How do you communicate with residents across a whole community?

Miss the method or the timing and a rent increase can be voided or a rule change thrown out.

This article covers Florida, California, Vermont, Oregon, and Pennsylvania because those states have specific statutes in the research below. If your community is in another state, the same workflow applies but your deadlines and required forms will differ. Look up your state's manufactured home community statute before you set any calendar dates.

What do you need before you start?

Before you build any routine, gather two things.

First, pull your state's notice statute and write the deadlines on a single sheet. The required lead times differ sharply: 90 days for a lot rent increase in Florida under Fla. Stat. § 723.037 (2025), 90 days in California under Civil Code § 798.30, and 60 days in Vermont under Vermont Housing Division Rules Part I: Mobile Home Parks (effective 7/1/2016).

Second, build a current resident roster. You need each resident's lot number, mailing address, and a secondary contact such as a phone number or email. An outdated roster is the most common reason a notice fails.

Statute often controls your delivery method. California Civil Code § 798.14 requires rent-increase notices to be delivered in person or by U.S. mail, postage prepaid, and actual receipt fewer than 90 days before the increase does not satisfy the requirement even if the letter arrived. Know your state's rule before you pick a channel.

What is the step-by-step communication workflow?

1. Set your annual notice calendar. On January 1, mark every statutory deadline for the year: rent increase notices, annual MRL disclosures if you are in California (Civil Code § 798.15 requires written notice to each homeowner before February 1 of each year about the Mobilehome Residency Law), rule-change windows, and any required posting dates.
2. Draft the notice. Use plain language. If your state requires a specific form, use it. Vermont requires the lot rent increase notice to be on a department-provided form that includes the amount, effective date, percentage increase, and a copy of leaseholders' rights, per Vermont Housing Division Rules Part I: Mobile Home Parks (effective 7/1/2016).
3. Choose the delivery method the statute requires. When the statute is silent, use certified U.S. mail and keep the receipt. A text or posted flyer can follow the legal notice as a courtesy reminder, but it does not replace it.
4. Deliver to every lot. Do not skip lots where you know the resident personally. Fla. Stat. § 723.037 (2025) requires notice to each affected mobile home owner and the homeowners' association board, and that right cannot be waived by agreement.
5. Log every delivery. Record the lot number, resident name, delivery method, date sent, and any certified mail tracking number. Keep this log.
6. Post a copy in the office. Pennsylvania's Manufactured Home Community Rights Act (Act 261 of 1976, as amended by Act 156 of 2012) requires park owners to post a copy of the Act in the community office or another conspicuous, readily accessible place.
7. Hold any required meeting. Florida requires the park owner and a negotiating committee of up to five homeowners to meet no later than 60 days before the effective date of a lot rent increase, per Fla. Stat. § 723.037(4)(a). California requires 10 days' written notice to all homeowners before a meet-and-consult meeting on proposed rule amendments, per Civil Code § 798.25.
8. Track the objection window. In Oregon, a rule change is voided if tenants of 51 percent of eligible spaces object in writing within 30 days of receiving the notice, per ORS 90.610. Log that 30-day close date on your calendar for every rule change.
9. Confirm and archive. After the deadline passes, pull your log, confirm every lot is checked off, and move the file to your records archive.

What should be on your communication checklist?

• Current roster with lot number, mailing address, and secondary contact for every resident
• Annual notice calendar with statutory deadlines marked by notice type
• State-required form or template for each notice type
• Certified mail receipts or signed delivery confirmations for every legal notice
• Proof of HOA board notification where required
• Meeting minutes for any required negotiating or meet-and-consult session
• Office posting of required statutory documents
• Copy of required statutory notice given to each new resident at lease signing, per Pennsylvania Manufactured Home Community Rights Act (Act 261 of 1976 as amended by Act 156 of 2012)
• Objection-window close date logged for rule changes in states that allow resident veto
• Archive folder per calendar year

How does this work in practice?

Hypothetical example. Working backward from March 1, the 90-day notice deadline under Fla. Stat. § 723.037 (2025) falls on December 2. You log each tracking number against each lot. On March 1 the increase takes effect. If a resident later claims they never received notice, your certified mail log and tracking numbers answer the dispute.

What mistakes cost money?

The most expensive mistake is treating a text message or a door knock as legal notice when the statute requires mail. A resident who can show actual receipt came fewer than 90 days before the increase can argue the notice was defective, as California Civil Code § 798.14 makes clear.

The second mistake is skipping the HOA board. Florida requires notice to the board as well as to each resident under Fla. Stat. § 723.037 (2025). Sending notice only to residents and skipping the board is a defective notice.

The third mistake is letting the roster go stale. If a resident moved in six months ago and you never updated the address, your certified mail goes to the wrong person and your notice fails.

A fourth mistake is conflating notice types. California Civil Code § 798.25 requires 10 days' notice before a meet-and-consult meeting on rule amendments, and most rule changes then require at least 6 months' written notice before taking effect, while rules governing recreational facilities need only 60 days. Applying the wrong lead time to the wrong rule type voids the change.

What should you measure?

Track two numbers after every notice cycle.

Notice delivery rate: the number of lots with confirmed delivery divided by total occupied lots. Collect this from your certified mail tracking log.

Days of lead time: the number of days between the date notices were sent and the effective date of the change. Collect this from your notice calendar and compare it against the statutory minimum for your state every cycle.

You can also track meeting attendance by dividing attendees by total occupied lots using your sign-in sheet. Low attendance does not excuse you from holding the meeting, but it may mean residents are not seeing your notices, which points back to a roster or delivery problem worth investigating.

What should you do next?

1. Pull your state's manufactured home community notice statute today and write every deadline on a single calendar page.
2. Audit your resident roster against your current lot leases and correct any address gaps.
3. Create a folder, physical or digital, for each notice type with the required form or template already in it.
4. Send your next required notice by certified U.S. mail and log every tracking number before you leave the post office.