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The City of San José is considering changes to the Mobilehome Rent Ordinance. These changes are intended to:

• Improve data collection
• Increase transparency
• Improve and streamline program administration
• Add a mechanism for residents to enforce their rights
• Add a mechanism for owners to achieve fair returns on their investments

Do you live in a mobilehome park? Please answer a few short questions and share your thoughts on our survey.

To learn more about the MRO and proposed changes register with the links below:

Date	Time	Language	Registration Link
Tuesday, May 26, 2026	1pm-2pm	English	Register
Monday, June 1, 2026 Lunes, 1 de junio, 2026	1pm-2pm	Spanish/Español	Register/Registro
Thursday, June 4, 2026	5pm-6pm	English	Register
Monday, June 8, 2026 Thứ Hai, ngày 8 tháng 6 năm 2026	1pm-2pm	Vietnamese/Tiếng Việt	Register/Đăng ký
Monday, July 13, 2026	1pm-2pm	English	Register
Monday, July 20, 2026 Lunes, 20 de julio, 2026	1pm-2pm	Spanish/Español	Register/Registro
Monday, July 27, 2026 Thứ Hai, ngày 27 tháng 7 năm 2026	1pm-2pm	Vietnamese/Tiếng Việt	Register/Đăng ký
Monday, September 14,2026	1pm-2pm	English	Coming Soon
Monday, September 21, 2026 Lunes, 21 de septiembre,2026	1pm-2pm	Spanish/Español	Coming Soon
Monday, September 28, 2026 Thứ Hai, ngày 28 tháng 9 năm 2026	1pm-2pm	Vietnamese/Tiếng Việt	Cooming Soon

If you would like to receive updates on this topic, sign up to our Housing Department newsletter. For office hours – other interpretation for other languages can be provided at English office hours 408-975-4480 mobilehomes@sanjoseca.gov.

Mobilehome Rent Ordinance - Proposed Updates

PowerPoint slides are available in your preferred language:

• English
• Español
• Tiếng Việt

   

Current Mobilehome Rent Ordinance

San José’s Mobilehome Rent Ordinance (MRO) was adopted by the City in 1979. The purpose of the law was to prevent excessive rent increases, allow park owners to receive a fair return, and create a process for rent dispute resolution. The last time the City updated the MRO was in 1993.  The MRO limits how much park owners can raise space rent each year. Most years, rent can only go up by 3%. Park owners also cannot raise the rent when a mobilehome is sold to a new owner. The law gives park owners a way to ask for bigger rent increases if their costs go up.  

Limitations in the current law include: 

1. Residents cannot easily challenge a rent increase. They can only file a complaint with the State or go to court. 

2. The City does not have a way to know if park owners are increasing rents by the allowed percentage unless a resident contacts the City. Even then, the City can only offer to inform the park owner of the law and give the resident the contact information for the appropriate State agency and legal service providers. 

3. If a park’s rent income is not keeping up with operating costs, park owners can ask for higher rent by filing something called a “fair return petition.” If they prove that their costs are higher than the money they make, all the residents in the park have to pay more rent. In 2025, a park filed a fair return petition and after a hearing and decision, 181 households had their rent raised by 10–15%. 

4. If a resident or park owner disagrees with a petition decision, they must go to court. This can cost a lot of money and take a long time. While waiting on a decision, residents often still have to pay the higher rent. 

   

PROPOSED UPDATES to mobilehome rent ordinance

Mobilehome Rent Registry

A proposed change to the MRO would create a "rent registry" for mobilehome parks. Park owners will update the rent registry ever year with basic information about their respective parks. This would include:  

The information collected will not include any personal information about the people who live in the mobilehomes. This rent registry would help the City gather timely and accurate information. It would also help the City enforce rules, observe patterns over time, and make fair decisions about space rent and housing. 

    

Resident Petition Process

This proposed change to the MRO would create a resident petition process. This would allow mobilehome residents to dispute rent increases by filling out a form and having their concerns reviewed by a hearing officer. The hearing officer's decision, or a mutual agreement between a resident and park owner, would be official and enforceable by the City. 

   

Appeal Process

Today, when a hearing officer decides on a park owner’s Fair Return Petition (a request for a rent increase above the typical allowable amount of 3%), the only way for either residents or park owners to challenge that decision is to file a lawsuit in Superior Court. Going to court is expensive and takes a long time. 

The proposed changes would create a new appeal process for park owners' Fair Return Petitions and Resident Petitions, similar to other City programs. The park owners or residents involved in the petition could appeal parts of the hearing officers' decisions to the City's Housing Director.  

The Housing Director could either: 

1. uphold the decision; or  

2. send the appealed portion of the decision back to be reviewed and reconsidered by the hearing officer. 

After the appeal is decided, the decision can still be challenged in Superior Court through a lawsuit. 

   

Post-Sale Space Rent Increase

Another proposed change would allow park owners to raise the space rent after a mobilehome is sold to a new owner who moves into the mobilehome. The space rent for the new owner could be increased up to 10% higher than what the previous owner paid. After this initial increase, annual rent increases for that resident would be limited to the standard rate, typically 3%.   

Important notes: 

1. The increase would not be allowed when ownership of the mobilehome is transferred to a family member residing in the mobilehome either during the owner’s lifetime or after death or estate transfers protected under the California Mobilehome Residency Law (MRL).

2. This does not impact space rents of current mobilehome owners. The rules for how much current residents’ space rent can go up each year would stay the same and remain subject to the MRO limits.  

3. The post-sale increase will not be allowed until the mobilehome park completes its annual park registration and the percentage increase allowed will be phased over 3 years.  

Example: 

THREE-YEAR PHASE-IN OF INCREASE AMOUNT
Sales in 1st Year up to 5% Post-Sale Increase	Sales in 2nd Year up to 7% Post-Sale Increase	Sales in 3rd Year up to 10% Post-Sale Increase
(assuming park registration complete by December 31,2027)
2028	2029	2030 -

How it would work for mobilehomes sold versus a current resident who does not sell their mobilehome: 

Year	SPACE #1 (SALE IN 2028)		SPACE #2 (SALE IN 2029)		SPACE #3 (SALE IN 2030)		SPACE #4 (NO SALE)
		Increase	Rent	Increase	Rent	Increase	Rent	Increase	Rent
2027	Regular (3%)	$1000	Regular (3%)	$1000	Regular (3%)	$1000	Regular (3%)	$1000
2028	Post-Sale (5%)	$1050	Regular (3%)	$1030	Regular (3%)	$1030	Regular (3%)	$1030
2029	Regular (3%)	$1081.50	Post-Sale (7%)	$1102.10	Regular (3%)	$1060.90	Regular (3%)	$1060.90
2030	Regular (3%)	$1113.94	Regular (3%)	$1135.16	Post-Sale (10%)	$1166.99	Regular (3%)	$1092.73
2031	Regular (3%)	$1147.36	Regular (3%)	$1169.21	Regular (3%)	$1202	Regular (3%)	$1125.51
2032	Regular (3%)	$1181.78	Regular (3%)	$1204.29	Regular (3%)	$1238.06	Regular (3%)	$1159.27

 4. The purpose of this post-sale space rent increase is to generate additional revenue for park owners facing rising costs while avoiding impacts to current residents.

Brief Explanation of Proposed Changes

Understanding the Fair Return Process

 

(Click to view full-size image)

Map of Mobilehome Parks