The following is paragraph 1.3 on page 1 of Tatum Kaplan "Standard Multiple Year Lease/Rental Agreement." It explains what you can do to cancel the lease. Let's take a look at this short paragraph.
"RESIDENT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT RESIDENT IS RECEIVING MANY IMPORTANT BENEFITS FROM THIS AGREEMENT, EXAMPLES OF WHICH ARE: PEACE OF MIND BECAUSE OF THE LONG-TERM RENT STABILITY AND KNOWLEDGE OF HOW RESIDENT'S RENT INCREASES WILL BE CALCULATED IN THE FUTURE;..." In retrospect, I would really like to to question the important benefits we receive from this "agreement?" The paragraph states that we will have "peace of mind because of the long-term rent stability." Ask any resident who has signed this lease and they will tell you that there is nothing further from the truth. How can we have "peace of mind" with a contract that allows for anywhere between 10% to more than 70% rental increases?
"The knowledge of how resident's rent increases will be calculated in the future" is supposedly another benefit the contract claims we receive. I have covered the rent calculations in a previous post however, with the confusing way in which this contract is constructed, how could a prospective resident foresee the possibility of the egregious increases we now face that force many of us out of our homes?
Another "benefit" that supposedly provides us with "peace of mind" is the "resident's ability to terminate this agreement without any liability to owner by selling/transferring residents mobilehome or assigning resident's right to occupy resident's space to someone who will accept an assignment of this agreement." So, in order to cancel this contract, you must submit to playing the park owners' nefarious game by convincing someone else to accept this Trojan Horse contract. If you somehow convince someone to buy your home and accept assignment of this agreement, then they will not be eligible to the benefits of rent control. There is nothing in this contract that would indicate the difficulties we would face in selling/transferring our homes in the future.
The final section of this paragraph states that you can terminate this agreement without any liability to the owners by moving your mobilehome from the park and allowing control of the space to revert to the owners. This is not as easy as it sounds since it may cost $15,000 to $20,000 to move a mobilehome. If you can't afford the rent that has ballooned up beneath your home then where is $15-20,000 going to come from? Also, it is my understanding that some mobilehome movers will not move a used mobilehome...depends on the age of the home.
There are two other ways you can terminate the contract. One is to just wait and do nothing until the rent has been increased so much you cannot afford to pay it. This will then result in an unlawful detainer being filed against you and most likely you will be evicted. The end result is a judgment against you and the parkowners get your home. The second way is to simply walk away from your home and this results in the parkowners getting your home.
So, does it feel like you are being held hostage in your own home? Every month you pay Tatum and Kaplan ransom in order to keep your home which you are unable to sell because of their predatory contract. You can't sell your home because at this point in time the rent far exceeds space rents in other parks in the City of Upland. You can't move your home because of its age or the costs of moving it. The ultimate ransom you must pay to escape these evil landlords is giving them your home. Where are the "benefits?" Where is the "peace of mind?"
No comments:
Post a Comment