§3259.1. Unpaid rent; mobile homes or manufactured housing; notification by lessor

A. As used in this Section the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) "Lessor" shall mean the owner of the unsubdivided immovable property on which three or more lots are available for rent for locating a mobile home or manufactured housing.

(2) "Lessee" shall mean the person leasing the immovable property on which a mobile home or manufactured housing is located.

(3) "Mobile home" and "manufactured housing" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet and which, is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, and air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein; except that such term shall include any structure which meets all the requirements of this Paragraph except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the fire marshal and complies with the standards established by this Part. The terms "mobile home" and "manufactured housing" shall include a manufactured home, a modular home, and a residential mobile home that is no longer declared to be a part of the realty pursuant to R.S. 9:1149.6.

(4) "Mortgagor" shall mean the person executing the security device as the obligor or the transferee if the mobile home or manufactured housing has been transferred and the obligations under the security device assumed by another person with written consent of the holder of the security device.

(5) "Secured party" shall mean the holder of a security interest under Chapter 9 of the Louisiana Commercial Laws (R.S. 10:9-101, et seq.) or a chattel mortgage, the pledgee or assignee of a chattel mortgage or security agreement, or the agent of the holder, assignee, or pledgee of a chattel mortgage or security agreement, or the holder of a promissory note executed for the sale of a mobile home or manufactured housing if that note is sold with recourse against the holder of the note, or the vendor of a retail installment contract as defined in R.S. 6:951 when such retail installment contract is sold with recourse against the vendor.

(6) "Security device" means a security interest under Chapter 9 of the Louisiana Commercial Laws (R.S. 10:9-101, et seq.), a chattel mortgage, or a promissory note executed for the sale of a mobile home or for manufactured housing or a retail installment contract entered into pursuant to Chapter 10 of Title 6 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 for the sale of a mobile home or for manufactured housing.

B. When the rental payments for immovable property on which a mobile home or manufactured housing is located are sixty days past the due date for the payment, the lessor shall notify the secured parties and the mortgagor, if the mortgagor is not the lessee or occupant of the mobile home or manufactured housing, in writing by mail that the rental payments are sixty days past the due date. The notice shall include the following information if known or readily available to the lessor or if available from the office of motor vehicles of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections:

(1) The lessor's name.

(2) The lessee's name.

(3) The mortgagor's name.

(4) The location of the mobile home or manufactured housing.

(5) The number of days that the rental payments are overdue, the monthly rental payment, and the total amount past due.

(6) The vehicle identification number of the mobile home or manufactured housing.

(7) A description of the mobile home or manufactured housing including the make, model, year, dimensions, and any identification numbers or marks.

C. Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, failure of the lessor to provide such notification within thirty days after the rental payments are sixty days past due shall limit the lessor's privilege or right of pledge for rent to the amount of rental payments past due for ninety days.

D. The lessor shall be entitled to collect a fee of twenty-five dollars from the lessee or mortgagor in addition to the rental payments due and any additional fees or charges due the lessor when such notification is made and the lessee or mortgagor subsequently pays the rental payments due.

E. The lessor shall be entitled to collect a fee of twenty-five dollars from the secured parties in addition to all rental or storage payments due at the time the mobile home or manufactured housing is repossessed when such notification is made and the secured party subsequently obtains possession of the mobile home or manufactured housing.

F. The office of motor vehicles in the Department of Public Safety and Corrections shall maintain a record of all mobile homes and manufactured housing for which a vehicle certificate of title has been issued pursuant to Chapter 4 of Title 32 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and which is subject to a security device for a period of ten years or for the period stated for the termination of the security device. The record shall include, if available:

(1) The name and address of the mortgagor or vendee of the mobile home or manufactured housing.

(2) The names and addresses of the primary secured party and any secondary secured party on any security device.

(3) The vehicle identification number of the mobile home or manufactured housing.

(4) A description of the mobile home or manufactured housing including the make, model, year, dimensions, and any identification numbers.

Acts 1985, No. 531, §1; Acts 1989, No. 137, §4, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.