Court Backs Mobile-Home Residents

By Christie Smythe, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Aug. 4–In the 1980s, Violet Atkisson, 92, and her husband were looking for a pleasant place to spend their retirement that offered economic security. They thought they’d found the perfect place when they learned about Mission View Club Estates.

The retiree-oriented mobile home park on the Tohono O’odham Nation offered residents leases as long as 40 years with strict provisions against sharp rent increases. The current rent is only $27.51 per month.

Despite those protections, Atkisson and other residents say the park’s operator, Tom Schulte, is finding another way of getting more money out of them — by passing along maintenance fees they say he’s not supposed to charge. Two years ago, the fees jumped 205 percent, from $35.60 to $108.63 a month.

With help from Southern Arizona Legal Aid, the residents took the park operator to Pima County Superior Court, and a judge recently decided in their favor. But the operator said he will fight the ruling and told the residents to keep paying.

Atkisson, who is now a widow, said that like many of the long-term leaseholders at the park, she and her husband put down their entire savings to pay for much of their lease upfront, and she wants to see it honored.

“They’re trying to do something to take it away from us,” she said about the long-term leases. “We paid into it. We paid a hefty price. And we don’t want them to take it away from us.”

Homes, not land, theirs

As is the case with most mobile-home parks, residents at Mission View Club Estates, at 31 W. Los Reales Road, own their trailers but not the land they sit on. That’s one reason mobile-home parks are viewed as good investments, said mobile-home-park investment consultant Frank Rolfe, of Missouri — the residents aren’t actually mobile, because mobile homes are difficult and expensive to move.

“What ends up happening is you and your tenant are stuck together,” whereas in an apartment building “a tenant is free to vote with their feet,” he said.

But there’s one big difference between Mission View and most other mobile-home parks: Because the land is owned by the Tohono O’odham Nation, not the landlord, long-term residents are protected against big rent increases because their rents are tied to the landlord’s master lease.

According to Schulte, the going rent at a park as nice as Mission View — which has amenities such as a clubhouse, pool and spa — is well over $300 a month. Schulte said he charges non-long-term tenants about $325.

Mission View has about 370 mobile-home spaces, according to an attorney representing the residents. Residents say there are about 50 to 60 long-term leaseholders at the park.

The Mission View development also includes RV spaces and a family section. Those leaseholders were not involved in the case.

Schulte said the maintenance-fee increases were necessary because the long-term residents have been subsidized by the park.

“Perhaps they resist paying their share,” he said. “We all know the cost of living has gone up. Some people believe it has not gone up.”

Fees were fair

The fees the long-term residents have been charged were previously set by a homeowners association that was established in the 1980s, when the park was opened. Although the owners were the only voting members of the association, residents said the fees were fair. They were charged only the exact cost of keeping up the park, they said.

The situation changed after Schulte bought the park in 1991 and later transferred ownership to a limited liability company. In 1996, he allowed the homeowners association to be dissolved, according to court documents. Residents were then told they would have to pay a maintenance fee to the landlord instead.

Long-term leaseholder Dave Stoddard, 79, said he and other residents tried to seek legal remedies but found the cost prohibitive.

Then Ruben Montalvo moved in.

Fees not only problem

Montalvo, a retired police officer and volunteer director of the Arizona Association Manufactured Homes & R.V. Owners, took over a long-term lease at the park almost four years ago. He didn’t like what he saw happening to fellow residents.

The fees aren’t the only problem, he said — some long-term tenants have been maneuvered out of their leases, or coaxed into signing documents agreeing to the new maintenance-fee arrangement.

Schulte denied that any residents were manipulated.

According to court documents, Atkisson, 92, is one of several residents who agreed to the new fees, but she doesn’t recall signing any documents.

Montalvo started collecting documents and looking into the situation. He also helped start another homeowners association, of which he is president. After the 2005 fee increase, Montalvo took the case to Legal Aid.

“We have some people here, some senior citizens, they’re on a very fixed income,” Montalvo said. The fee increase “doesn’t seem like much, but it’s enough to make a difference in what they can really buy.”

Legal Aid attorney Bruce Plenk argued that only the former homeowners association was permitted to collect the maintenance fees, not the landlord.

The judge issued a decision July 19 stating that the maintenance fees violated the long-term leases, but he requested further briefings to determine what, if any, refund is owed. Plenk said he is still determining that amount.

Montalvo said he expects the total will probably be more than $100,000.

Atkisson and other residents said they were happy about the decision, although they know it’s too early to celebrate.

“We are convinced they’re not going to get the upper hand,” she said.

–Long-term leaseholders at a senior-oriented mobile-home park, Mission View Club Estates, say they paid hefty down payments when moving into the park years ago. In return, they were promised their rents would stay low. But now the park’s owner is charging higher maintenance fees.

–A judge recently decided the fees violate the residents’ leases.

–Thomas Schulte, president of Mission View Management Inc., contends the fees are necessary to keep up the park. The residents are also paying well below market value for their lots.

–Contact reporter Christie Smythe at 434-4083 or csmythe@azstarnet.com.

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