Florida Statutes 723.031 – Mobile home lot rental agreements
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(1) No rental agreement shall contain any rule or regulation prohibited by this chapter, nor shall it provide for promulgation of any rule or regulation inconsistent with this chapter or amendment of any rule or regulation inconsistently with this chapter.
(2) Whether or not a tenancy is covered by a valid written rental agreement, the required statutory provisions shall be deemed to be a part of the rental agreement.
(3) The homeowner shall have no financial obligation to the park owner as a condition of occupancy in the park, except the lot rental amount. The parties may agree otherwise as to user fees which the homeowner chooses to incur. No user fees shall be charged by the park owner to the mobile home owner for any services which were previously provided by the park owner and included in the lot rental amount unless there is a corresponding decrease in the lot rental amount.
(4) No rental agreement shall be offered by a park owner for a term of less than 1 year, and if there is no written rental agreement, no rental term shall be less than 1 year from the date of initial occupancy; however, the initial term may be less than 1 year in order to permit the park owner to have all rental agreements within the park commence at the same time. Thereafter, all terms shall be for a minimum of 1 year.
(5) The rental agreement must contain the lot rental amount and services included. An increase in lot rental amount upon expiration of the term of the lot rental agreement must be in accordance with ss. 723.033 and 723.037 or s. 723.059(4), whichever is applicable; provided that, pursuant to s. 723.059(4), the amount of the lot rental increase is disclosed and agreed to by the purchaser, in writing. An increase in lot rental amount shall not be arbitrary or discriminatory between similarly situated tenants in the park. A lot rental amount may not be increased during the term of the lot rental agreement, except:
(a) When the manner of the increase is disclosed in a lot rental agreement with a term exceeding 12 months and which provides for such increases not more frequently than annually.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 723.031
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- discriminatory: means that a homeowner is being treated differently as to the rent charged, the services rendered, or an action for possession or other civil action being taken by the park owner, without a reasonable basis for the different treatment. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Division: means the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- homeowner: means a person who owns a mobile home and rents or leases a lot within a mobile home park for residential use. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Lot rental amount: means all financial obligations, except user fees, which are required as a condition of the tenancy. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Mobile home: means a residential structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is 8 body feet or more in width, over 35 body feet in length with the hitch, built on an integral chassis, designed to be used as a dwelling when connected to the required utilities, and not originally sold as a recreational vehicle, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- park: means a use of land in which lots or spaces are offered for rent or lease for the placement of mobile homes and in which the primary use of the park is residential. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- park owner: means an owner or operator of a mobile home park. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- parties: means a park owner as defined in subsection (13) and a homeowners' committee selected pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- rental agreement: means any mutual understanding or lease, whether oral or written, between a mobile home owner and a mobile home park owner in which the mobile home owner is entitled to place his or her mobile home on a mobile home lot for either direct or indirect remuneration of the mobile home park owner. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- Unreasonable: means arbitrary, capricious, or inconsistent with this chapter. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
- User fees: means those amounts charged in addition to the lot rental amount for nonessential optional services provided by or through the park owner to the mobile home owner under a separate written agreement between the mobile home owner and the person furnishing the optional service or services. See Florida Statutes 723.003
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) For pass-through charges as defined in s. 723.003.
(c) That a charge may not be collected which results in payment of money for sums previously collected as part of the lot rental amount. The provisions hereof notwithstanding, the mobile home park owner may pass on, at any time during the term of the lot rental agreement, ad valorem property taxes, non-ad valorem assessments, and utility charges, or increases of either, provided that the ad valorem property taxes, non-ad valorem assessments, and utility charges are not otherwise being collected in the remainder of the lot rental amount and provided further that the passing on of such ad valorem taxes, non-ad valorem assessments, or utility charges, or increases of either, was disclosed prior to tenancy, was being passed on as a matter of custom between the mobile home park owner and the mobile home owner, or such passing on was authorized by law. A park owner is deemed to have disclosed the passing on of ad valorem property taxes and non-ad valorem assessments if ad valorem property taxes or non-ad valorem assessments were disclosed as a separate charge or a factor for increasing the lot rental amount in the prospectus or rental agreement. Such ad valorem taxes, non-ad valorem assessments, and utility charges shall be a part of the lot rental amount as defined by this chapter. The term “non-ad valorem assessments” has the same meaning as provided in s. 197.3632(1)(d). Other provisions of this chapter notwithstanding, pass-on charges may be passed on only within 1 year of the date a mobile home park owner remits payment of the charge. A mobile home park owner is prohibited from passing on any fine, interest, fee, or increase in a charge resulting from a park owner’s payment of the charge after the date such charges become delinquent. A mobile home park owner is prohibited from charging or collecting from the mobile home owners any sum for ad valorem taxes or non-ad valorem tax charges in an amount in excess of the sums remitted by the park owner to the tax collector. Nothing herein shall prohibit a park owner and a homeowner from mutually agreeing to an alternative manner of payment to the park owner of the charges.
(d) If a notice of increase in lot rental amount is not given 90 days before the renewal date of the rental agreement, the rental agreement must remain under the same terms until a 90-day notice of increase in lot rental amount is given. The notice may provide for a rental term shorter than 1 year in order to maintain the same renewal date.
(6) Except for pass-through charges, as defined in this chapter, failure on the part of the mobile home park owner or developer to disclose fully all fees, charges, or assessments prior to tenancy, unless it can be shown that such fees, charges, or assessments have been collected as a matter of custom between the mobile home park owner and the mobile home owner, shall prevent the park owner or operator from collecting said fees, charges, or assessments; and refusal by the mobile home owner to pay any such fee, charge, or assessment shall not be used by the park owner or developer as a cause for eviction in any court of law.
(7) No park owner may increase the lot rental amount until an approved prospectus has been delivered if one is required. This subsection shall not be construed to prohibit those increases in lot rental amount for those lot rental agreements for which an approved prospectus was required to be delivered and which was delivered on or before July 1, 1986, if the mobile home park owner had:
(a) Filed a prospectus with the division prior to entering into the lot rental agreement;
(b) Made a good faith effort to correct deficiencies cited by the division by responding within the time limit set by the division, if one was set; and
(c) Delivered the approved prospectus to the mobile home owner within 45 days of approval by the division.
This subsection shall not preclude the finding that a lot rental increase is invalid on other grounds and shall not be construed to limit any rights of a mobile home owner or to preclude a mobile home owner from seeking any remedies allowed by this chapter, including a determination that the lot rental agreement or any part thereof is unreasonable.
(8) If a mobile home owner has deposited or advanced money on a rental agreement as security for performance of the rental agreement, which money is held in excess of 3 months by the mobile home park owner or his or her agent, such deposit shall be handled pursuant to s. 83.49.
(9) No rental agreement shall provide for the eviction of a mobile home owner on a ground other than one contained in s. 723.061.
(10) The rules and regulations and the prospectus shall be deemed to be incorporated into the rental agreement.