If you’re underwriting a mobile home park deal anywhere in the country right now, you’re doing it in a regulatory environment that didn’t exist two years ago. And if you’re not accounting for that — your numbers are wrong.

The United States is in the middle of an unprecedented legislative wave targeting mobile home park rent increases. State after state is passing new laws — some capping rent growth outright, others creating bureaucratic hurdles that effectively limit it. By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have a clearer picture of the landscape than most operators in the country.

Let me be direct: this isn’t doom and gloom for mobile home park investors. But it is a reality check that demands smarter underwriting, better legal diligence, and a different kind of operator.

How We Got Here

The story starts with private equity. Over the past decade, institutional money flooded into mobile home parks as one of the last “fragmented and undervalued” asset classes. Large funds acquired parks from mom-and-pop operators and implemented aggressive rent increases — in some cases, doubling rents within 3–5 years of acquisition.

The human impact was visible. Residents who bought manufactured homes (sometimes their life savings) suddenly faced rent hikes that made their monthly costs unaffordable. They couldn’t easily move — relocating a manufactured home costs $8,000–$15,000 or more. They were, in a very real sense, trapped.

That narrative gave lawmakers a politically attractive villain to legislate against. And they did. Aggressively.

The 2025–2026 Legislative Wave: State by State

Here’s a snapshot of what has passed or is near passage as of mid-2026:

• North Carolina: The Mobile Home Park Act (SB 518) requires 60 days’ written notice before any rent increase. Parks with open code violations cannot raise rents until compliant. Residents now have a “right of first refusal” to purchase the park before an outside buyer closes.
• Washington State (effective May 2025): A 5% annual hard cap on lot rent increases. No rent increase allowed in the first 12 months of tenancy. Three months written notice required.
• New Jersey (effective March 2026): 3.5% cap without state approval. Any higher increase requires documented cost justification.
• Florida (effective July 2026): Operators must justify rent increases with detailed documentation. Courts get expanded power to rule increases “unreasonable.” Relocation assistance doubled.
• Oregon: 6% annual cap for communities with 30+ spaces.
• Maine (effective October 2025): CPI + 1% or 5%, whichever is less — and increases only permitted to cover documented actual operating and maintenance costs.
• Michigan (2026 bipartisan package): Public ownership database, resident right to purchase, annual inspections, utility markup prohibition, 1-year minimum lease mandate.
• New Mexico: 3% cap proposed for the 2025–26 cycle, 5% ongoing.

This is not fringe legislation from progressive states alone. Michigan’s package is bipartisan. North Carolina is not traditionally known for tenant-friendly housing policy. This wave is broader than its critics want to acknowledge.

What This Means for Deal Underwriting

If you’re modeling a mobile home park acquisition in any of these states and projecting 8–10% annual rent growth, you’re underwriting fiction. Here’s how to think about it correctly:

• Use the legal cap as your revenue growth ceiling. Not “what could we push rents to” — what does the law actually allow? In NC, model 60-day notice and code compliance requirements into your cash flow from Day 1.
• Stress test the trailing 12 NOI. If the current owner implemented rent increases above the new legal cap in the past 12 months, those numbers may not be reproducible. The T12 NOI might be misleading.
• Check code compliance before underwriting rent growth. In North Carolina, a park with open code violations cannot raise rents. Know the code status before you close — not at closing.
• Factor in notice period timing. A 60-day notice requirement means your rent increase doesn’t hit your bank account until month 3 post-close at the earliest. Model that into Year 1 cash flow.
• Get a state-specific legal opinion. Every deal in a regulated state should include a local attorney’s written opinion on current compliance, permissible increase amounts and process, and any open code or registration issues. Budget $2,000–$4,000 per deal — it’s table stakes now.

We cover the full due diligence checklist for navigating regulated markets — including exactly what to ask sellers and how to verify compliance status — in our Mobile Home Park Due Diligence Playbook.

The Silver Lining Operators Don’t Talk About

Here’s what the panic around rent control misses: rent-capped markets produce more stable, longer-tenure residents. And in mobile home parks, tenant turnover is your biggest operational cost.

When residents feel protected from arbitrary rent spikes, they make longer-term commitments to their community. They invest in their homes. They maintain their lots. They pay on time because they’re not scared of what next year’s bill looks like.

If your underwriting requires 10%+ annual rent increases to make the numbers work, you’re probably overpaying for the asset in the first place. Properly acquired parks — bought at the right basis with realistic rent growth assumptions — work fine at 3–6% annual growth. That’s a sustainable business.

The operators who will get hurt by this legislation are the ones who built their models on compression and rent maximization. The operators who will thrive are the ones who built relationships with residents, maintained their infrastructure, and ran their parks like real businesses.

What We Do at Keel Team

At Keel Team, we welcomed the North Carolina Mobile Home Park Act. Not because regulation is always good — but because this particular legislation creates a clearer operating environment and rewards operators who were already doing things right.

We already gave 60-day notice before rent increases. We already maintained code compliance. We never relied on aggressive rent growth to make our deals underwrite. The new rules didn’t change our operations — they just codified what good operators were already doing.

If you’re looking at a deal and the only way it works is with rent growth that exceeds the legal cap in that state — walk away. There are plenty of parks where the numbers work within the rules. Find those deals instead.

The rent control wave isn’t going away. The question is whether you adapt your underwriting to work within it — or keep closing deals that look good on paper and fall apart in practice.

Andrew Keel is the founder of Keel Team Real Estate Investments, specializing in mobile home park acquisitions in the Southeast and Midwest. Keel Team currently operates 50+ communities across multiple states.