What to Do When Your Park Closes or Sells

If your community is closing, your state may owe you money to move your home — and in most states that money comes with a deadline that starts running the day the notice arrives.

Five states run relocation funds that pay manufactured homeowners to move when a park closes. Three more require the park owner to pay you directly. Most homeowners who qualify never apply, because nobody tells them the fund exists.

Here's what those funds pay, what your notice period actually is, whether you have any right to buy the community, and what happens if your home can't be moved at all.

This is happening to a lot of people

There are roughly 43,000 to 45,600 manufactured home communities in the country, and about 40% of manufactured homeowners rent their lot rather than own it. Nobody tracks closures nationally — but the state-level numbers that do exist are stark.

How much notice you're owed

This varies more than almost anything else in American housing law. Verify your own state's rule — the range runs from three years to nothing special at all.

State	Notice before closure
Washington	3 years — the longest in the country, raised from 12 months
Oregon	365 days for closure or conversion; 180 days if converting to a subdivision
California	12 months if no local permits are needed. If permits are needed: 60 days' notice of the hearing, then a 6-month termination notice after approval
New Hampshire	18 months for change-of-use evictions
Arizona	180 days
Connecticut	120 days
Texas and many others	No special closure protection — general landlord-tenant notice applies, sometimes as little as 30 days, with no compensation

Local ordinances sometimes go further than state law, particularly in California cities. Oregon is the opposite — it blocks local governments from adding closure rules beyond the state's. There is no federal notice requirement for a private park closing.

The relocation funds, and what they actually pay

Five states run dedicated funds. Read the amounts against what a move actually costs — commonly $5,000 to $15,000 depending on distance and whether the home is single or multi-section.

Arizona — Mobile Home Relocation Fund The most generous. A 2023 change set maximums at $12,500 single-section and $20,000 multi-section; reporting indicates a further increase to $22,500 and $30,000 effective September 2025 — confirm the current figure with the Department of Housing. Pays the lesser of actual moving costs within 100 miles or the maximum. Abandonment pays one quarter of the max. The fund also helps rehabilitate pre-1976 homes moving park to park for income-qualified owners. Where to apply: Arizona Department of Housing

Washington — Relocation Assistance Program Up to $17,000 multi-section, $11,000 single-section, paid partly up front and the rest after the home is moved, its title transferred, or it's demolished. Limited to low-income households. RVs, travel trailers and park models don't qualify. First come, first served, with priority for health-and-safety closures. Where to apply: Department of Commerce, Office of Manufactured Housing

Minnesota — Manufactured Home Relocation Trust Fund Up to $7,000 single-section, $12,500 multi-section for a move within 50 miles. If the home can't be moved, you can get its appraised value in exchange for handing over the title. Homeowners pay $15 a year into it through the park owner. A neutral third party appointed by the municipality reviews claims. Where to apply: Minnesota Housing

Delaware — Manufactured Home Relocation Authority Historically $4,000 single-wide, $8,000 double-wide for a move within 25 miles; abandonment pays $1,500 and $2,500. Funded by a $4.50 monthly per-lot assessment split between owner and resident. Where to apply: DEMHRA

Florida — Mobile Home Relocation Corporation The lowest benefits of the five: $3,000 single-section, $6,000 multi-section for a move within 50 miles. Abandonment pays roughly $1,375 and $2,750. Only Chapter 723 registered parks; park models, travel trailers and motor homes don't qualify, and renters don't qualify. The deadline: you have one year after your change-of-use eviction notice expires to apply — two years in certain litigation circumstances. Miss it and the money is gone. Where to apply: Florida Mobile Home Relocation Corporation

Three states where the park owner pays you directly

State	What the landlord owes
Oregon	$6,000 single-wide, $8,000 double-wide, $10,000 triple-wide or larger. You must give 30–60 days' notice of departure to qualify. The landlord can't charge you to store or dispose of an abandoned home.
Colorado	Your choice: reimbursed moving costs within 100 miles, or the owner buys your home for the greater of in-place market value or $7,500 single-wide / $10,000 double-wide.
California	A closure impact report with a relocation plan is required. If you can't find adequate housing in another park, the party proposing the change must pay the in-place market value of your home. Local ordinances often set specific benefits.

Two things follow from that. Apply even if you think the amount is small. And don't assume the fund covers your move — get the quote first.

If the home can't be moved

This is more common than people expect, and it's usually not about the truck. Destination communities impose age limits, often refusing anything built before 1976 or older than about ten years. Wind zone rules can bar a home from an entire region. Older homes may not survive transport. And moving costs frequently exceed what the home is worth.

