Do You Have To Register Mobile Homevin Florida

Consumer Pamphlet: Ownership a Mobile Dwelling

If you remember in that location might exist a mobile dwelling in your future, carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of mobile dwelling house living before you invest. While this pamphlet will requite you some guidance, yous also should speak to people who live or accept lived in mobile homes about their experiences.

Practise Your Homework

Earlier you purchase, accept these steps to protect yourself and your investment:

Visit the park. Take a look at the park and the mobile domicile that y'all would like to buy.
Talk to people who alive in the park. They will be your future neighbors and have the best knowledge well-nigh how the mobile home park operates. If at that place is a mobile homeowners' association, talk to the board of directors.
Figure out what you lot are buying. Are yous buying the mobile abode and the land? Or are you buying the mobile home and renting the lot from the mobile home park possessor? Will y'all have a mortgage? Y'all will take different legal rights in each scenario.

Cheque Public Records

Run searches to brand sure there are no "ruddy flags." These searches are mostly free.

Clerk of courts. Run searches on the park owner and the seller. Cheque if the park owner regularly files evictions against mobile habitation owners, if there are any pending disputes about title, or if at that place are any other legal issues that would forestall you from purchasing the mobile home.
Public records. Run searches on the park possessor and the seller in the official public records in the county where you volition be ownership and/or living to see if there are any legal problems that could prevent you lot from buying or living in the mobile domicile. Go along an eye out for "liens" or "judgments."
Lawmaking enforcement. Call the local county or metropolis code enforcement part to make sure that the mobile home park and the mobile home exercise not have serious lawmaking enforcement violations or fines awaiting.
Google. Do a quick Google search on the mobile dwelling park owner and seller. Is the mobile home park up for sale? Or has it recently been sold? Are there whatsoever other potential problems?
Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Inquire for the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the mobile home and call the Florida DHSMV to cheque that the person or company that owns the mobile dwelling house actually does own information technology and that championship is "clear."

Check the mobile dwelling park's rules and regulations

Ask to see the "rules and regulations," "park prospectus" and mobile homeowners' association "bylaws," if any. In addition to Chapter 723, Florida Statutes, these are all documents that govern you and the park possessor. Read them carefully and proceed copies for your records. If you do non abide by them when living in the park, you could face eviction and/or fines.

Shop around

There are many dissimilar kinds of mobile and manufactured homes. Each has different costs for construction, installation, taxes and upkeep. You may purchase a new home that will need to exist installed in a park, or yous may purchase a used mobile dwelling.

Working with Dealers

If you lot go through a dealer for a new mobile or manufactured home, buy information technology from a reputable dealer. Keep these things in mind:

Ask the dealer for names and addresses of prior customers, and contact these people virtually their experiences.
Call the Meliorate Business Bureau in your area and ask about the dealer.
Ask about the dealer's service policy. Will the condition of the domicile on delivery be guaranteed, and volition the dealer service information technology? If the answers are yeah, read your contract and make sure this guarantee is, and all other verbal guarantees are, included in writing before yous sign.
Accept cognition of the country and local laws pertaining to mobile homes – for example, every new mobile habitation must acquit a warranty of at least i year. The manufacturer or dealer is required to right any substantial defects in materials or piece of work quality that may appear inside that first year of your ownership and must do then within thirty days of receipt of written notification of the claim. Also, make certain the model you program to buy was built to perform in the area in which you lot wish to live.

Making changes to the mobile home

You may be considering making additions, such equally a porch, a storage cupboard, another room or larger windows. Withal, the mobile home park might not allow these changes. If you have a warranty, it might get canceled if you lot make alterations. Check the park rules and regulations, state laws and local ordinances to make certain your alterations are allowed. If they are immune, make sure you get permits earlier yous kickoff whatever work.

What about hurricanes and tornadoes?

Make certain that your new mobile abode is properly installed according to land law and local codes. The state sets installation standards, licensing requirements and remedies for violation in Chapter 320, Florida Statutes. Further, while having property insurance will not forestall a catastrophe, having acceptable insurance will make recovering whatever loss of belongings easier. Consult with a licensed insurance agent to make up one's mind the proper insurance for your needs.

Closing the bargain

Make sure you get everything you hold to in writing. You and the seller (the mobile home park, a dealer or an individual seller) should always sign a contract that lists, among other things, the toll, how you volition pay, whether there is a warranty, and the consequences for either side not complying with the contract. Get a copy of the fully signed contract and keep it for your records. If you pay for your habitation in total, make sure that the seller signs over the title at the same fourth dimension and gives yous the original title. Follow up with the Florida DHSMV to make sure title is transferred to your name. Finally, make sure that the mobile home park owner gives you lot written confirmation that y'all and your household members have all been approved to live in the park.

Demand help?

If you think you demand legal advice, call an attorney. If you do not have an chaser, here are some resources:

Pro Bono & Legal Aid Directory. If you lot cannot afford an attorney, call or visit your local legal assistance agency.
The Florida Bar Lawyer Referral Service, 800-342-8011.
The Tenants' Rights Project of Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., has an online brochure that addresses evictions, park closures and more than.

This pamphlet is produced as a public service for consumers by The Florida Bar.

[Updated June 2018]