A FAMILY has been forced to leave their home after the mobile park land was bought by a big company.
Residents received a sudden eviction notice and some were only given 10 days to move off the land before extensions were granted.
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Tanya Rowan, a resident of the Hill Mobile Home Park in Fredericksburg, Virginia — about an hour north of Richmond — was distraught after she got the notice around the time she was planning to celebrate her daughter’s graduation.
“My baby is about to graduate, but she burst into tears because I said we can’t afford [a gathering],” Rowan said, according to Fredericksburg Free Press.
“They can’t enjoy anything right now because they don’t know if they’re going to have a home. That’s tough on a kid.”
The mobile home park, which was once a bustling community, has dwindled to only eight homes on the property.
Homes of America purchased the 9.3 acres of land in 2021 and has been accused of operating an “eviction mill,” according to the Minot Daily News.
The company conducted 30 evictions in three mobile home parks in Minot during three months from 2022 to 2023.
Minot’s evictions were due to unpaid rent, but most of the families at Hill Mobile Home Park have paid off their trailers and only pay fees to live on the land.
The Rowans claim that they don’t have any overdue fees, but they have to go to Caroline General District Court on Monday regarding eviction fees for a lease they claim to never have received.
“They kept saying they were bringing a lease,” Rowan said.
“In all this time, you’re telling me you can’t bring a lease. Then they’re telling me it was month-to-month. It was not month-to-month.”
The Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act mandates mobile home community owners to provide a lease and description of MHLRA laws, according to the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society.
It also requires mobile park owners who want to sell or redevelop the park for another use to provide each resident with $2,500 in relocation expenses within six months.
The payment applies once the resident agrees to move the home from the park.
AN EXPENSIVE MOVE
Rowan has been a part of the Hill community since 2012 and she said this abrupt uprooting makes her feel like residents are being treated like “yesterday’s trash.”
WHAT TO DO IN AN EVICTION
If you are facing an eviction after falling behind on your rent, help is available. Many tenant rights vary by state, but some are protected by federal law.
How to respond to an eviction notice depends on your circumstances, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
If you have NOT already received an eviction notice:
- Look into options for getting help with rent costs
- Talk to your landlord about making a repayment plan
- Research local tenant protections against eviction
If you HAVE received an eviction notice or a court has already decided you can be evicted:
- Consider hiring a lawyer; many people are wrongly evicted sooner than necessary, experts said
- Find help from local organizations for aid and support
- Ask the court about your right to pause the eviction
- File an answer in court explaining why you should not be evicted
- Apply for emergency rental assistance from local or federal sources
She added that her monthly disability check isn’t enough to cover what it takes to relocate a trailer home.
The process costs thousands and includes a relocation fee, permit fees, water and sewer hookup, labor costs and demands to meet county regulations.
Rowan also found out recently that there are no waiting lists open to use a Housing Choice Voucher in Virginia.
“I feel like I’m being invaded,” Rowan said.
“Everything is being ripped out. It took me so long to pay the trailer off. So, when I finally pay it off, I’m enjoying it, I’m enjoying watching my kids grow up, and my first grandchild is coming.
“Now, all of a sudden I might lose it all and I have nowhere else to go.”
County officials were unaware of the situation happening at the mobile home park, according to the outlet.
Residents have tried to contact the law firm that works with Homes of America but have had no success.
“You cannot reach them,” Rodney Washington said, a resident of the park for 20 years.
“These people are untouchable.”
Rowan said if she cannot afford to move, her home will be abandoned or demolished.
The U.S. Sun has previously reported on many mobile home evictions including one woman who was forced to leave after living there for 30 years.
Residents of Thornhill Mobile Home Community in Maryville, Tennessee only had 90 days to pack up their whole lives and move out.
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