this subsection (1)(j) (1)(i) (1)(J), the notice period referred to in 70-24-422(1) is 180 days.

(k)(j)(K)  a legitimate business reason, provided that the landlord meets the following requirements:

(i)  the termination does not violate a provision of this section or any other state statute; and

(ii) the landlord has given the mobile home owner or tenant of the mobile home owner a minimum of 90 days' written notice of the termination.

(2)  If a landlord plans to change the use of all or part of the land composing the mobile home park from mobile home lot rentals to some other use, each affected mobile home owner must receive notice from the landlord as follows:

(a)  The landlord shall give the mobile home owner and a tenant of the mobile home owner at least 15 days' written notice that the landlord will be appearing before a unit of local government to request permits for a change of use of the mobile home park.

(b)  After all required permits requesting a change of use have been approved by the unit of local government, the landlord shall give the mobile home owner and a tenant of the mobile home owner 6 months' written notice of termination of tenancy. If the change of use does not require local government permits, the landlord shall give the written notice at least 6 months prior to the change of use. In the notice, the landlord shall disclose and describe in detail the nature of the change of use.

(c)  Prior to entering a rental agreement during the 6-month notice period referred to in subsection (2)(b), the landlord shall give each prospective mobile home owner and tenant of the mobile home owner written notice that the landlord is requesting a change in use before a unit of local government or that a change in use has been approved.

(3)  For purposes of calculating the total number of notices given within a 12-month period under subsection (1)(b), only one notice per for each violation per month may be included in the calculation."

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