No Extension on Rent Hike Moratorium

Larry Petitta lives in the Villa Del Arroyo Mobile Park, where the 62-year-old retiree enjoys the balmy days, appreciates his good neighbors and says it’s safe enough to leave his unlocked bike outside.

Yet for Petitta and many other residents of the 240-unit park--occupied primarily by senior citizens on fixed incomes--the benefits of living in the park have diminished and the grumbles have grown in the face of 4% annual rent hikes.

“The whole idea behind mobile home parks,” Petitta said, “is affordability. But rent increases have made it unaffordable.”

A 90-day moratorium, which City Council members imposed to halt rent increases while the city looked into the situation, ended Thursday without any extension.

That means some residents may receive rent increases soon. Some have long-term leases that expire in a few months, and the majority with month-to-month leases may be hit with a 4% increase in December, if the owner sends residents 90-day notices by early September, said Rosalie Gehres, homeowners’ association president.

Rather than voting to change a city ordinance that allows a park’s management to raise rents at least 4% each year, or by the Consumer Price Index, whichever is higher, the City Council agreed Wednesday to help park residents and the park owner continue negotiating some type of rent agreement.

A new ordinance would affect the city’s one other existing park on West High Street--28-space Moorpark Mobile Homepark--as well as any future mobile home parks in Moorpark, city officials said.

“It’s such a tough issue,” said Councilman Chris Evans, who has been working with a group of residents and the management company Bessire Casenhiser Inc. of Walnut. “We didn’t get into the predicament overnight.”

In fact, the issue of rent increases has been simmering for years.

In 1989, the city repealed a rent stabilization ordinance after park owner Dale Williams sued the city. But when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled rent-control ordinances do not constitute a physical taking of property, the ordinance was put back in place. Williams challenged the ordinance and forced it to a vote in a 1993 referendum, but the ordinance passed.

Residents, however, now say the park management should not be able to increase their rent automatically by 4% without opening up their books and showing why the hike is justified.

Petitta has seen his rent nearly double from about $250 a month when he arrived in 1985 to the current $439.

“We’ve worked hard to achieve a fair and equitable situation where justification of rent increases would have to be shown,” said Petitta, who lives in a two-bedroom mobile home. “It’s not just an automatic situation.”

Residents argue if the rent goes up, they should see more improvements, such as a cleaner pool and more places for children to play. They also say they are now also charged for utilities, which were paid for them in the 1980s.

Richard Elias, park spokesman and vice president of the management company, is on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

A nine-member committee was formed to come up with a resolution, some pushing to have no rent increases, while others are trying to lower the rent increases to 3%. Evans will be working with the committee during the next few months to help work out an agreement.

“Hopefully, the committee Mr. Evans wants to put together will be able to put together a resolution that will be agreeable to everyone,” Gehres said.