Statewide Iowa — Lawmakers working for the past few years on legislation to protect mobile home residents from being priced off the properties have reached a bipartisan compromise.
Republican Representative Brian Lohse of Bondurant had hoped to do more, but he says the bill’s latest version has the support of mobile home park owners and is likely to pass the House.
The bill would require notices of rent and utility increases be provided sooner and it would offer some protections from retaliation by mobile home park owners. It would not limit rent hikes. Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls of Coralville began working on the issue in 2019 after learning of sizable rent increases at mobile home parks in his area.
Wahls made his comments during a recent taping of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. Democratic Representative Lindsay James is from Dubuque, where residents of the Table Mound Mobile Home Park say they’ve faced skyrocketing fees after a Colorado company bought the property four years ago.
The bipartisan bill cleared a House panel this week. There are at least 549 mobile home parks in Iowa and a Legislative Services Agency report found nearly half are owned by out-of-state companies.
