46:8C-2. Mobile home park fees

a. No mobile home park owner or operator shall require a resident therein to purchase from said owner or operator underskirting, equipment for tying down mobile homes, or any other equipment required by law, local ordinance or regulations of the mobile home park. However, the park operator may determine by rule or regulation the style or quality of such equipment to be purchased by the tenant from a vendor of the tenant's choosing.

b. (1) No mobile home park owner or operator shall charge any resident who chooses to install an electric or gas appliance in his mobile home an additional fee unless that fee reflects the cost to the mobile home park of such installation or its use, or to restrict the installation, service or maintenance of any such appliance, or to restrict the making of any interior improvement in such mobile home, so long as such an installation or improvement is in compliance with applicable building codes and other provisions of law.

(2) No mobile home park owner or operator shall require a resident therein to purchase from him, or from any vendor or supplier he designates or selects, any natural product, by-product or synthetic of petroleum gas; except when said owner or operator owns or has a possessory interest in the lines or equipment transmitting or consuming a specific fuel and when said system is properly operating under State and local laws and when said fuel is competitively priced. If the park owner or operator does not own or have a possessory interest in said lines or equipment park owner or operator may, by rule or regulation, designate a specific grade or quality of petroleum or gas to be used. Specification of grade or quality is also permitted whenever reasonably necessary to maintain safety standards prescribed by State law or regulation or by local ordinance.

(3) No mobile home park owner or operator shall move, or require to be moved or relocated within the park, any mobile home owned by any person other than the park owner or operator, unless reasonably necessary and unless written notice is served personally on the mobile home dweller 30 days prior to such proposed move, except in case of an emergency requiring a temporary move or relocation. All costs and fees related, directly or indirectly, to any such move or relocation shall be borne by the owner or operator. In addition, the dweller of the mobile home shall have a right to reimbursement for any loss or damage caused by any such move or relocation, and this right shall not be waived; and any instrument containing a waiver thereof shall be null and void.

c. A mobile home park owner or operator shall be required to fully disclose in writing all fees, charges, assessments, rules and regulations prior to a mobile home dweller assuming occupancy in the park. No fees, charges or assessments so disclosed may be increased or rules and regulations changed by the park owner or operator without specifying the date of implementation of said fees, charges, assessments or rules and regulations, which date shall be no less than 30 days after written notice to all tenants.

In addition, all fees, charges or assessments, including but not limited to entrance, membership or association fees, however denominated, disclosed by said mobile home park owner or operator, must be specifically related to and identifiable with actual costs incurred by the mobile home park owner or operator. No fee in reimbursement of the owner's or operator's costs in determining a prospective tenant's credit rating shall exceed the actual cost to the owner or operator of obtaining such determination, including the cost of providing the prospective tenant with copies of credit reports in conformity with the requirements of this act. A complete and accurate copy of any report furnished to an owner or operator by a credit reporting service with respect to a prospective tenant shall be promptly forwarded to the prospective tenant by the owner or operator. All disclosures made in accordance with this section shall be completed prior to the execution of any leasing agreement as required by section 4 of this act, or the entering into of any other contractual relationship.

d. Failure on the part of the mobile home park owner or operator to fully disclose all fees, charges or assessments shall prevent the park owner or operator from collecting said fees, charges or assessments, and refusal by the dweller to pay any undisclosed charges shall not be used by the owner or operator as a cause for eviction in any court of law.

e. Any mobile home park owner or operator who, directly or indirectly, receives, collects or accepts from another any donation, gratuity, bonus or gift, in addition to lawful charges, upon the representation, understanding or statement that compliance with the request or demand therefor will facilitate, influence or procure an advantage over others in entering into an agreement, either oral or written, for the lease or rental of real property for any term or for the use or occupation thereof, or any such owner or operator who refuses to enter into such agreement unless he receives, directly, or indirectly, any such donation, gratuity, bonus or gift, or any such owner or operator, who, directly or indirectly, aids, abets, requests or authorizes any other person to violate any of the provisions of this section, is a disorderly person.

f. In any action by any person to recover any donation, gratuity, bonus or gift acquired by another in violation of the provisions of this act, the court, upon finding for such person, shall award recovery of double the value of such donation, gratuity, bonus or gift, together with costs of the action, including reasonable attorney's fees.

L. 1973, c. 153, s.2; amended by 1977, c. 350, s. 1; 1987, c. 89, s. 1.