Washington Mobile Home Park Laws — Lot Rent and Evictions (2026)

✓ Law Verified August 2026

Washington mobile home park laws are their own world: you own the home, you rent the ground, and a separate set of rules, different from ordinary landlord-tenant law, decides what the park can charge, when it can evict, and what happens if the land is sold out from under the whole community. This guide covers those rules in plain English, verified against official Washington sources as of August 2026.

Washington Mobile Home Park Laws at a Glance

Why Park Living Has Its Own Rulebook in Washington

MHLTA covers tenants who own their manufactured/mobile home or park model and rent only the lot or space in a park;

you own the structure while the park owns the land under it, so unlike an apartment renter your housing itself is an asset you can sell in place, and RCW 59.20.070 bars the landlord from denying you the right to sell your home inside the park or requiring removal of the home just because it sold.

Tenancies are generally year-to-year unless a different term is agreed to, the park must give you a written rental agreement and a copy of the park rules, and a tenant evicted from a park is allowed 120 days to sell the home in place as long as rent incurred after eviction stays current.

Because the home is expensive or impossible to move, Washington layers on extra protections (rent cap, limited eviction grounds, 2-year closure notice, relocation money) that apartment renters do not get.

Owning the home while renting the ground under it creates a kind of leverage no apartment landlord has: moving a manufactured home typically costs thousands of dollars, and many older homes cannot be moved at all without falling apart.

Lawmakers know that “just move” is not a real option for park residents, which is exactly why Washington mobile home park laws give lot renters protections apartment tenants never get, limited eviction grounds, longer notice periods, and rules about what happens when the park itself changes hands.

Lot Rent Increases: Your Rights Before You Pay More

Required notice: 90 days — RCW 59.20.090 requires written notice three months before the effective date of any rent increase, and the notice must use the form prescribed by RCW 59.20.390 (fully completed, stating any claimed exemption with supporting facts)

Is there a cap? 5 percent — RCW 59.20.370 (added by HB 1217, 2025, effective May 7, 2025) limits increases in rent and other recurring or periodic charges to 5 percent in any 12-month period, with no increase at all allowed during the first 12 months of the tenancy; the general residential caps sunset in 15 years but the 5 percent manufactured-home lot cap is permanent.

Limited exemptions exist under RCW 59.20.380, and park owners have sued challenging the cap, so check the current status with the AG before assuming a number.

Whatever the number on the notice, read it against the rules above before paying. An increase served with short notice, or one that violates a cap where Washington has one, is challengeable, and park residents who organize respond far more effectively than neighbors acting alone. Many states saw lot-rent fights turn into new legislation in the last two years for exactly this reason.

The Park Cannot Evict You for Just Any Reason

A Washington park may terminate or refuse to renew a lot tenancy only for cause listed in RCW 59.20.080 — nonpayment of rent or other charges in the rental agreement; substantial, repeated, or periodic violation of an enforceable park rule; violation of the tenant’s statutory duties under RCW 59.20.140; criminal activity that threatens the health, safety, or welfare of other tenants;

failure to pay rent by the due date three or more times in a 12-month period after service of five-day notices to comply or vacate; failure to comply with local ordinances or state law relating to manufactured homes; conviction of certain offenses; engaging in disorderly or substantially annoying conduct; and change of land use of the park, including closure or conversion.

No-cause, “we just want you out” terminations are not permitted; many tenants can defend an eviction that does not fit one of these grounds, and either party may be required to submit an eviction dispute to mediation.

This list matters enormously: it means a park in Washington cannot simply non-renew you to free up the lot the way an apartment landlord might. If an eviction notice arrives, check it against the legal grounds first, park evictions fail in court most often because the stated reason is not on the list, or the notice skipped a required warning step.

If the Park Sells or Closes

When the park is sold: Under RCW 59.20.325 the owner must give tenants a written “notice of opportunity to compete to purchase” before marketing the community for sale or listing it, and again when the owner receives a purchase offer the owner intends to consider;

tenants then have 70 days after certified mailing or personal delivery to form or identify a single qualified tenant organization and notify the owner in writing of their interest in competing to purchase, and the owner must negotiate in good faith.

The same notice goes to eligible preservation organizations — community land trusts, resident nonprofit cooperatives, local governments, housing authorities, nonprofit neighborhood organizations, federally recognized tribes, and statewide nonprofit housing organizations.

The older separate notice-of-sale section, RCW 59.20.300, was repealed by 2025 c 205 § 1, so you may be able to rely on RCW 59.20.325 rather than the repealed section — confirm the current requirement with the AG’s Manufactured Housing Dispute Resolution Program.

When the park closes: 24 months (2 years) written closure notice before a change of land use, closure, or conversion, in the form required by RCW 59.21.030 — given to all tenants, posted conspicuously at all park entrances, filed with the Department of Commerce director, and recorded with the county auditor, and it must include a good-faith timetable for removal of the homes and the reason for closure.

A landlord may instead pay relocation assistance of at least 15000 for a multisection home or at least 10000 for a single-section home during the closure notice period, in which case the tenant must be given written notice of at least 18 months to vacate and keeps paying rent while remaining.

Separately, eligible tenants may apply to the state Mobile Home Relocation Assistance Program (Chapter 59.21 RCW, Department of Commerce) for cash assistance of 12000 for a multisection home and 8000 for a single-section home; park owners may seek reimbursement for demolition and disposal costs of up to 4500 for a multisection home and 3000 for a single-section home.

Fees the Park Can and Cannot Charge in Washington

RCW 59.20.070 bars the landlord from charging an entrance fee or an exit fee (a narrow exception exists for a continuing care contract entrance fee under RCW 70.38.025), and bars charging a fee for guests, except that the park may adopt a rule charging for a guest who stays more than 15 days in any 60-day period.

