If you operate mobile home parks, 2025 wasn’t just another year of watching interest rates. It was the year the regulatory tide finally turned — and operators who haven’t adjusted are already behind.

From Washington State to New Jersey to Michigan, a wave of new manufactured housing legislation is reshaping how rent increases work, what notice requirements look like, what happens when you want to close a park, and how your on-site managers need to be trained. This isn’t a trend you can ignore. It’s happening right now, and the patchwork of state-by-state rules is getting more complicated every month.

Here’s what you need to know.

The New Landscape: A State-by-State Breakdown

Washington State (Effective May 7, 2025)

Washington’s HB 1217 is one of the most operator-constraining laws yet enacted in a non-coastal state. Annual lot rent increases are now capped at 5%. You cannot raise rents in the first 12 months of a tenancy. And you must provide a minimum of 90 days’ written notice before any increase takes effect.

The practical impact: if you want a rent increase effective January 1, you need to send notices by October 3rd — and you need to be sure that tenant wasn’t placed within the past year. One missed detail means your increase is void and potentially creates legal exposure.

New Mexico (Effective July 1, 2025)

House Bill 442 introduced formal rent stabilization for mobile home parks in New Mexico. Increases are limited to 3% in the first year and 5% annually thereafter. You can increase only once every 12 months. For operators who’ve been doing two increases per year to catch up on value-add acquisitions, this changes the underwriting entirely.

New Jersey (Effective March 1, 2026)

New Jersey’s new cap sits at 3.5% per year without prior approval. If you want to go higher, you’ll need to petition the Department of Community Affairs and demonstrate that current rents are insufficient to cover documented cost increases — taxes, maintenance, capital improvements. This “prove it” standard is a significant operational burden for self-managed operators without clean, organized financial records.

Michigan (Introduced May 2026)

Michigan’s six-bill package is the most comprehensive state-level manufactured housing reform in years. The package includes: mandatory annual inspections, a new licensing framework for operators, prohibition on disproportionate utility markups, a requirement for 12 months’ advance notice before closing or changing the use of a community, and a resident right-of-first-negotiation when a park is listed for sale. The utility markup prohibition alone will require operators to audit how they’re billing water and sewer.

Florida (Proposed, July 2026)

Florida’s Senate Bill 1550 isn’t final yet, but the direction is clear. Proposed changes include extending the non-payment of rent notice from 5 to 10 days, prohibiting electronic payment as the sole collection method, and requiring operators to provide documented financial justification for rent increases — with supporting materials tenants can review. Relocation and abandonment compensation for displaced residents would also increase significantly.

California (Effective January 2026)

California continues to add requirements. The new manager training mandate requires at least one on-site manager or assistant manager per community to complete 6-8 hours of initial training, pass an annual online exam, and complete follow-up training every two years. New home sale requirements demand sellers provide a Transfer Disclosure Statement to management, and management must approve or reject prospective buyers within 15 days. Electronic delivery of the Mobilehome Residency Law is now permitted with resident consent — one small administrative relief.

Why This Is Hitting Multi-State Operators Hardest

If you operate in one state, compliance is hard but manageable. You work with one set of rules, one attorney, one set of lease templates.

If you operate in three or more states — which is increasingly common among growth-oriented mobile home park investors — you’re now tracking fundamentally different rules for rent increases, notice periods, eviction timelines, manager training, utility billing, and park closure requirements in each jurisdiction. And the rules are changing annually.

The cost isn’t just legal fees. It’s the operational drag of running parks under different protocols. It’s the risk that a property manager in one state uses a template from another state. It’s the compliance audit you’ll eventually face when a resident or regulator calls you out.

What Smart Operators Are Doing Right Now

1. State-specific lease addenda, updated annually. Your standard lease is almost certainly not compliant in every state you operate. Work with a manufactured housing–specialized attorney — not a general landlord-tenant attorney — to create addenda for each state. Review them annually against legislative updates. This is table stakes for multi-state portfolios.
2. A 90-day notice default, regardless of state requirements. Most states require 30-60 days. Some now require 90. Rather than tracking state-specific minimums, adopt 90 days as your firm standard. It costs you nothing and makes you compliant everywhere, including in states where the floor is about to rise.
3. Documented cost justification for every rent increase. Even in states that don’t yet require it, building the habit of documenting your cost basis for rent increases will protect you when — not if — your state’s rules change. Keep annual utility cost summaries, insurance renewal docs, and capital expenditure logs on file. These become your compliance record.
4. A pending legislation watchlist for your operating states. Assign someone on your team — or set a quarterly calendar reminder — to check the status of manufactured housing legislation in every state where you operate. What’s pending in Florida and Michigan today is coming to NC, TN, and GA tomorrow.
5. Manager training now, not when it’s mandated. California’s training requirements will spread. Get your on-site managers trained on fair housing, lease compliance, and manufactured housing-specific tenant relations today. Document it. When your state passes its version of the law, you’re already ahead.

The Bigger Picture

Let’s be clear about what’s driving this. Manufactured housing is the last significant source of unsubsidized affordable housing in America. Median lot rents have risen 45% over the last decade. Private equity acquisitions have made mobile home park operators a convenient villain in the housing crisis narrative. Legislators are responding to their constituents.

Operators who see this as adversarial are going to fight a losing battle. The smarter play is to run your communities in a way that could survive a 60 Minutes camera crew — transparent rent practices, well-maintained infrastructure, responsive management. That’s not just ethical operating; it’s the best regulatory defense you have.

The patchwork of state laws isn’t going to simplify. But operators who build compliance into their systems now — not reactively after a violation — will have a significant operational advantage over those who don’t.

Want a framework for evaluating regulatory risk before you buy a community in a new state? Keel Team’s Mobile Home Park Due Diligence Playbook includes a regulatory risk checklist covering rent control exposure, notice requirements, and compliance red flags by state.

Andrew Keel is the founder of Keel Team, a mobile home park investment firm focused on off-market acquisitions in the Southeast and Midwest. Keel Team operates 50+ communities and publishes regular research on the manufactured housing space at keelteam.com.