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

✓ Law Verified August 2026

Tennessee 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 Tennessee sources as of August 2026.

Tennessee Mobile Home Park Laws at a Glance

Why Park Living Has Its Own Rulebook in Tennessee

You own the structure and rent only the dirt under it, and Tennessee gives that arrangement fewer protections than apartment renting, not more.

Practitioner guidance on URLTA’s scope is that the Act covers renting a mobile home itself but does not cover renting a mobile home lot, because § 66-28-104 protections attach to a “dwelling unit” and a bare lot is not one — so in many Tennessee parks the lease contract, not the statute, is the main source of your rights.

The practical consequence is that a park can end your lot tenancy while your home stays put: you may be able to keep the home only by paying to move it (often several thousand dollars) or by selling it in place on the park’s terms. Tennessee also taxes the home as real property assessed to the landowner under Tenn.

Code Ann. § 67-5-802 when it sits in a park, and parks commonly pass that cost through in lot rent.

Because URLTA is county-limited, two Tennessee residents in identical situations can have different rights — check whether your county is one of the roughly 17 URLTA counties (including Davidson, Shelby, Knox, Hamilton, Rutherford, Montgomery, Williamson, Sumner, Wilson, Blount, Bradley, Anderson, Madison, Maury, Sevier, Sullivan, Washington).

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 Tennessee 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: NONE — Tennessee has no statute requiring any advance written notice of a lot rent increase, and no statutory number of days exists. In practice the notice you get is whatever your written lease requires, so read the rent-escalation clause. Inside a fixed lease term the park generally cannot raise rent until the term ends unless the lease allows it.

For a month-to-month lot tenancy in a URLTA county, a park that wants new terms usually has to terminate the old tenancy with 30 days’ written notice under Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-512 (10 days for week-to-week), which functions as the only practical notice floor. A Nashville/Davidson County ordinance calling for 60 days’ notice is not currently enforceable because state law preempts local minimums in counties over 75,000.

If you got no notice, you may be able to argue breach of the lease itself — check with your court.

Is there a cap? NO CAP — Tennessee has no statewide rent control and no percentage limit on lot rent increases. Tennessee statute preempts local governments from adopting rent control, so no Tennessee city or county cap applies either. Unlike New Jersey (3.5 percent) or Oregon (about 6 percent), a Tennessee park may raise lot rent by any amount once the lease term ends.

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 Tennessee 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

NONE — Tennessee does not limit park evictions to a list of good causes the way most park-act states do. A Tennessee park may seek possession of the lot for nonpayment of lot rent, breach of the lease or park rules, damage beyond normal wear and tear, or conduct that is a real and present danger to health, safety, or property under Tenn.

Code Ann. § 66-7-109 — and, critically, also for no cause at all simply by terminating a month-to-month tenancy or declining to renew a lease. In URLTA counties, § 66-28-505 lets the park terminate for a material lease or rule violation.

The park still must go to court: no Tennessee landlord may lock you out, cut utilities, tow, or remove your home without a court judgment and a writ executed by law enforcement, and self-help eviction is unlawful.

You may be able to defend on retaliation grounds in a URLTA county under § 66-28-514, or on improper notice or defective service anywhere — check with your court.

This list matters enormously: it means a park in Tennessee 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: NONE — Tennessee has no manufactured-home-community sale statute. There is no required advance notice to residents that the park is being listed or sold, no resident right of first refusal, no right to match a third-party offer, no notice-of-offer requirement, and no resident-ownership or cooperative-conversion purchase law.

Tennessee had no enacted right-of-first-refusal legislation as of early 2026, unlike the wave of 2024-2026 park-sale notice laws in other states.

A new owner takes the park subject to your existing written lease for the remainder of its term, so a written lease with a long term is the main leverage many Tennessee residents have — after it expires the new owner may reset rent and rules. You may be able to negotiate collectively as a homeowners association, but Tennessee law does not require the park to deal with one.

When the park closes: NONE — Tennessee sets no statutory notice period for closing a park or converting the land to another use, and no months figure exists in Tennessee law. There is no Tennessee relocation assistance fund, no required per-home relocation payment, and no dollar figure comparable to the closure-payment statutes in other states.

