As the owner of a manufactured home residing in a rental park, if you believe your landlord is violating the Arizona Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act and he or she has not responded to your inquiries regarding the violation, you have several options:

1. Request a mediation;
2. File a case against your landlord with the Mobile Home Parks Hearing Officer;
3. File a case against your landlord in a court of law; or
4. Do nothing.

This booklet is going to discuss the first two options above. The information contained herein is not meant to replace the services of an attorney. If you have a question regarding the legality of a certain action, you should contact an attorney.

Mediation is a voluntary, non-binding process through which two parties attempt to reconcile their differences with the assistance of outside parties. By participating in the mediation process offered for manufactured housing communities, neither party forfeits their rights to civil action.

However, the goal of mediation is to settle any dispute(s) so that civil action (i.e., a lawsuit) is not necessary. Legal actions tend to be expensive and immediately place the two parties in adversarial roles. Mediation for disputes between mobile home park residents and landlords is offered through a joint effort between the Arizona Association Manufactured Home Owners, Inc. (AAMHO) and the Manufactured Housing Communities of Arizona (MHCA). Both organizations are non-profit organizations; AAMHO represents people who live in mobile homes throughout the state and MHCA represents mobile home park owners. At least one party to the mediation must be a member of AAMHO or MHCA.

Two professionally trained mediators are assigned to each case – one mediator from AAMHO and one from MHCA. The mediators are not judges; instead, their responsibility is to assist the resident and landlord in the settlement of a dispute by assuring that the lines of communication remain open. The mediators may offer guidance in some areas, but will not render a judgment at the end of the mediation process. During mediation, the mediators will first meet with one party to find out what they would like to see done to settle the dispute. The mediators will then meet with the other party to find out what they are willing to do. The mediators will go back and forth between the two parties; meeting with each one in private, until some agreement is reached (even if the agreement is that the two parties disagree). Neither party to a mediation can be represented by an attorney; however, one person may act as a spokesperson for co-parties. At the end of a mediation, the mediators will write o ut the agreement and ask each party to sign it.

If you are interested in using the mediation process offered by AAMHO and MHCA, contact the AAMHO office for a mediation application. Remember, either you must be a member of AAMHO or your landlord must be a member of MHCA to be eligible to use this mediation program. As soon as the completed application is received, MHCA will contact your park owner to see if he or she will agree to mediation. If so, a date and location will be set for the mediation and both parties will be contacted to make sure they are available. A mediation agreement is not a legal document; however, we hope that your signature on the agreement means enough to you that you will abide by the agreement.

Under Section 41-2198 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, the mobile home parks hearing officer shall "adjudicate complaints regarding and ensure compliance with the Arizona mobile home parks residential landlord and tenant act. . ." If you believe your landlord is violating the Arizona Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (the "Act"), you have the right to file a case with the hearing officer. The Mobile Home Parks Hearing Officer is an administrative hearing officer as opposed to a judge. The hearing officer works in the executive branch of government, as opposed to the judicial branch. Due to this, the hearing officer can only make restitution, that is correct wrongs, as opposed to being able to award monetary damages. For example, if you filed a case because you felt that your landlord was overcharging you for utilities, the hearing officer would be able to rule that the landlord reimburse you for the overcharges; however, the hearing officer would not be able to award any type of "pain and suffering" damages.

Contact the Arizona Office of Manufactured Housing at (602) 255-4072 and request a petition to file a case with the mobile home parks hearing officer.

Complete the petition. It asks you to list your complaint and which sections of the Act you feel are being violated. You cannot file a class action suit with the hearing officer (i.e., the tenants of XYZ Park vs. the Landlord). However, if more than one person in the park has the same complaint, you can all sign the same petition and just pay one filing fee. Everyone who signs the petition should be at the hearing. If your case involves the residents receiving some sort of a refund of overcharges (such as overcharges for utilities) and you win, the landlord will only be obligated to give refunds to those residents who signed the complaint and appeared at the hearing.

Return the petition and a $50 filing fee to the hearing officer. If you prevail in the case, the hearing officer will order the landlord to reimburse the $50 fee to you.

1. Your petition will be reviewed by the Director of the Office of Manufactured Housing to verify it is a violation of the Act. It will then be forwarded to a state hearing officer at the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings.
2. The hearing officer will send a copy of your complaint to the landlord and give the landlord 10 days to respond.
3. The hearing officer will then send you a copy of the landlord's response and a letter asking if you wish to proceed with a hearing or dismiss it. If the complaint(s) have been rectified, you may wish to dismiss your case. If you wish to proceed, a date will be set for the hearing. It normally takes about 60 days from the date you file your complaint until the date of your hearing.

Either party may be represented by an attorney at the hearing. The hearing is much like a court case. You must prove your complaint to the hearing officer through witnesses and evidence. Evidence may include pictures, any written documents and videotapes. The landlord has a right to cross-examine your witnesses (ask them questions), so the witnesses must be prepared. After you present your side of the case, the landlord has an opportunity (again through witnesses and evidence) to prove that you are wrong. As the person who filed for the case, you will then have the last word to prove that anything the landlord stated is false. Either a landlord or tenant can file for a hearing. The person filing for the hearing is the petitioner. If there are more than three petitioners, the hearing officer will designate three of these petitioners to act as their representatives to receive all notices mailed by the hearing officer. At the request of either party, or upon his own motion, the hearing officer may conduct a “pre-hearing conference” prior to the opening of the hearing. This gives the two parties an opportunity to reach an agreement on their own, without the hearing officer making a judgment. Any agreement reached will be put in writing and signed by the hearing officer. If the parties cannot reach agreement on a topic, the hearing will commence. Each witness should only be called one time. In other words, if you have 5 different complaints against your landlord and Mr. Smith is going to testify about 3 of these complaints, he should do so at one time. However, make sure the hearing officer always understands which complaint is being discussed. You should bring 3 copies of all of your evidence to the hearing (for you, the hearing officer, and the landlord). Each piece of evidence should be numbered in the order you plan to present it. You have the right to subpoena a witness; just call the hearing officer for details. The hearing officer has the right to consolidate hearings involving a common question of fact or a common respondent in order to avoid unnecessary costs or delays.

After the hearing, the hearing officer will issue a written decision within 15 days. The decision will state the hearing officer's findings of fact, which laws are being considered and what actions (if any) must be done and by what dates. If either party is unhappy with the hearing officer's decision, they can appeal the decision to the Director of the Office of Manufactured Housing. If they are unhappy with the Director's decision, they can then appeal the case to the Arizona Superior Court.