Virginia Code 55.1-1310: Sale or lease of manufactured home by manufactured home owner
A. For purposes of this section:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 55.1-1310
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
- Landlord: means the manufactured home park owner or the lessor or sublessor of a manufactured home park. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
- Manufactured home: means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, that in the traveling mode is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is 320 or more square feet, and that is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained in the structure. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
- Manufactured home park: means a parcel of land under single or common ownership upon which five or more manufactured homes are located on a continual, nonrecreational basis together with any structure, equipment, road, or facility intended for use incidental to the occupancy of the manufactured homes. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
- Owner: includes a mortgagee in possession. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
- Tenant: means a person entitled as under a rental agreement to occupy a manufactured home lot to the exclusion of others. See Virginia Code 55.1-1300
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
“Military status” means status as (i) a member of the uniformed forces, as defined in 10 U.S.C. § 101(a)(5), of the United States or a reserve component thereof named under 10 U.S.C. § 10101, (ii) a veteran as defined in 38 U.S.C. § 101(2), or (iii) a dependent as defined in 50 U.S.C. § 3911(4) except that the support provided by the service member to the individual shall have been provided 180 days immediately preceding an alleged action that if proven true would constitute unlawful discrimination under this section instead of 180 days immediately preceding an application for relief under 50 U.S.C. Chapter 50.
“Religion” includes any outward expression of religious faith, including adherence to religious dressing and grooming practices and the carrying or display of religious items or symbols.
B. No landlord shall unreasonably refuse or restrict the sale or rental of a manufactured home located in his manufactured home park by a tenant. No landlord shall prohibit the manufactured home owner from placing a “for sale” sign on or in the owner’s home except that the size, placement, and character of all signs are subject to the rules and regulations of the manufactured home park. Prior to selling or leasing the manufactured home, the tenant shall give notice to the landlord, including the name of the prospective vendee or lessee if the prospective vendee or lessee intends to occupy the manufactured home in that manufactured home park. The landlord shall have the burden of proving that his refusal or restriction regarding the sale or rental of a manufactured home was reasonable. The refusal or restriction of the sale or rental of a manufactured home exclusively or predominantly based on the age of the home shall be considered unreasonable. Any refusal or restriction based on race, color, religion, national origin, military status, familial status, marital status, elderliness, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, or pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions shall be conclusively presumed to be unreasonable.
1975, c. 535, § 55-248.47; 1986, c. 586; 1992, c. 709; 2019, c. 712; 2020, cc. 1137, 1140; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 477, 478; 2022, c. 799.