Rent Control

Rent control is now the law in Washington State effective May 7, 2025. Manufactured home owners who rent their spaces came out ahead of other renters with a 5% annual cap on rent increases. Other rentals are capped at 7% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is lower.

There are numerous exceptions to the law including new construction for the first 12 years. Also, the maximum increase does not apply to new tenants. This, to me, will cause the greatest disruption to the market for home resale.

I have looked at various statistics for manufactured home sales in Clark County. There is a clear relationship that higher space rent produces lower home prices. That is buyers look at the total cost of home mortgage and lot rent in making their purchase decision. So, those of us who want to sell after a few years of below market rents will have to find buyers willing to pay substantially higher lot rents than we are paying.

Yet only the market really knows what will happen next. Current park owners may decide to sell out sooner rather than later; giving us the opportunity to buy the park at its now diminished value. Also, they will have less incentive to maintain park infrastructure of streets and utilities.

The most immediate market affect, I predict, is that older, lower value “mobile home” parks will be converted to other uses that do not have rental income capped, such as commercial, industrial or owner-occupied condominiums.

So as the issue of double digit rent increases for our own park spaces moves into the unforeseeable future we must wait for that future to know the full consequences of rent control in our state.

Comments welcome.

You can read the law as signed by the Governor here:  https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2025-26/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/1217.SL.pdf?q=20250516180251