questions & answers

Question: I live in a Mobile Home Park. I got a sink hole behind my house after a really bad storm. The water pools between the houses and when it drained, you can see the trail of debri that flowed to the back of my house where much of the water washed out the soil and left a big sink hole around my cement slab that my AC sits on. I only rent the lot. Does the park need to fix this problem or am I suppose to fix a new sink hole every time we get a big rain storm?

Answer: The Arizona Mobile Home Parks Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, mobile home park landlords are required (among other things) to “comply with the requirements of all applicable city, county and state codes materially affecting health and safety”; “make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition”; and “keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition” (A.R.S. 33-1434), while mobile home space renters are required (among other things) to “comply with all obligations primarily imposed on tenants by applicable provisions of city, county and state codes materially affecting health and safety”; “keep that part of the premises that the tenant occupies and uses as clean and safe as the condition of the premises permits”; “dispose from the tenant’s mobile home space all rubbish, garbage and other waste in a clean and safe manner as prescribed by park rules”; and “not deliberately or negligently destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove any part of the premises or knowingly permit any person to do so” (A.R.S. 33-14 51). Without knowing more, it is difficult to say whether or not these provisions clarify responsibility in the situation you describe. However, so long as a tenant in your situation has not caused or worsened the problem, that tenant may wish to request in writing that the mobile home landlord repair it.