Maine lawmakers have passed new protections for mobile home park residents into law, including one measure that would give them right of refusal to purchase the parks if they go up for sale.
The bill would give resident cooperatives the right to buy if they can match or exceed the seller's price of their mobile home park.
Another measure would require certain corporate buyers to pay a transfer fee for each mobile home lot purchased through a park sale. The collected fees would go toward a statewide fund that will help mobile home residents finance the purchase of their communities.
Housing advocates have said that the bills will support Maine resident cooperatives in purchasing their parks and prevent large, out-of-state real estate investors from coming into the state.
Despite efforts from Democrats, neither bill received a required two-third's majority vote to become law immediately. A resident cooperative at Friendly Village Mobile Home Park in Gorham is competing with a Wyoming-based real estate investor to purchase the community. Residents there have been advocating for more state protections that might help them successfully purchase the park.
Gov. Janet Mills has 10 days to sign both bills, veto them or allow them to become law without her signature. A third bill that would place a moratorium on certain mobile home park sales still faced additional votes in the Legislature as of Friday afternoon.
