Facts: The sole owner of a mobilehome park applied to the city to convert their mobilehome park from tenant leasehold occupancy to fee ownership occupancy of each existing space in the park. As required by the application, the owner surveyed the tenants of the park. The survey was used by the city to determine whether the conversion was truly intended for resident ownership for each space or a sham to preempt rent control ordinances. The survey did not indicate the conversion was a sham, but a majority of tenant survey respondents did not favor the conversion. The city denied the application.
Claim: The owner claimed the city’s denial of their application based on the results of the survey was invalid since the survey only needed to show the conversion was not a sham.
Counterclaim: The city claimed their denial of the application was valid since a majority of respondents did not favor the conversion.
Holding: A California court of appeals held the mobilehome park owner may convert the mobilehome park leasehold interests to resident ownership of park spaces since the survey can only be relied on to reject the application if it indicates the conversion is a sham. [Chino MHC, LP v. City of Chino (2013) ___ CA4th___]
