Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 31-44 - Mobile and Manufactured Homes

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the department of business regulation. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the director of the department of business regulation. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Entry requirements: means any written, nondiscriminatory criteria for resident selection incorporated into the rules and regulations of a mobile- and manufactured-home park which are equally applied by the licensee to all purchasers and prospective residents. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fee schedule: means an itemized list of fees for goods or services sold or performed by a mobile- and manufactured-home park licensee including, but not limited to, the entrance fee, hook-up fee, and maintenance fee, if any. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Hook-up fee: means a reasonable fee for the services required to install a mobile and manufactured home on a mobile- and manufactured-home space or lot. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Licensee: means any person or agent licensed under § 31-44-1. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mobile and manufactured home: means a detached residential unit designed:

  (i)  For a long term occupancy and containing sleeping accommodations, a flush toilet, and a tub or shower bath and kitchen facilities, and having both permanent plumbing and electrical connections for attachment to outside systems;

  (ii)  To be transported on its own wheels or on a flatbed or other trailer or detachable wheels; and

  (iii)  To be placed on pads, piers, or tied down, at the site where it is to be occupied as a residence complete and ready for occupancy, except for minor and incidental unpacking and assembly operations and connection to utilities systems. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1

• Mobile- and manufactured-home space or lot: means a plot of ground within a mobile- and manufactured-home park designed for the accommodation of one mobile and manufactured home. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Owner: means a licensee or permittee or any person who owns, operates, or maintains a mobile- and manufactured-home park. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• park: means a plot of ground upon which four (4) or more mobile and manufactured homes, occupied for residential purposes are located. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Prospective resident: means an applicant for admission to a mobile- and manufactured-home park who is ready, willing, and able to buy a mobile and manufactured home owned and offered for sale by a licensee or resident, and who is able to meet the entrance requirements of the rules of the park. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Protected lawful action: means any report of a violation of this chapter, or of any applicable building or health code, or any other justified complaint to a governmental authority, or any other justified lawful act by the resident(s) or prospective resident(s). See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Qualified sale: means the sale of a mobile- and manufactured-home park to a resident organization with the goal of resident ownership by at least fifty-one percent (51%) of the homeowner households residing in the park. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Reprisal: means any act taken against the resident(s) which is intended as a penalty for any protected lawful action taken by the resident(s). See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Resident: means an owner or renter occupying a mobile and manufactured home in a mobile- and manufactured-home park with the consent of the owner as defined in subdivision (11) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Resident organization: means a group of mobile- and manufactured-home park residents who have formed a nonprofit corporation, cooperative corporation, or other entity or organization for the purpose of acquiring the mobile home park in which they reside and converting the mobile home park to resident ownership. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Resident ownership: means , depending on the context, either the ownership, by a resident organization, as defined in this section, of an interest in a mobile- and manufactured-home park which entitles the resident organization to control the operations of the mobile home park, or the ownership of individual interests in a mobile home park, or both. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Security deposit: means a sum not to exceed the monthly rental which a licensee may require a resident of a rented mobile or manufactured home to deposit as security in case of damage caused by the resident in excess of ordinary wear and tear. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Standards for mobile and manufactured homes: means any written, nondiscriminatory minimum specifications for structural soundness, safety, and habitability adopted by the department or any other government agency. See Rhode Island General Laws 31-44-1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8