First Mobile Home Park and Now we are in trouble w/ city (Help)

[Macarena Korth]

My partners and I bought back in Dec 2020 a 9 unit Mobile Home Park in Heflin AL. We are from Texas and this was our first time buying out of state. We called the city to ask questions about selling with financing and renting lots. All seemed fine. We bought the park unrepresented and the seller had a broker who draws the commercial purchase agreement. We contacted the city multiple times for help and got a business license and specified we were going to rent the lots. Fast forward to now, we have sold 7 MH as-is. Each owner has a note and pays a lot of rent. They all got permits to get power and turn on utilities and so forth. 

Now we were in the process of helping the owner of MH #7 and we found out from our electrician that the city is not going to provide us ANY MORE PERMITS because we are not in compliance.  

Nobody ever communicated with us, so we immediately call the city and after 5 days we get a call back from the Mayor. He said the land was R1 and that the homes were not grandfathered in. He gave us two options: Move the mobile homes out (which is practically impossible we have families living there) or comply with these requirements and do a petition to change the zoning in the area.  

I argued we spoke multiple times with staff members at the city, they knew I was selling/renting lots and that they provided me a business license. None of those employees were able to tell me that what we were doing was not in compliance. If they would have only mentioned it back in December when we called we wouldn't have bought the park in the first place. 

If we attempt to comply we can only fit a total of 5 mobile homes with (70ft frontage) and the list goes on. We are a little desperate and don't know even where to begin. So while my husband reads the compliance requirements I am posting for help. 

Thank you for reading

[Rachel H.]

@Macarena Korth Sorry to hear about what's happened with your mobile home park. You may want to contact the local manufactured housing association in the area. Usually, they have a referral network and may be able to give you a few names of some attorneys who may be able to help you who specialize in this niche. At this point, you may want to consult with an experienced attorney to go over your options. Best of luck with everything!