Bill
A 4973
The bill allows resident homeowners in manufactured-home parks to buy the land they lease by lowering consent to a simple majority, extending timelines, and enabling organized pres
Status and context
- Introduced Oct 21, 2024; reported favorably by the Assembly Housing Committee (Dec 9, 2024). Passed the Assembly Jan 30, 2025 (69-6-0). Reported by the Senate Community & Urban Affairs Committee with amendments Jun 5, 2025. Companion: S3913.
- Primary sponsor: Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs; multiple cosponsors.
- Purpose: Expand and modernize the right-of-first-refusal and related protections for homeowners living in private residential leasehold communities (PRLCs, i.e., mobile/manufactured home parks) so resident homeowners can preserve affordable communities when landowners sell or change land use.
Main goals / intent
- Give resident homeowners (people who own a home in a PRLC but lease the land) an improved opportunity to purchase the community land before it is sold to a third party or redeveloped.
- Replace the older “association of unit owners” framework with a more flexible “resident homeowner group” model and update notice, timing, confidentiality, and enforcement rules.
Key provisions and changes
- Definitions and scope: PRLCs are communities with at least 10 home sites. “Resident homeowner” and “resident homeowner group” (open to all resident homeowners and controlled by them) are defined and emphasized.
- Notice requirements: When PRLC land is offered for sale or the landowner has received a bona fide offer they intend to consider or counter, the landowner must provide certified-mail notice to:
- Department of Community Affairs (DCA);
- Municipal clerk and mayor/CEO of the municipality;
- Each resident homeowner in the PRLC;
- Nonprofit organizations listed on the DCA website that requested notification.
(Committee amendment removed the New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency from the notice list.)
- DCA responsibilities: Maintain a publicly posted list of nonprofits that want to receive sale/offer notifications; the committee amended the bill to require updating the list within a longer interval (amendment changed update timing from 30 to 90 days).
- Right of first refusal / purchase mechanics:
- Lowers the homeowner consent threshold from 2/3 (current law) to a simple majority: 51% of resident homeowners may consent to purchase.
- Extends the deadline to execute a purchase contract from 45 days to 120 days after initial notice.
- Authorizes a refundable earnest-money requirement up to $50,000 (settable by the landowner).
- Resident homeowners may indicate consent by petition or other signed document.
- Resident homeowners may designate up to seven representatives (with legal/technical assistance) to negotiate on their behalf and may form cooperatives/nonprofits to take title.
- Resident homeowner groups may assign their purchase rights to a municipality, housing authority, state agency, or nonprofit/cooperative for preservation purposes.
- Confidentiality: Committee amendments add a nondisclosure requirement among parties to negotiations and due diligence; unauthorized disclosures are treated as causing irreparable harm and permit injunctive relief and other remedies.
- Enforcement and remedies:
- Resident homeowner groups, or the Attorney General, may sue in Superior Court for violations of the underlying law (P.L.1991, c.483).
- Violations are treated as unlawful practices under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (subject to CFA penalties).
- Other provisions:
- Exempts transfers of a PRLC to a resident homeowner group or assignee from the Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act (PREDFDA) when applicable.
- Repeals sections 6–9 of P.L.1991, c.483 (provisions concerning formation and governance of the prior “association of unit owners”) and replaces related terminology throughout the statute.
Who is affected
- Resident homeowners living in PRLCs (owners of units/mobile homes who lease land).
- PRLC landowners (required to provide notices and negotiate in good faith).
- Municipalities, housing authorities, state agencies, and nonprofits that may receive assignment or participate in preservation purchases.
- Nonprofit housing preservation organizations that sign up with DCA to receive notices.
- Lenders/financiers involved with purchases (process/timing and earnest-money provisions).
Procedural/timeline notes
- Triggers: notice is required when land is offered for sale or a bona fide purchase offer exists that the landowner intends to consider or counter.
- Resident homeowner group has 120 days to meet the price/terms by contract; negotiations, extensions, and financing procedures are specified in the bill.
- Enforcement can be pursued in Superior Court; violations may carry CFA remedies.
Potential impacts
- Strengthens homeowners’ ability to keep manufactured-home communities affordable and prevent displacement resulting from redevelopment or sale.
- Increases time and flexibility for homeowners to organize, secure financing, and negotiate purchases.
- Imposes new notice, confidentiality, and procedural obligations on PRLC landowners and creates new opportunities for municipalities and nonprofits to acquire communities for continued residential use.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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