After the April 17th MH Coalition meeting and the decision to create a Marina Issues Subcommittee, the Floating Home Owners in attendance rallied and canvassed to encourage more Floating Home Owners to unite, share concerns, and help us better protect our lifestyle.
While we don’t yet know what this group will officially be called by name, nor do we know what this group’s mission will be in the future, we can say that we are a collective of concerned Tenants who wish to work together to protect our home investments and add more stability to our Landlord-Tenant relationships through legislation which better protects our rights.
We are a force to be reckoned with and there is no turning back now.
On April 30th, the first meeting of only Floating Home Owners was held and we discussed issues that we were having as tenants from multiple marinas. It was such a productive discussion – we realized that we all live in isolation from one another but that we all experience common issues. When we gather, we learn from each other. As we remove the uncertainty, we feel more secure.
At the close of the first meeting, we came to some key agreements:
- The original issue to resolve is that there is a problem with the way marina landlord-tenant relationships currently function.
- We have organized ourselves in order to improve our situations by working to addresses marina landlord-tenant issues through possible legislation.
- Common themes of the group:
- We want stability that comes with slip ownership.
- We want to stop feeling vulnerable to the threat of eviction.
- We want to know what to do when we feel like our rights are being violated.
- We want to hold landlords accountable for the promises they make – maintenance, habitability, safety, etc.
- We want to feel secure in our housing situation, even if the landlord retires, dies,sells, etc.
- We want to stop feeling unaware, being afraid, and/or powerless.
- We are concerned with the marina landlord proposed legislation memo and how it will affect our safety, our views, our community and the environment.
- We would like to work together to bring Marina Tenant protections under Oregon law up the the level that current Manufactured Housing Tenants enjoy.
- We have important issues of our own which can be resolved through legislation and which have not yet been proposed to the MH Coalition who drafts the legislation.
At the conclusion of the meeting, we committed to researching Floating Home Laws in California and Seattle which both appear to protect Floating Home Owners’ rights more than Oregon laws do, even though they have far fewer floating homes than Oregon does.
Before the next meeting of Floating Home Owners, our group doubled in size as more and more people came forward to be a part of the group and share their ideas, experience and skills.
At the second meeting of only Floating Home Owners on May 9th, we focused on preparation for the upcoming Marina Subcommittee meeting with the Marina Landlords.
- We came to consensus about our responses to the Landlord proposed legislation.
- We talked through John VanLandingham’s Memo of Marina Issues (areas where Manufactured Housing Tenant protections have been updated and Marina Tenant protections have lagged behind) and determined which topics were relevant to Marina Tenancies. Some of which include:
- Access to a Marina Tenant-Landlord resource that helps avoid litigation by resolving issues for Tenants and Landlords in exchange for a $10/year assessment
- Requiring Marina Landlords to take continuing education regarding laws and the management of marinas
- Protections for Tenants whose marinas close or are converted to a different use
- Landlord requirements to maintain habitability conditions of docks, etc.
- Resources and requirements to help Tenants purchase their Marinas
- We identified the issues we felt were most important to tackle at the Subcommittee level, some of which include:
- The 3 things that contribute most to Marina Landlords holding power over Tenants and keeping them afraid:
- Fees charged by Marina Landlords – too costly to move your home – and lack of available slips
- Evictions for minor rule infractions
- The legal definition of “Abandoned Property” – allows Marina Landlords to take possession of your home to ‘dispose’ of it when you are evicted
- Mandatory Tenant notification of the laws that protect them – it became clear to Floating Home Owners that none of us knew these laws existed to protect us since their is no advocating body or association for Floating Home Owners. General contractors are required by law to provide lien notices to homeowners at contact signing and we want Marina Owners to provide information to every Tenant about the existence of these laws prior to signing a lease, and make them available to current Tenants.
- The statute of limitations on rights violations for Marina tenancies is only 1 year and is inadequate – too often, because of the nature of the marina rules and that they need to be applied fairly and reasonably, Tenants aren’t even aware their rights have been violated unless they happen to talk to another tenant and the topic comes up. Floating Home tenancies are long-term (13 years is the average for our group that met) and the statute of limitations should more accurately reflect the length of time of actual Floating Home tenancies.
- The 3 things that contribute most to Marina Landlords holding power over Tenants and keeping them afraid:
If any of these issues are important to you as well, please join our group and find out what we are doing to protect Floating Home Owner rights in Oregon and how you can contribute. Email us at rights@FloatingHomeOwners.com and be sure to let us know your name and which marina you come from.