Some protections exist:

State	If the home can't be relocated
Minnesota	Appraised-value buy-out through the trust fund, in exchange for the title
Colorado	Owner buys at the greater of market value or the statutory minimum
California	In-place market value if you can't find adequate housing elsewhere
Washington	The landlord is responsible for demolition and disposal if the home stays after you leave
Oregon	The landlord can't bill you to store, sell, or dispose of an abandoned home

Arizona, Florida and Delaware all pay abandonment benefits — less than the moving benefit, but not nothing. Ask specifically about demolition liability before you walk away, because in states without that protection the cost can follow you.

Can you buy the community?

Roughly 20 to 21 states give residents some opportunity to purchase — the Manufactured Housing Institute counts 19, a national homeowners' alliance counts 21. The gap is definitional, and it matters, because most of these laws are much weaker than they sound.

Real protection True right of first refusal You get to match a bona fide offer. Per the National Consumer Law Center's October 2025 survey: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island. Minnesota has one too, but only when the buyer intends to close or convert within a year.

Weaker Notice and good-faith negotiation only The owner must tell you and consider your offer, but doesn't have to accept it or let you match. California, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Maryland, Pennsylvania. Colorado's is unusually strong despite lacking a formal right to match, with penalties starting at $20,000.

The timelines are tight everywhere. Massachusetts gives 45 days to submit a purchase agreement, then 90 days for financing, then 90 to close. New York allows 140 days to match. Illinois requires two-thirds of homeowners to agree within 60 days.

Common exemptions to check: portfolio sales covering multiple parks, family transfers, foreclosure, and eminent domain often fall outside these laws entirely.

Six states offer the seller a tax incentive to sell to residents — Connecticut, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. That's worth mentioning to an owner who's on the fence.

What resident ownership actually looks like

ROC USA, a nonprofit with a Treasury-certified lending arm, has helped residents buy 356 communities since 2008, deploying over $450 million in financing across 22 states. That's a small share of 45,000 communities — these purchases are hard, not impossible.

The outcomes are the argument. Research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire found resident-owned communities had lower lot fees, higher home resale values, and faster sales than investor-owned ones. ROC USA reports cooperative monthly charges rise about 1% a year against 3–4% in investor-owned communities.

If a purchase window exists in your state, contact ROC USA and your state housing finance agency the same week you get the notice. Financing is where these efforts usually die, and it takes longer than the statute allows if you start late.

If it's a sale, not a closure

A sale doesn't displace you immediately, but it usually changes the economics. Between 2023 and 2024, rents in manufactured home communities grew more than five times the pace of rent growth in conventional apartments, according to figures cited by the Joint Economic Committee. Lot rents nationally rose about 45% over the past decade.

Documented post-acquisition increases include roughly 40% at one Michigan community and announced increases up to 60% at one in Iowa. One Florida study found eviction filings rose 40% in the months after a park changed hands.

Rent protection is rare. Statewide caps exist in California (5% plus CPI, sunsetting in 2030), Oregon (the lesser of 7% plus CPI or 10%, tightened to 6% for larger communities in 2025), and Washington (5% annually as of 2025). Vermont lets residents challenge increases above a mediation threshold. Arizona treats an increase above 10% plus CPI in twelve months as a trigger for relocation fund eligibility. Around 100 California cities have their own ordinances.

Most states have no protection, and more than 30 preempt local rent control outright.

The sequence, start to finish

01	Verify the notice is valid Is it a sale or a closure? Does it meet your state's required notice period? Was it properly served? An invalid notice can reset the clock.
02	Find your deadline and calendar it Florida: one year after the eviction notice expires. Arizona: a moving contract within 60 days after relocating. Oregon: 30–60 days' notice of departure to trigger the landlord's payment. Every state is different and every one is unforgiving.
03	Find out if the home can actually go somewhere Get a written moving quote. Call nearby communities and ask their age limit and whether they have an open lot. This single answer decides whether you're moving, taking a buy-out, or fighting to buy the park.
04	Talk to your neighbors If your state has a purchase law, you'll need 51% or two-thirds support depending on the state — and you'll need it fast. Even where no purchase right exists, organized residents get better information and better outcomes.
05	Get help and document everything Your state manufactured housing or consumer agency, legal aid, HUD-approved housing counselors, and resident associations. Keep every notice, letter, and rent record.