Park owners get rules similar to payday loan “rogues”

New crackdowns, like the ones on the payday loan industry, mean better days for mobile home residents.

09:26 29 May 2013

New legislation should relieve some mobile home residents. The new regulations don’t allow park owners to harass or intimidate residents, and will no longer be a part of the buying and selling process of mobile homes.

There has been a lot of attention to what has been termed “rogue” park owners, similarly to the payday loan industry which also endured a crackdown on “rogue” lenders and their intimidating collection tactics.

Here’s what the payday loan industry experienced regarding some of their tactics for “rogue” entities:

• Unethical behaviour - certain aggressive tactics were disallowed and intimidation was also frowned upon for collecting unpaid amounts, or late payments.

 

• Clarity - payday loan offices were required to clearly state all the premises of the contract so that terms were easily understood by everyone seeking loans.

 

• Interest rates - many of the “rogue” payday loan offices charged unreasonably high rates, even when taking into account the risk they have in lending to those with poor credit ratings.

Here’s what changes “rogue” park owners can expect like the payday loan revisions:

• Unethical behaviour - park owners won’t be able to intimidate and use aggressive tactics to control who is able to live in the park by blocking sales, nor is general intimidation allowed either.

 

• Sale issues - related to the unethical behaviour, and similar to the payday loan industry, park owners were trying to make more money by blocking the sale to force a low price on the mobile home, purchasing the home themselves, and then reselling for a huge profit.

 

• Clarity - similar to the newly imposed clarity of payday loans, the new regulations clearly stipulate the park owners role and prevent owners from changing and proposing new legislation that would benefit only themselves.

 

This situation isn’t exactly like the issues address with payday loan lenders, but there were quite a few similarities about the basic behaviours. The new legislation for payday loan offices and mobile park owners will actually ensure that their customers are happy, and in turn will mean they remain successful and more ethical.