Space Rent in Sacramento County: What Rent Stabilization Covers, and What It Does Not

Space rent is the number that decides whether a manufactured home in a community works for you over twenty years. The purchase price is a one time event. The space rent is forever, and it moves.

So the question every buyer eventually asks is the right one: is there any limit on how much it can go up?

The honest answer for most of the Sacramento region is that the limit is whatever your community's management decides, subject to a notice requirement. That is uncomfortable, but it is better to know it going in than to find it out in year six.

How California actually handles this

California does not set a statewide cap on mobilehome space rent. It leaves rent stabilization to cities and counties. That is why a homeowner in one California city can be covered by a strict ordinance while a homeowner forty minutes away has no cap at all.

There are two statewide pieces you should know, and neither is a general cap.

The 90 day notice rule. Civil Code section 798.30 requires management to give written notice of any rent increase at least 90 days before it takes effect. That gives you time to plan. It does not limit the amount.

The narrow statewide cap. Civil Code section 798.30.5, added by AB 978 in 2021, limits increases over any twelve month period to 3 percent plus the change in the cost of living, or 5 percent, whichever is lower. The catch is in the definition. It applies only to a "qualified mobilehome park," meaning a park located within and governed by the jurisdictions of two or more incorporated cities. That is a small and unusual category, created to close a specific loophole where a park straddling a city line had residents on two different sets of rules. It does not function as a general California rent cap, and the section is written to repeal on January 1, 2030.

There is also a related change people sometimes misremember. Civil Code section 798.17 used to exempt leases longer than twelve months from local rent control ordinances. AB 2782 phased that out: leases signed on or after February 13, 2020 lost the exemption effective January 1, 2021, remaining exempt leases expired by January 1, 2025, and the section was repealed as of that date. Where a local ordinance exists, it now generally reaches leases of any length, though the interaction depends on how that particular ordinance is written.

The local layer, and what AB 2690 changed

In 2020 the Legislature passed AB 2690, which required each city and county to either adopt a mobilehome park rent stabilization ordinance or submit written justification to the Department of Housing and Community Development explaining why it would not. Jurisdictions that adopt an ordinance must submit it to HCD within 30 days, and HCD was directed to post submitted ordinances on its website.

Note what that law does and does not do. It forces a jurisdiction to make a decision and put it on the record. It does not force a jurisdiction to adopt anything.

What we found when we looked at the Sacramento region

Reviewing the statewide list of mobilehome park space rent stabilization ordinances maintained by the Mobile Home Park Home Owners Allegiance, we did not find a listed ordinance for the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, Citrus Heights, Roseville, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, West Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Auburn or Lincoln.

The one jurisdiction near this market that does appear on that list is Rocklin, in Placer County, with a mobile home rent ordinance dating to 1982.

Two cautions on that. First, it is a third party database, comprehensive but not official. Second, ordinances get adopted, amended, sunset and repealed, and a page that is accurate today may not be accurate next year. Use it as a lead, not as an answer.

The unincorporated communities matter here too. Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Orangevale, North Highlands and Antelope have no city council. Any ordinance covering them would have to come from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, which is a different and considerably heavier political lift than a single city council vote.

How to check your own jurisdiction in about twenty minutes

Do this before you make an offer, not after.

1. Establish which jurisdiction the park is actually in. Mailing addresses lie. A home with a Carmichael or Fair Oaks address is in unincorporated Sacramento County, not in a city. Check the parcel with the county assessor or the county's parcel viewer.
2. Search that jurisdiction's municipal code for "mobilehome" and "rent stabilization." Most California city codes are published online and are searchable.
3. Call the city clerk, or the clerk of the board for county areas, and ask directly whether a mobilehome park rent stabilization ordinance exists and whether it is currently in effect.
4. Check HCD, which is directed to post ordinances submitted to it under AB 2690.
5. Ask management for the last five years of rent increase notices. This is the most useful item on the list and the one buyers skip. A community with no ordinance and a record of modest increases is a very different proposition from one with no ordinance and a record of aggressive ones, and past notices are a matter of record.

What space rent does and does not include

Even where an ordinance exists, it typically governs base space rent. Several other charges often sit alongside it, and they are where surprises live.

• Utilities. Many communities are master metered and submeter electricity, water, sewer and trash back to residents. That amount is not rent, it moves with usage and utility rates, and it is frequently outside an ordinance's reach.
• Pass-throughs. Depending on the lease and any applicable ordinance, some capital improvement costs, government mandated expenses, or property tax increases may be passed through separately.
• Reassessment on a park sale. When a park changes hands, the property can be reassessed, and where a lease permits the increase to be passed through, residents can feel it. This is one of the most common causes of a sudden jump.
• Vacancy provisions. Where ordinances do exist, many allow the rent to reset when a space changes hands. That means the protected rent your seller pays may not be the rent you pay. Ask specifically what your rent will be on day one, in writing, and do not infer it from the seller's statement.

The honest summary for a Sacramento buyer

In most of this region you should underwrite a purchase on the assumption that your space rent will rise over time without a local ceiling, and that your only statutory protection is 90 days of written notice. Then look for the communities whose actual track record is reasonable, because in the absence of an ordinance, management's history is the real indicator.

That is not a reason to avoid community living. It is a reason to pick the community carefully and to know your total monthly number, rent plus utilities plus insurance, before you commit. Compare that against the alternatives honestly, which is exactly what we do in manufactured home versus Sacramento condo.

If you want the current picture on specific communities in Citrus Heights, Carmichael, Rancho Cordova or Roseville, see what is available and ask. If your space rent has already moved past what makes sense for you and you are weighing an exit, we can talk about the sell side.

*This article is general information about California and local law and is not legal advice. Rent stabilization ordinances are adopted and changed by local government, the statutes cited here are amended regularly, and nothing here should be relied on in place of confirming with your city, your county, or a California attorney.*

Sources: Civil Code section 798.30; Civil Code section 798.30.5; AB 978 (2021), Mobilehome parks: rent caps; AB 2690 (2020), Mobilehome parks: local ordinances; California HCD, Manufactured and Mobilehomes