Updating a story MHProNews last posted Jan. 30, 2014 regarding a 16-year attempt by the residents of Naples Estates (Fla.) manufactured home community (MHC) to purchase their community, Collier County Circuit Judge Hugh Hayes had ruled in favor of the Naples Estates Homeowners Association (NEHA) to seek financing to buy the 484 home site MHC. In the late 1990s it was part of a 39 package of MHCs that Norton Karno’s company, Manufactured Home Communities, offered for sale for $390 million, with Naples Estates valued at $11.4 million. MHProNews was told by naplesnews.com when Karno disregarded Naples Estates’ first right of refusal and sold his properties, the residents sued, and after a long legal tug-of-war, won the right to purchase the community.

Now, the selling price and terms of the sale are being disputed in court, as is the owner’s claim of being entitled to raise the rents 46 percent for back rent, and evict those who cannot afford, or are unwilling, to pursue the case, and place the back rent in a registry. Manufactured Home Communities seems determined to hold on to the property. There are currently seven pending legal issues– three pending lawsuits between the owner and the HOA, one of which stops all legal activity between the two parties, and relinquishes control to the owner; and two more brought by residents against the HOA board of directors, both accusing the board of impropriety and wrongdoing, amid charges that the owner has “plants” among the residents.

In a letter to the residents from their attorney, A.J. Stanton, III, describing the continuing litigation, one settlement over the rent dispute would set the rents at $575 a month with the increase for three years based on the consumer price index (CPI). After that, the rent would be market rate. The owner is also offering to provide more amenities. The settlement is on the table, while the lawsuits remain, full of uncertainties should they continue. Stay tuned. ##

(Image credit: cnnmoney.com)