Linnhaven Mobile Home Center in Brunswick. A member of management said he hoped to put the park under contract before the new law required him to give 60 days’ notice of the sale took effect. Luna Soley/The Times Record
Under a new law going into effect Wednesday, mobile home park owners across the state are now required to give tenants and the Maine State Housing Authority 60 days’ notice of their intent to sell the land under residents’ mobile homes.
They must also reveal how much the buyer has offered, giving residents a chance to buy the land themselves.
It’s a change that some mobile home park owners aren’t happy about.
“I think the government should stay out of private enterprise,” said Kurt Scarponi — part of the family that has managed Brunswick’s Linnhaven Mobile Home Center since it opened in 1954. “This is just a big waste of time.”
Scarponi said he had hoped to have the mobile home park under contract to sell prior to the law taking effect Wednesday, but the deal fell through last minute.
“If a park owner were to go under contract before that date, they wouldn’t have to give the tenants first refusal,” Scarponi said.
Within the 60 days outlined by the new law, a group of mobile home owners or an association of owners can make an offer to buy the land, and the park owner is required to negotiate in good faith. In addition, the park owner must give the mobile home owners association 90 days to come up with financing to buy the land.
“This new legislation is an important policy milestone that will protect thousands of Mainers who have the right to adequate, affordable housing,” said Heather Holland, who works for the Cooperative Development Institute, a nonprofit that advocated for the bill.
Linnhaven, located on Maquoit Road, covers 50 acres harboring 300 manufactured homes. Red signs reading “If you’re going over 5 mph, you’re trespassing” line the quiet streets.
Residents who spoke to The Times Record Tuesday were concerned about what would have happened to their costs had the sale been successful.
A road in Linnhaven Mobile Home Center named after the Scarponi family, who owns the park. Luna Soley/The Times Record
Residents shared an email exchange from last June in which Kitt Scarponi, Kurt’s brother, expressed the family’s intention to “hang on [to the park] for about four more years.”
“With that said,” the email read, “we have multiple offers well over $30,000,000. We get calls every week by very large companies. … They will all have to raise the rent by $200 within two years to make their numbers work.”
A two-person manufactured home on a “Standard Site” on the Linnhaven property will cost $530 per month in 2024, not including an entrance fee and a host of other fees that could include trash collection, guest rates, Christmas tree disposal or labor fees from the office. Residents said that rent generally goes up by $20 or $30 every year.
If Scarponi had succeeded in putting Linnhaven under contract last week, he would not have been required to notify tenants or give them a chance to buy the land themselves. But the threat of steep rents put in place by a new owner loom large.
“A lot of us here are worried and fearful,” said one resident who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. “If it goes to a corporation, they don’t care about you and me.”
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