The landlord also may not deny your right to sell the home in the park, charge you for the sale, restrict your freedom of choice in purchasing goods or services (though it may approve or disapprove exterior structural improvements), or prohibit tenant meetings about park affairs.

Under RCW 59.20.370 the 5 percent annual cap applies to “rent and other recurring or periodic charges,” so utility and service charge increases cannot be used to route around the cap; specific limits on utility markups are UNVERIFIED — check RCW 59.20.060 and the AG program.

The park’s side of the bargain: Under RCW 59.20.130 the park must keep common premises and any park-provided facilities in a clean and sanitary condition; maintain the roads in the park in good condition; maintain all permanent structures and common areas in good repair and free of hazards;

keep all utilities the park provides to your home — water, sewer, and electrical service — in reasonably good working order and protected, with the maintenance line drawn where your home’s normal utility hook-ups connect to the park’s or utility company’s system; respect your right to be free of retaliatory or coercive utility shutoffs; and comply with applicable codes, statutes, ordinances, and regulations governing the park.

If the park fails these duties you may deliver written notice identifying the property, the owner if known, and the nature of the defective condition, and you may be able to file a complaint with the AG’s Manufactured Housing Dispute Resolution Program.

The Trapped-Equity Problem and How to Protect Yourself

The economics of a mobile home park in Washington are unlike any apartment: you own the home, but moving it typically costs thousands of dollars, often more than an older home is worth, and many parks will not accept a home past a certain age. That is why lot-rent disputes feel so different here: walking away is rarely a real option, and park owners know it.

The law is what balances that power gap, which makes knowing the exact notice rules, fee limits, and eviction grounds in Washington worth more to a park resident than to almost any other kind of tenant.

Protect yourself the way the long-time residents do: keep every rent notice and rule change in writing, photograph the condition of your lot and the park’s common areas a couple of times a year, and read the community rules before signing anything, in most states the written rules you were given are what a court will hold both sides to.

Selling Your Home Without Losing Its Value

When it is time to leave, most residents sell the home in place rather than move it, and this is where park rules matter most.

Many states limit a park’s power to block an in-place sale: the park can usually screen the buyer the way it screens any new resident, but it generally cannot force you to remove a home just because you are selling, and it cannot demand a cut of your sale price unless it actually acted as your sales agent.

Get the park’s buyer-approval requirements in writing early, keep the lot rent current through the sale, and never sign a rule change mid-sale without reading it, a home that can stay on its lot is worth far more than one that has to be moved.

The Strongest Protection Is the Lot Next Door

Everything about park life is shared, the roads, the water lines, the rent schedule, the fate of the land itself. That is why the single most effective move a park resident in Washington can make is joining or forming a residents association. A park owner can ignore one complaint about a rent increase; ignoring a letter signed by sixty households is a different decision.

Associations are also how residents use park-sale rights in the states that grant them, organized communities have bought their own parks across the country, usually with help from nonprofit lenders who specialize in exactly this.

Keep your own records the same way any tenant should: the lease for your lot, every rent notice, every rule change, photos of anything the park fails to maintain. Washington mobile home park laws reward the resident who can show a judge dates and documents, and most disputes never reach a judge once the park realizes you have them.

Recent changes in Washington: HB 1217, signed May 7, 2025, created RCW 59.20.370-.390 and for the first time capped manufactured-home lot rent increases at 5 percent per 12 months with no increase in the first 12 months, on a standard rent-increase notice form; that lot-rent cap is permanent while the general residential caps sunset.

In 2025 the legislature repealed the old notice-of-sale section RCW 59.20.300 (2025 c 205 § 1) and amended the notice-of-opportunity-to-compete-to-purchase provisions in RCW 59.20.325, and park owners filed suit challenging the rent cap, so verify the cap’s status before relying on it. HB 2452, effective June 11, 2026, changes how MHLTA rent-increase notices must be served, dropping the unlawful-detainer service method in favor of ordinary MHLTA notice service.

Washington Mobile Home Park Laws: Quick Answers

Can the park raise lot rent whenever it wants? The Washington mobile home park laws above set the notice rules, and any cap, that apply before an increase is valid.

Can the park make me remove my home? Only for the legal grounds listed in the Washington mobile home park laws, and only through the court process, never by padlock or tow truck.

Do apartment tenant rights apply to me? Partly. The Washington mobile home park laws are their own chapter, and this page plus the state guides linked below cover both layers.

Official Washington Sources & Resources

• Washington State Agency: atg.wa.gov/manufactured-housing-dispute-resolution-program
• Washington Park Act Statute: app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=59.20&full=true
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex

Making Washington Mobile Home Park Laws Work for You

The Washington mobile home park laws only protect residents who use them, and parks count on most residents never reading the act. Read your lot lease against this page, calendar every notice deadline the moment a letter arrives, and talk to your neighbors, nearly every protection in the Washington mobile home park laws gets stronger when residents act together.

If the park ignores the rules, the state agency and local legal aid both handle park disputes, and a written complaint citing the act gets a very different response than a phone call. Under the Washington mobile home park laws, the resident with documents and neighbors is never as trapped as the park hopes.

This guide to washington mobile home park laws was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Lot-rent caps and park-sale laws are moving fast in many states, re-check before acting on a deadline.

More Washington Tenant Rights Guides

• Washington Tenant Rights
• Washington Eviction Process
• Washington Security Deposit Law
• Washington Rent Increase Laws
• Washington Repairs & Habitability
• Breaking a Lease in Washington
• Eviction Timeline Calculator
• All 50 States

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.