State suspends Modesto mobile home park’s permit for first part of November

A low-rent trailer park between the Seventh Street Bridge and Highway 99 in south Modesto had its permit to operate suspended for eight days in November.

The state Department of Housing and Community Development posted a notice of suspension at the Sunrise Village Mobile Home Park, effective Nov. 2, announcing the property was no longer a legitimate park. Statewide, nine mobile home parks out of 5,280 the agency monitors were under suspension orders this month, said department spokeswoman Alicia Murillo.

The suspension followed an inspector finding a substandard mobile home on the property and a mobile home installed and occupied without proper permitting, resulting in $588 in fines or fees that had not been paid, Murillo said. The park was not closed and tenants did not have to leave during the suspension, she said.

Murillo did not have available which of the 8.2-acre park’s 136 units had been found substandard. In June, several trailers could be seen with notices by Stanislaus County health inspectors declaring them uninhabitable.

The posted notice of suspension told tenants the park’s permit was “suspended indefinitely,” effective Nov. 2. “It is not legal for the owner/operator of this property to charge or accept rent for lots in the park, or for rental mobile homes or recreational vehicles he/she may own that are in the park,” read the announcement.

But tenants said park managers told them they did have to pay rent, and that if they did not pay November’s bill upfront they would owe it as back rent in December. Residents said they pay $350 to $545 a month in rent, depending on whether they own the trailer.

Park management confirmed tenants were being asked to pay November’s rent, with the expectation the suspension would be lifted any day.

“We are recommending that they put the rent up and we will hold it in trust,” said Jeanne Collins, wife of park manager Tim Collins, on Nov. 9. She said the park could prorate the amount for tenants.

“What happened was, it was over paperwork, the violations that we had. It is getting lifted,” said Jeanne Collins. She said the inspector would be coming Tuesday to clear up what she characterized as a misunderstanding. “The guy moved the trailer and didn’t have the permit,” she said.

State inspectors routinely return in 30 days, but in this case the fees were paid last week and the suspension lifted, Murillo said. The park can now collect a prorated amount for the remainder of the month.

The notice of reinstatement says the permit is in force effective Nov. 10 and will end May 31, 2016, but adds the department “intends to continue enforcement efforts until the violations are abated.” It gives no indication what the violations for the unit are, but adds that a legal eviction process is underway.

Tenants throughout the park still should not be charged for the eight days the park’s permit was suspended, but the department cannot help them get their money back if they paid the full month, Murillo said.

“That would be a civil matter. There’s nothing we can do,” she said.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "State suspends Modesto mobile home park’s permit for first part of November."