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ORDINANCE NO. HC-617
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ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO PROVIDING THAT
2 RENTS FOR MOBILE HOME SITES SHALL NOT EXCEED THOSE IN EFFECT ON
JANUARY 25, 1988 AND TEMPORARILY PROHIBITING RENTAL INCREASES
3 THEREFOR, AND DECLARING THE URGENCY THEREOF.
4 THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
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6 SECTION 1. Purpose. Pending further study of the
7 development and adoption of measures to address the problems
8 created by the present apparent mobile home site shortage, it is
9 necessary, on an interim basis, to prohibit rental increases on
10 mobile home sites within the City of San Bernardino.
11 SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. Unless it is apparent
12 from the context that another meaning is intended, the following
13 words and terms when used herein shall have the meaning ascribed
14 to them by this Section.
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A. "Services": Services connected with the use or
occupancy of a mobile home site including, but not limited to,
repairs, replacement, maintenance, painting, light, heat, water,
refuse removal, sewage removal, furnishings, telephone, parking
and any other benefits, privileges or facilities.
B. "Site": Any area or tract of land or portion of a
mobile home park designated or used for the occupancy of one
mobile home.
C. "Mobile Home Park": Any area or tract of land where
two or more mobile home sites are rented or leased or held out
for rent or lease to accommodate mobile homes used for human
habitation. The rental paid for any such mobile home shall be
deemed to include rental for the site it occupies.
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D. "Mobile Home Park Operator": An owner, lessor,
sublessor, including any persons, firm, corporation, partnership,
or other entity, entitled to receive rent for the use of any
mobile home site, or the agent, representative or successor of
any of the foregoing.
E. "Moratorium period": The period of time beginning on
January 25, 1988, and continuing for fifty-six calendar days
thereafter, or until such time as the Mayor and Common Council
establish a procedure for the adjustment and/or regulation of
rents, whichever occurs first.
F. "Rent":. The consideration, including any bonus,
benefits or gratuity demanded or received, for or in connection
with the use or occupancy of a mobile home site or the transfer
of a lease for such a unit, including but not limited to monies
demanded or paid for parking, for furnishings, for services of
any kind, for subletting, or for security deposits for damage
and/or for cleaning.
G. "Mobile Home Site Rental Units": All mobile home sites
in the City of San Bernardino designed for rental use or actually
rented at any time on or after January 25, 1988, and all
services, privileges, furnishings and facilities supplied in
connection with the use or occupancy thereof, including garage
and parking facilities. The term shall not include:
(1) mobile home sites in nonprofit cooperatives
owned and controlled by a majority of the residents;
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1 (2) mobile home sites which a government unit,
2 agency or authority owns, operates, or manages or which are
3 specifically exempted from municipal rent regulation by state or
4 federal law or administrative regulation;
5 (3) mobile home sites located in a mobile home park
6 completed or newly constructed after the effective date of this
ordinance.
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9 any other person entitled to the use or occupancy of any mobile
10 home site rental unit.
11 I. "Average Per Unit Rehabilitation Cost": The cost of
12 rehabilitation to the mobile home park, or any portion thereof,
13 sufficient to bring the mobile home park into compliance with all
14 applicable City ordinances, divided by the total number of mobile
15 home sites in the mobile home park. The costs of rehabilitation
16 shall have been paid or incurred by the mobile home park operator
17 during the moratorium period or any extension thereof, for
18 rehabilitation work done during the moratorium period or
19 extension thereof.
20 J. "Average Per Unit Capital Improvement COde": The cost
21 of a capital improvement, divided by tne number of mobile home
22 sites in the mobile ho,u<! park. A "capital improvement cost"
23 shall be t.He costs for improvements to the mobile home park or
24 any building or structure located within the mobile home park,
25 which improvements have a useful life of five years or more, and
26 which costs have been paid or incurred by the mobile home
27 operator during the moratorium period or any extension thereof
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"Tenant":
A tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee or
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1 for the capital improvement work done during the moratorium
2 period or extension thereof. This term shall not include
3 expenditures for the purchase of land, an existing building, or
4 an interest in an existing building for the purpose of increasing
5 the number of mobile home sites in the mobile home park; nor does
6 it include expenditures necessary to keep or maintain that level
7 of services provided to the mobile home site rental unit at its
8 applicable rollback date.
9 SECTION 3. Rental Increase Moratorium.
10 A. Beginning on January 25, 1988, and continuing for
11 fifty-six calendar days thereafter, or until such time as the
12 Mayor and Common Council establish a procedure for the adjustment
13 and/or regulation of rents, whichever occurs first, rents shall
14 be at the levels and shall not otherwise be increased except as
15 provided in subparagrah B below.
16 B. During the moratorium period, the maximum rent for a
17 mobile home site rental unit in the City of San Bernardino shall
18 be the following:
19 (1) For a mobile home site rental unit which is
20 rented as of January 25, 1988, and continues to be rented
21 thereafter to one or more of the tenants occupying such rental on
22 January 25, 1988:
23 The rent shall not exceed that in effect on January
24 25, 1988, plus an amount equivalent to the increase in the
25 National Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the year ending December
26 31, 1987. That CPI is hereby declared to be 4.4%. The level of
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services provided to the rental unit on that date shall not be
2 reduced during the moratorium period. No notice to the tenant,
3 whether given before or after January 25, 1988, shall be
4 effective to increase the rent during the moratorium period.
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(2) For a mobile home site rental unit which is not
rented as of January 25, 1988, but is more subsequently rented
and continued to be rented to one or more of the same tenants:
The rent shall not exceed that in effect on the date
the mobile home site rental unit is first rented after January
25, 1988. The level of services provided to the rental unit on
the rental date shall not be reduced during the moratorium
period.
