Assembly Bill 566, the Mobile Home Resident Protection Act of 2009, was approved Tuesday by the Senate Housing and Transportation Committee. The measure is designed to protect the property and rights of mobile home park residents when parks are converted to condominiums.

“My bill makes sure that the voices of mobile home owners are heard before any park owner attempts to sell the property out from under them,” said Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara. “Mobile home park residents are often seniors with limited financial means. Seniors are the most vulnerable to dramatic changes in their situation. Condo conversions often mean they lose the equity in their homes, are forced to sell at reduced value and leave their communities.”

Recently, a growing number of mobile home park owners have been using a loophole in the law to convert their parks to “resident-owned condominiums” or subdivisions. As a result, many nonpurchasing residents’ house values are drastically reduced, and in some cases, residents are unable to continue to live in their homes due to increased rents and the sale of their spaces.

AB 566 would allow city councils and boards of supervisors to consider whether a majority of the residents of a park support the conversion before approving the sale of a park into a condominium-style development.

— John Mann is a spokesman for Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara.