[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Dalton. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
There is hereby established a Mobile Home Park Rent Control Board consisting
of five members representing public interest, none of whom to be a mobile
home park tenant or mobile home park landowner, appointed by the Select Board.
The members in the first instance shall be appointed for terms of one, two,
three, four, and five years. Upon expiration of a term of office, the subsequent
term shall be for a period of five years.
A.
MOBILE HOME
MOBILE HOME PARK
RENT BOARD and BOARD
RULES AND REGULATIONS
For the purpose of this bylaw, the following terms, phrases,
words and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein, unless the
context in which they are used clearly requires a different meaning:
A dwelling unit built on a chassis and containing complete electrical,
plumbing and sanitary facilities, and designed to be installed on a temporary
or a permanent foundation for permanent living quarters.
A park licensed by the Board of Health pursuant to MGL c. 140, § 32B,
and as defined in MGL c. 140, § 32F.
The Mobile Home Park Rent Control Board as established herein.
Rules and regulations as promulgated by the Board.
B.
"Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
A.
The Board shall regulate rents, set minimum standards
for use or occupancy of mobile home park accommodations and evictions of tenants
therefrom; may require information of said owners relating to their parks
under penalties of perjury.
B.
The Board may make rules and regulations, sue and be
sued, compel attendance of persons and the production of papers and information,
and issue appropriate orders which shall be binding on both the owner and
tenant of such mobile home park accommodations.
A.
The Board may make individual or general adjustments,
either upward or downward, as may be necessary to assure that rents for mobile
home park accommodations are established on levels which yield to owners a
fair net operating income for such units.
B.
Fair net operating income shall be that income which
will yield a return, after all reasonable operating expenses, on the fair
market value of the property, equal to the debt service rate generally available
from institutional first mortgage lenders or such other rates of return as
the Board, on the basis of evidence presented before it, deems more appropriate
to the circumstances of the case.
C.
Fair market value shall be the assessed valuation of
the property or such other valuation as the Board, on the basis of evidence
presented before it, deems more appropriate to the circumstances of the case.
D.
No proposed rent increase shall be effective without
the prior approval of the Board.
E.
The Board may establish further standards and rules consistent
with the foregoing.
The Board may regulate evictions of tenants at mobile home parks and
may issue orders which shall be a defense to action of summary process for
possession.
A.
The Board and its actions shall be subject to the provisions
of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A (Administrative Procedures Act)
as if the Board were an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; provided,
however, that the Board shall notify the tenants and landlord at least seven
days prior to a hearing at which said tenants and landlord shall be provided
an opportunity to be heard. Said notice shall include the date, time, and
place of the hearing, and shall advise the tenant or landlord of his or her
right to be heard.
B.
Original and concurrent jurisdiction.
(1)
The District Court of Berkshire County shall have original
jurisdiction, concurrently with the Superior Court, of all petitions for review
brought pursuant to MGL c. 30A, § 14.
(2)
The Superior Court and the District Court of Berkshire
County shall have concurrent jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this
bylaw, and any bylaw adopted thereunder, and may restrain violations thereof.
Violations of this bylaw or any order of the Board shall be punished
by a fine of not more than $1,000 for any one offense.
If any provision of this bylaw or the application of such provision
to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the validity of the
remainder of this bylaw and the application of such provision to other persons
or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
