A scenario for a manufactured home community posed to the court of appeals in Saskatchewan, Canada provided an interesting answer.

If you own a manufactured home but rent the land on which it sits, are you legally a renter?

According to the court, you are.

Per the Regina Leader Post, the story began in 2014, when a new ownership took over Copper Sands – an 80 plus home community just east of Regina.

Soon after, the Rentalsman had complaints coming to its office from tenants about that new landlord, Copper Sands Land Corporation.

Rents were increased, maintenance issues were reported and one resident reported that they had been forced to sign an unconscionable rental agreement.

In each instance, the Rentalsman ruled in favor of each of those residents.

And then, the story took an interesting turn.

The landlord argued the Rentalsman had no jurisdiction to make those decisions, because those making the complaints owned their homes, while the landlord only owned the site on which they sat.

Because of this, a lawyer for the landlord argued the Residential Tenancies Act, which governs the Rentalsman, did not apply. Further, the complaints from residents needed to go to a higher court.

“In winning, we’ve established a precedent that is good for all of the residents of all of the mobile homes [sic] in Saskatchewan,” said Don Lussier, the president of the Copper Sands Tenant Association.

“It is unfortunate that it took this long and this drawn out, and that the landlord originally took the position that the act didn’t apply.”

After two-plus years of legal back and forth, the appeal court ruled at the end of January that the Rentalsman did indeed have jurisdiction over the residents.

“I didn’t think the water was muddy to begin with,” said Lawyer Eric Marcotte, who represented some of the Copper Sands residents. Marcotte felt that there was never any ambiguity in the legislation.

The residents of Copper Sands pulled together to support the legal fees that came with having to argue their case at the appeals court. And, despite less than ideal circumstances, brought the community close together.

“It’s certainly a financial strain on them. It’s not cheap to take a decision all the way to the Court of Appeal,” said Marcotte.

With the ruling in place, the complaints of those living in Copper Sands, many of which are unresolved, will now go to the Rentalsman.

As of this month, 50 of the 80 Copper Sands residents had claims before the Rentalsman office. ##

 

(Image credits are as shown above.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.