Mobile Home Residents Threaten Class Action Lawsuit

Demand Letter Threatens Class Action Lawsuit on Behalf of Vulnerable Mobile Home Residents in Auburn, MA

Following Extreme Rent Increases and Numerous Regulatory Violations at Two Mobile Home Parks in Auburn, LCR Issues 30-Day Demand Letter to Park Owners Under Massachusetts’ Consumer Protection Act

Lawyers for Civil Rights (“LCR”) issued a formal 30-day demand letter to Parakeet Communities (“Parakeet”)—the corporate owner of American Mobile Home Park (“American”) and Whispering Pine Estates (“Whispering Pine”) in Auburn, MA—for repeatedly subjecting the residents of those mobile home parks to unfair and deceptive practices. The letter warns Parakeet that if it fails to take immediate action rectifying the harm it has caused the parks’ residents, those residents will file a class action lawsuit seeking relief in court. 

The demand letter, sent in partnership with Anderson & Kreiger LLP, builds on LCR’s prior advocacy for the financially vulnerable residents of these two mobile home parks. All tenants, regardless of their means, deserve to be treated with fairness and respect by their landlords. To that end, the letter identifies numerous unlawful acts and practices by Parakeet that have harmed park residents and must be redressed. Those legal violations include, among many other things:

• Withholding information and documents that residents were legally entitled to have as they considered new lease or tenancy offers; 
• Levying extreme rent increases without meeting legal disclosure requirements;
• Subjecting residents to illegal lease provisions; and
• Making false and misleading assertions as to the nature and terms of lease offers.

The letter also alleges that Parakeet used these tactics knowingly, and repeatedly, to diminish the bargaining power of the park residents and induce them into taking actions that they might not otherwise have taken. It further notes that the consistency and volume of the violations establish that this was all part of a broader strategy to deceive the residents for Parakeet’s illicit gain. 

The residents of these parks, like those in manufactured housing communities across the country, live on very low and fixed incomes. Many are also elderly or disabled. This population is thus particularly vulnerable to bullying and financial exploitation by landlords. Especially given the Commonwealth’s ongoing affordable housing crisis, it is critical to ensure that these residents get the full benefit of state laws that protect tenants and consumers. 

Mobile home park residents deserve not only to have their legal protections and tenancy rights honored, but also to be uniformly treated with dignity and respect. LCR will continue fighting for our clients in Auburn until that aspiration becomes their reality. 

Click here to download the letter.