(3) For a mobile home site rental unit voluntarily
vacated on or after January 25, 1988, and prior to the end of the
moratorium period;
If the vacancy was voluntary (i.e., not the result of
an eviction, whether for just cause or otherwise, or of mobile
home park operator's refusal to renew a periodic tenancy or lease
agreement), then the rent may be increased upon the re-rental of
the mobile home site rental unit. So long as such unit continues
to be rented to one or more of the tenants first occupying the
mobile home site rental unit at the time of such re-rental, such
rent shall not exceed that in effect on the date the rental unit
is first re-rented, nor shall the level of services provided on
that re-rental date be reduced during the moratorium period.
(4) For mobile home site rental units vacated other
than voluntarily after January 25, 1988;
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1 The rent for such mobile home site rental unit shall
2 not thereafter exceed the rent in effect immediately prior to
3 such involuntary vacation, unless the unit is subsequently
4 voluntarily vacated. The level of services provided prior to
5 such involuntary vacation shall not be reduced during the
6 moratorium period.
(5) For a mobile home site rental unit which has
been found to be in violation of any then existing City
ordinance:
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The rent shall not exceed that amount dictated by the
above subparagraphs (1) through (4), inclusively, plus the
average per unit rehabilitation cost amortized over not less than
a thirty-six month period, which costs have been incurred by the
mobile home park operator during the moratorium period for
rehabilitation work done during the moratorium period for the
sole purpose of bringing the subject property into compliance
with City ordinances.
(6) For a mobile home site rental unit with respect
to which capital improvement costs are incurred:
The rent shall not exceed the amount dictated by the
above subparagraphs (1) through (5), inclusive, plus the average
per unit capital improvement cost amortized over a sixty-month
per iod.
C. Subparagraph (5) and subparagraph (6) of paragraph B
above shall not be applicable to any mobile home park unless the
mobile home park operator of such mobile home park has provided
the Community Development Department with written proof
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1 satisfactory to that department that the cost of rehabilitation
2 work or capital improvement work was incurred during the
3 moratorium period and that the rehabilitation or capital
4 improvement work was completed during the moratorium period.
5 D. The Mobile Home Park Ad Hoc Committee is hereby
6 authorized to hear and decide the appeal of any action taken by
7 any official of the City of San Bernardino pursuant to the
8 authority of this ordinance except the commencement of criminal
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prosecution and to hear appeals related to the interpretation of
any provision hereof. An appeal of any decision of the Mobile
Home Park Ad Hoc Committee may thereafter be made to the Mayor
and Common Council in accordance with the provisions of Chapter
2.64 of the San Bernardino Municipal Code.
SECTION 4. Violation of Ordinance.
(A) It shall be unlawful for any mobile home park operator
to demand, accept, receive or retain any payment of rent in
excess of the maximum lawful rents set forth in this ordinance.
Any person violating any of the provisions, or failing to comply
with any of the requirements of this ordinance, shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor. Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under
the provisions of this ordinance shall be punishable by a fine of
not more than One Thousand Dollars or by imprisonment in the
County Jail for a period of not more than six months, or by both.
Each violation of any provision of this ordinance, and each day
during which any such violation is committed, permitted, or
continued, shall constitute a separate offense.
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(B) The Community Development Department is hereby
authorized to commence actions for violations of the provisions
of this ordinance through the filing of long form complaints with
the office of the City Attorney.
SECTION 5. Refusal of a Tenant to Pay a Rent Increase. A
tenant may refuse to pay any increase in rent which is in
violation of this ordinance and such violation shall be a defense
in any action brought to recover possession of a mobile home site
rental unit or to collect the illegally charged rent increase.
SECTION 6. Severability. If any provision or clause of
this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or
circumstance is held to be unconstitutional or to be otherwise
invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity
shall not affect other ordinance provisions or clauses or
applications thereof which can be implemented without the invalid
provision or clause or application, and to this end the
provisions and clauses of this ordinance are declared to be
severable.
SECTION 7. Urqency. This ordinance is an urgency measure
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health or safety and shall go into effect immediately upon its
adoption and approval. The facts constituting such urgency are:
A. In recent months there has been an increasing concern
on the part of public officials and residents of the City of San
Bernardino regarding rent increases in mobile home sites in this
City.
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B. There is a growing shortage of decent, safe, sanitary
mobile home sites resulting in a critically low vacancy rate,
rising rents, and stringent conditions of site occupancies
exploiting this shortage; that this condition is having a
detrimental effect on the lives of a substantial number of the
San Bernardino residents who reside in mobile homes and is
endangering the health and welfare of such residents, especially
creating hardships on senior citizens, persons on fixed incomes,
and persons of low income.
C. The cost of relocation of a mobile home is amounting to
thousands of dollars.
D. Many mobile home parks will not rent a mobile home site
unless the site will be occupied by a new mobile home.
E. The Mayor and Common Council continue to receive
reports of rent increases, particularly relating to mobile homes,
which may lead to the displacement of many mobile home tenants.
F. The Mayor and Common Council find that immediate action
is required to preserve the status quo by imposing a temporary
moratorium on rent increases for mobile home sites, pending
consideration of the feasibility and desirability of any further
measures.
22 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing ordinance was duly
23 adopted by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San
regular meeting thereof, held on the
24 Bernardino at a
25 25 day of
26 vote, to wit:
27 AYES:
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January
, 1988, by the following
Council Members Estrada, Reilly, Flores, Haudsley,
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NAYS:
ABSENT:
T'" .~-
Miller
Council Members Hinor, Pope-Ludlam
None
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.' City Clerk
The foregoing ordinance is hereby approved this ;3~1 day
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of
February
Approved as to form
and legal content:
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(l<?,(ctt.../oqA/ //~~--c/; _________
Mayor of' the City of San Bernardino
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