Pennsylvania Mobile Home Park Eviction Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Nonpayment of rent

Under the Manufactured Home Community Rights Act (MHCRA), 68 P.S. §398.3(a)(1), nonpayment of rent is one of only four lawful grounds to evict a lot tenant. Before you can file, §398.3(b)(2)(i) requires you to send the resident a written notice by certified or registered mail stating that an eviction proceeding may be commenced if the overdue rent is not paid within 20 days from the date of service if the notice is given on or after April 1 and before September 1, and 30 days if given on or after September 1 and before April 1. The season the notice is sent in — not the lease term — sets the cure window, so calendar it carefully.

You only have to send one overdue-rent notice per six-month period. If a second nonpayment occurs within six months of that notice, §398.3(b)(2)(i) lets you move to eviction proceedings without repeating the cure notice. Never use self-help — shutting off utilities, blocking the lot, or moving the home — because §398.3(b)(1) flatly prohibits it and doing so exposes you to treble-damage liability under the Act.

Other grounds: rule violations, change of use, and closure

The MHCRA grounds are exclusive. Beyond nonpayment, §398.3(a) allows eviction only for a second or subsequent violation of community rules within a six-month period, a change in use of the community land or parts of it, or termination of the community. You cannot evict simply because a lease term ended — the end of a term is not a ground.

For rule violations, §398.3(b)(2)(ii) requires a written notice by certified or registered mail describing the particular breach after the first violation. You may file only after a second or subsequent violation within six months, and then you may commence eviction proceedings at any time within 60 days of the last violation or breach. Watch two defenses: §398.3(c) bars eviction where you have not enforced the same rule against other residents, and §398.16 presumes any recovery action within six months of a resident asserting their rights is retaliatory and unlawful.

Change of use or community closure is handled under the closure rules, not the ordinary eviction notice. Those long-lead-time requirements live in 68 P.S. §398.11b, covered below.

Filing the eviction in Pennsylvania

The MHCRA does not create its own courtroom process. Section 398.2 defines an eviction as removal in accordance with an order of possession by a court of the Commonwealth under The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 (68 P.S. §250.101 et seq.). In practice you file a landlord/tenant complaint in the Magisterial District Court for the community's location, after your MHCRA notice period has run.

The Landlord and Tenant Act has a mobile-home-park-specific notice to quit in §250.501(c): 30 days for a tenancy of less than one year, three months for a tenancy of one year or more, and for nonpayment 15 days (notice given April 1 to September 1) or 30 days (September 1 to April 1), unless the lease waives it. Bring the certified/registered-mail MHCRA notice with its receipt, the rent ledger, the written lease, and the posted community rules to the hearing. If you win, the court enters a judgment for possession; after the appeal period an order for possession issues and the constable carries out the lockout of the lot.

What happens to the home in Pennsylvania

Remember what you actually recovered: the lot, not the house. Under §398.2 a resident owns the manufactured home and rents only the space, so an eviction judgment ends the tenancy but does not transfer the home to you. The resident keeps the right to sell it. Section 398.11 makes any lease term that blocks a sale void and bars you from charging a sale fee; you may reserve the right to approve the buyer as a new resident, but such approval may not be unreasonably withheld. Selling the home in place is almost always cheaper and cleaner than a move.

If the resident walks away and leaves the home, you cannot simply haul it off. You must run the separate abandonment track: §398.10a requires a judgment for possession, execution of the order for possession, and a court determination of abandonment (or a signed voluntary-abandonment statement), supported by evidence of at least 30 days' absence and 30 days' nonpayment. Only then, under §398.10b, do you send the abandonment/removal notice giving the resident 60 days from the mailing date to claim and remove the home before you may sell or dispose of it; sale proceeds run in the statutory order — moving/storage/sale costs, then back rent, then taxes, then liens, with any remainder to the resident. Any installation or removal fee you charge can never exceed your actual cost (§398.9).

Typical timeline in Pennsylvania

• Day 0
  Serve the MHCRA notice by certified or registered mail: for nonpayment, a 20-day cure if sent April 1-Aug 31 or a 30-day cure if sent Sept 1-March 31 (§398.3(b)(2)(i)); for a rule violation, the written breach notice (§398.3(b)(2)(ii)).
• Notice/cure window runs
  nonpayment must remain unpaid through the 20 or 30 days; a rule case needs a second violation within six months, after which you have a 60-day window to file (§398.3(b)(2)(ii)).
• Serve any Landlord and Tenant Act notice to quit required by §250.501(c)
  15 or 30 days for nonpayment by season, or 30 days / three months by tenancy length — unless the lease waives it.
• File the landlord/tenant complaint in Magisterial District Court; a hearing is typically scheduled within about two to six weeks (a procedural norm, not an MHCRA day-count).
• Judgment for possession, followed by the standard 10-day Magisterial District Court appeal period before an order for possession may issue (Rules of Civil Procedure, not the MHCRA).
• Order for possession served; the constable's lockout of the lot generally follows within roughly 10 to 30 days absent an appeal.
• If the home is left behind
  a separate §398.10a abandonment determination, then a 60-day claim-and-remove notice under §398.10b before any sale or disposal.
• Change of use or closure instead of eviction
  notice within 60 days of the decision and at least 180 days for residents to vacate (§398.11b).

Operator best practices in Pennsylvania

• Send every MHCRA notice by certified or registered mail and keep the receipts
  §398.3(b)(2) makes proper certified/registered notice a precondition to filing.
• Calendar the season
  a nonpayment cure notice gives 20 days if sent April 1-Aug 31 but 30 days if sent Sept 1-March 31 (§398.3(b)(2)(i)); using the wrong count can void your case.
• Enforce community rules uniformly and document it
  §398.3(c) lets a resident defeat an eviction by showing you ignored the same rule for others.
• Avoid any action that looks retaliatory within six months of a resident asserting rights; §398.16 presumes it unlawful and shifts the burden to you.
• Never use self-help
  only a Magisterial District Court order of possession can remove a resident (§398.3(b)(1); §398.2).
• Treat the home as the resident's property
  offer sale-in-place with reasonable buyer approval under §398.11 before pursuing abandonment.
• Run abandonment strictly by the book
  judgment, order for possession, court determination, then the 60-day claim notice (§398.10a; §398.10b) — and distribute any sale proceeds in the statutory order.
• If you are changing use or closing, plan for the long lead time
  notice within 60 days of the decision, at least 180 days for residents to vacate, plus relocation and buyout payments and the resident association's right to bid (§398.11b).
• Build a relationship with a Pennsylvania MHP attorney
  the MHCRA is unusually resident-protective, its notice mechanics are easy to get wrong, and the Act may not be waived (§398.12).