I read the story about the Fayette County, Iowa mobile home fire that killed two children and an adult this past Saturday, January 01, 2011. The Des Moines Register news story gives few details about causes or ownership so from that story I can draw no firm conclusions. [ 3 dead in N.E. Iowa fire, Des Moines Register, January 1, 2011.] The story did remind me of a case I took on a few years ago and I think it’s worth revisiting. People renting mobile homes should know their rights.

Here is how the case arose. The parents of an infant called my office for advice on what to do about the lack of heat in the mobile home they'd rented from a local slumlord. I decided a home visit was in order and took with me a law student who wanted to know what it’s like to represent real people with real problems.

After this visit the law student had a difficult time sleeping for about a week (something about nightmares and being trapped living in a mobile home park) and she changed her chosen area of the law to government service as a prosecutor. At the trailer park I noticed water dripping down from the electrical chord hanging from the ceiling to the lamp over the kitchen table. The windows were the old louvered types and several had panes of glass missing. To stop the breeze or at least to slow it down they had hung extra thick cloth drapes over the interior windows, like you’d expect to see in a castle. The drapes waffled in the breeze that was coming through the windows where the glass was missing. The landlord had 'repaired' the windows by inserting cardboard instead of replacing the panes with actual glass. Obviously this place was not fit for an animal to live, but the clients could afford nothing more so they put up with it until their infant child was hospitalized for pneumonia. So what can a lawyer do for these people?

Iowa has a landlord and tenant act geared to manufactured or mobile home communities. It provides certain rights and responsibilities for each. See below and visit Justia Laws & Regulations for more details. The landlords have a duty to maintain what they lease/rent to people. The duty to maintain means they have to follow city, county and state codes having to do with health and safety. In other words if you’re going to rent a home to someone it has to be habitable. The same goes for fire safety equipment. See the landlord responsibilities below. For many violations you can get attorney fees so don’t let the idea of not being able to afford an attorney stop you from at least asking an attorney for help. Just keep in mind this isn't very lucrative work so you may have to ask more than one or two.

In the case of my former client part of their “actual damages” we recovered were the medical bills for the child’s hospital stay. Two weeks after we put the landlord on notice with suit papers another mobile home burnt to the ground. What a dump this place was. Some of the doors were nothing more than blankets nailed along the top of the door frame. On the way into the mobile home I noticed spikes protruding out the exterior wall where the landlord had nailed the door frame together with nails that were too long. Slumlord for sure.

What do I get free smoke detectors? Read my blog tomorrow for that information. Have a safe winter in this early part of 2011.

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Iowa CHAPTER 562B - MANUFACTURED HOME COMMUNITIES OR MOBILE HOME - Iowa Code
Title 14 – Property - Subtitle 2 - Real Property - Gifts
CHAPTER 562B - MANUFACTURED HOME COMMUNITIES OR MOBILE HOME PARKS RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT LAW

562B.16  LANDLORD TO MAINTAIN FIT PREMISES.

         1.  The landlord shall:

         a.  Comply with the requirements of all applicable city,

      county and state codes materially affecting health and safety which

      are primarily imposed upon the landlord.

         b.  Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and

      keep the mobile home space in a fit and habitable condition.

         c.  Keep all common areas of the manufactured home community

      or mobile home park in a clean and safe condition.

         d.  Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all

      facilities supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord.

         e.  Provide for removal of garbage, rubbish, and other waste

      from the manufactured home community or mobile home park.

         f.  Furnish outlets for electric, water and sewer services.

         2.  A landlord shall not impose any conditions of rental or

      occupancy which restrict the tenant in the choice of a seller of

      fuel, furnishings, goods, services or mobile homes connected with the

      rental or occupancy of a mobile home space unless such condition is

      necessary to protect the health, safety, aesthetic value or welfare

      of mobile home tenants in the manufactured home community or park.

      The landlord may impose reasonable requirements designed to

      standardize methods of utility connection and hookup.  If any such

      conditions are imposed which result in charges for such goods or

      services, the charges shall not exceed the actual cost incurred in

      providing the tenant with such goods or services. 

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• Iowa Fire Marshall Home Page
• Iowa Fire Marshall Press Releases
• Iowa Fire Marshall Smoke Detector Project
• Iowa Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Duties

 

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Manufactured Home Communities or Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Law

562B.16. Landlord to maintain fit premises

1. The landlord shall:

a.  Comply with the requirements of all applicable city, county and state codes materially affecting health and safety which are primarily imposed upon the landlord.

b.  Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the mobile home space in a fit and habitable condition.

c.  Keep all common areas of the manufactured home community or mobile home park in a clean and safe condition.

d.  Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all facilities supplied or required to be supplied by the landlord.

e.  Provide for removal of garbage, rubbish, and other waste from the manufactured home community or mobile home park.

f.    Furnish outlets for electric, water and sewer services.

2.  A landlord shall not impose any conditions of rental or occupancy which restrict the tenant in the choice of a seller of fuel, furnishings, goods, services or mobile homes connected with the rental or occupancy of a mobile home space unless such condition is necessary to protect the health, safety, aesthetic value or welfare of mobile home tenants in the manufactured home community or park. The landlord may impose reasonable requirements designed to standardize methods of utility connection and hookup. If any such conditions are imposed which result in charges for such goods or services, the charges shall not exceed the actual cost incurred in providing the tenant with such goods or services.

562B.18. Tenant to maintain mobile home space--notice of vacating

A tenant shall maintain the mobile home space in as good a condition as when the tenant took possession and shall:

1.  Comply with all obligations primarily imposed upon tenants by applicable provisions of city, county and state codes materially affecting health and safety.

2.  Keep that part of the manufactured home community or mobile home park that the tenant occupies and uses reasonably clean and safe.

3.  Dispose from the tenant's mobile home space all rubbish, garbage and other waste in a clean and safe manner.

4.  Not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove any part of the manufactured home community or mobile home park or knowingly permit any person to do so.

5.  Act and require other persons in the manufactured home community or mobile home park with the tenant's consent to act in a manner that will not disturb the tenant's neighbors' peaceful enjoyment of the manufactured home community or mobile home park.

6.  Maintain in good and safe working order all utility lines, pipes, and cables extending from the mobile home to outlets provided by the landlord for electric, water, sewer, and other services. This subsection shall not apply to a tenant who does not own the mobile home.