The only notice you are legally owed is the ordinary tenancy-termination notice — 30 days for a month-to-month lot tenancy under Tenn.

Code Ann. § 66-28-512 in URLTA counties — or whatever longer period your lease provides. Tennessee news coverage of park closures has confirmed that where the owner gives proper notice and does not act in bad faith, residents have very limited recourse.

If your park announces a closure, you may be able to press for more time through your written lease, a local zoning or rezoning hearing, or negotiation, and you should contact Legal Aid immediately.

Fees the Park Can and Cannot Charge in Tennessee

NONE — Tennessee has no statute limiting or barring mobile home park entry fees, exit or transfer fees, sale-in-place commissions, guest fees, pet fees, or utility markups on lot renters. There is no Tennessee cap on what a park may charge to approve a buyer of your home or to let it stay on the lot.

Utility submetering is largely unregulated statewide, though the Tennessee Public Utility Commission may examine submeter billing accuracy and require bills to be adjusted, and passed-through water costs are supposed to reflect actual water and wastewater consumption plus reasonable administrative cost. In URLTA counties only, Tenn.

Code Ann. § 66-28-201 caps a late fee at 10 percent of the overdue rent, but that cap is tied to URLTA coverage and may not reach a lot-only rental.

Deceptive or misrepresented fees may be actionable under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act — you may be able to file with the Division of Consumer Affairs.

The park’s side of the bargain: UNVERIFIED at the state statutory level for lot-only tenancies — Tennessee’s habitability duty, Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-28-304 (landlord must comply with building and housing codes, keep common areas safe, maintain plumbing, electrical, and sanitary facilities, and supply running water), sits inside URLTA and so reaches only URLTA counties and, by its terms, dwelling units rather than bare lots.

Park infrastructure is instead regulated mainly through county and municipal mobile home park regulations adopted under the planning and zoning authority at Tenn.

Code Ann. §§ 13-7-101 through 13-7-410, and through local health department review of water supply and sewage disposal; typical county park regulations require sanitary sewer, water, and electric connections at each space, interior access roads (commonly 30 feet), traffic and street signage at intersections, off-road parking, and public sewer for larger parks.

Your written lease may also promise road, water, sewer, garbage, and common-area upkeep, and that promise is enforceable as a contract. If roads, water, or sewer fail, many tenants can complain to the county or metro health department and codes office — that local route is usually faster than court.

The Trapped-Equity Problem and How to Protect Yourself

The economics of a mobile home park in Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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. Tennessee 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 Tennessee: Tennessee enacted no mobile home park tenant protection law in 2024, 2025, or the 2026 session that adjourned sine die on April 23, 2026, and had no right-of-first-refusal or lot-rent-cap statute as of 2026. The 113th and 114th General Assemblies moved the other direction on tenants generally, tightening eviction procedure in 2024 and advancing property-owner-favorable measures in 2026, while tenant-protection bills did not pass.

The Tennessee agency touching manufactured housing is the Manufactured Housing and Modular Buildings Section of the State Fire Marshal’s Office (Department of Commerce and Insurance), which regulates construction and installation standards, not lot rent or evictions.

Tennessee Mobile Home Park Laws: Quick Answers

Can the park raise lot rent whenever it wants? The Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee mobile home park laws are their own chapter, and this page plus the state guides linked below cover both layers.

Official Tennessee Sources & Resources

• Tennessee State Agency: tn.gov/attorneygeneral/working-for-tennessee/consumer-affair…
• Tennessee Park Act Statute: tncourts.gov/Tennessee%20Code
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: hud.gov
• Cornell Legal Information Institute: law.cornell.edu/wex

Making Tennessee Mobile Home Park Laws Work for You

The Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 Tennessee mobile home park laws, the resident with documents and neighbors is never as trapped as the park hopes.

This guide to tennessee 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 Tennessee Tenant Rights Guides

• Tennessee Tenant Rights
• Tennessee Eviction Process
• Tennessee Security Deposit Law
• Tennessee Rent Increase Laws
• Tennessee Repairs & Habitability
• Breaking a Lease in Tennessee
• 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.