Bill to Defer Tax on Mobile Home Park Lot Sale Passes

Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), hoping to quell pressures for rent control, Friday won passage of legislation that would encourage mobile home park owners to sell individual lots to their tenants.

The law, which was sent to Gov. George Deukmejian, would defer state taxes owed by mobile home park owners on capital gains from the sale of such land.

To reap the benefit, however, sellers would have to reinvest in other rental property in California within the next two years, Seymour said.

The bill also requires that mobile home park owners sell their lots to at least a majority of current mobile home owners in the park before the tax break can be realized.

“A big problem in Orange County has been the pressure of mobile home residents for rent control,’ Seymour said, adding that he sponsored the legislation “to help relieve that pressure.”

Seymour noted that the mobile home bill is a “follow-up” to a measure he sponsored last year, which created a state loan fund for mobile home owners seeking to purchase the land on which their homes are situated.

That bill also stopped tax reassessment of mobile homes if owners are buying the land under the homes. Without such a proviso, Seymour said, mobile homes bought very cheaply years ago would skyrocket in assessed valuation and tax liability.