New York Mobile Home Park Lease Law: What Operators Need to Include

What must a mobile home lot lease include in New York?

If you operate a manufactured (mobile) home park in New York, your lot leases are governed by Real Property Law Section 233. Before a tenant takes occupancy, you must offer a written lease with a term of at least one year, and the written offer has to include the actual proposed lease showing rent and all other charges. The tenant gets 30 days to accept, and you must offer renewals — you cannot run the community on informal month-to-month arrangements.

Section 233 also layers in required disclosures: every lease offer must carry a tenant-rights rider on a form approved by NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), your park rules must be delivered and posted, and all fees must be disclosed in writing up front. Several common lease terms — extra 'entrance' or 'exit' fees, forcing a resident to buy their home or equipment from you, or any clause that waives the tenant's statutory rights — are barred. This guide walks through what belongs in a compliant Section 233 lot lease.

This is general operational information, not legal advice. Section 233 is amended frequently, so confirm the current statutory text and the current HCR rider form before finalizing your lease package.

The written one-year lease offer under RPL Section 233

The core requirement is explicit: 'The manufactured home park owner or operator shall offer every manufactured home tenant prior to occupancy, the opportunity to sign a lease for a minimum of one year, which offer shall be made in writing.' The offer must include a copy of the proposed lease with its terms and conditions, including provisions for rent and other charges, and must tell the tenant they have 30 days to accept or be deemed to have declined.

The offer duty is ongoing, not just at move-in. Section 233 requires you to offer lease renewals as well, and it protects the integrity of the signed lease: 'No lease provision shall be inconsistent with any rule or regulation in effect at the commencement of the lease.' In practice, build one master lease template that states the lot rent, the term, and every recurring charge, and issue it — with a documented 30-day acceptance window — to every incoming and renewing resident.

Keep proof of the written offer and the tenant's response. Because the statute frames this as an offer the owner 'shall' make, your file should show that each resident was given the opportunity to sign a one-year (or longer) written lease.

Rules, regulations, and the required statement of tenant rights

Park rules are allowed but constrained: 'A manufactured home park owner or operator may promulgate rules and regulations governing the rental or occupancy of a manufactured home lot provided such rules and regulations shall not be unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious.' You must deliver a copy of all rules to every tenant at the same time you initially offer the written lease, and post them conspicuously in the park. A rule that was not supplied or posted as required is unenforceable, and rules must be applied uniformly to all residents, with 30 days' written notice before any change.

Two disclosures ride along with the lease. First, every lease offer — initial and renewal — 'shall include a rider regarding tenant rights,' and 'such rider shall be in a form approved or promulgated by the commissioner of housing and community renewal.' Use the current HCR rider; do not draft your own substitute. Second, the statute requires you to 'fully disclose in writing all fees, charges, assessments, including rental fees, rules and regulations prior to entering into a rental agreement with a prospective tenant.'

Bundle these into one intake packet: the written lease, the HCR tenant-rights rider, the full written fee schedule, and the park rules. That single packet satisfies the offer, rider, fee-disclosure, and rules-delivery duties at once and gives you a clean compliance record.

Lease provisions New York prohibits

Section 233 voids several terms operators sometimes try to include. On fees: 'No tenant shall be charged a fee for other than rent, utilities and charges for facilities and services available to the tenant.' That bars stand-alone 'entrance' or 'exit' fees and any charge not tied to an actual service — every fee must be disclosed in advance and reasonably related to services rendered.

On forced purchases, the statute prohibits requiring a resident 'to purchase his or her manufactured home from the manufactured home park owner or operator,' and likewise bars requiring residents to buy skirting, equipment, or related commodities and services from you or your designee. Residents may buy their home from, and hire servicepeople from, whomever they choose.

On waivers and consistency, a lease term cannot contradict the park rules in effect when the lease begins, and restrictions that strip statutory rights are 'unenforceable as against public policy.' Do not include clauses purporting to waive tenant rights under Section 233 or to exempt the park from its statutory duties — they will not hold up, and including them invites HCR and Attorney General scrutiny.

Lease requirements at a glance in New York

• Written one-year offer
  Offer every tenant, before occupancy, a written lease of at least one year, including the proposed lease itself, and allow 30 days to accept (RPL Section 233(e)).
• Rent and charges stated
  The lease must set out rent and all other charges; no fees may be charged beyond rent, utilities, and charges for services actually available (RPL Section 233(g)).
• HCR tenant-rights rider
  Every initial and renewal lease offer must include the tenant-rights rider on a form approved by the Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal (RPL Section 233(e)).
• Written fee disclosure
  Disclose in writing all fees, charges, assessments, and rules before entering the rental agreement, and give a written fee statement at the start of occupancy (RPL Section 233(g)).
• Reasonable, posted rules
  Park rules cannot be unreasonable, arbitrary, or capricious; they must be delivered with the lease, posted conspicuously, applied uniformly, and changed only on 30 days' notice (RPL Section 233(f)).
• No forced purchases
  You cannot require a resident to buy their home, skirting, equipment, or related services from the park owner or its designee (RPL Section 233(h)).
• No rights-waiving terms
  Lease provisions inconsistent with the rules in effect, or that waive statutory rights, are unenforceable as against public policy (RPL Section 233).
• Renewals required
  The offer duty extends to lease renewals — you must offer continuing residents a renewal, not just an initial term (RPL Section 233(e)).

Operator best practices in New York

• Use one standardized intake packet
  Combine the written lease, the current HCR tenant-rights rider, the full written fee schedule, and the park rules into a single packet issued to every new and renewing resident.
• Pull the current HCR rider each cycle
  The tenant-rights rider must be on the form approved or promulgated by HCR — download the latest version rather than reusing an old copy or drafting your own.
• Document the 30-day offer window
  Date-stamp each written lease offer and record the tenant's acceptance or decline so you can show the statutory offer and 30-day acceptance period were honored.
• Audit your fee schedule
  Remove any entrance, exit, transfer, or administrative fee not tied to an actual service; confirm every remaining charge is disclosed in writing and reasonably related to services rendered.
• Post and version-control rules
  Keep rules posted conspicuously in the park, apply them uniformly, and send 30 days' written notice before any change, retaining dated copies of each version.
• Strip prohibited clauses from templates
  Delete any lease language forcing purchase of the home or equipment from the park, or purporting to waive tenant rights, before it reaches a resident.
• Train onsite staff on Section 233
  Make sure managers know the one-year offer, rider, fee-disclosure, rules-delivery, and notice requirements so day-to-day leasing stays compliant.
• Build a relationship with a New York MHP attorney
  Section 233 is amended often and its subdivision lettering shifts; have a New York manufactured-home-park attorney review your lease, rider, and rules package and confirm the current citations.