Seashore Villa Ass'n v. Hagglund Family Ltd. Partnership

260 P.3d 906, 163 Wash. App. 531
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedSeptember 7, 2011
Docket40952-6-II
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 260 P.3d 906 (Seashore Villa Ass'n v. Hagglund Family Ltd. Partnership) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seashore Villa Ass'n v. Hagglund Family Ltd. Partnership, 260 P.3d 906, 163 Wash. App. 531 (Wash. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

*534 Penoyar, C.J.

¶1 Hagglund Family Limited Partnership; the Salvation Army; PCF Management Services Inc.; and Emerald Properties LLC, d/b/a Seashore Villa Mobile Home Park (collectively Park) appeal the trial court’s issuance of a permanent injunction enjoining the Park from transferring to its tenants the responsibility of maintaining the carports and storage sheds the park owner constructed on its tenants’ lots. The injunction also enjoins the Park from removing the carports or storage sheds without the tenants’ uncoerced, written consent. The Park argues that the trial court erred in ruling that (1) it had violated RCW 59.20.135 1 and (2) a contract implied in fact existed between the Park and its tenants, in which the Park agreed to maintain the storage sheds and carports. We affirm the trial court’s ruling that the Park’s letter, asking tenants to sign an agreement transferring the ownership and responsibility for maintenance of the storage sheds and carports from the landlord to the tenants, violated RCW 59.20.135. But we reverse the trial court’s ruling that a contract implied in fact existed between the parties and remand with instructions to vacate that portion of the injunction permanently enjoining the Park from removing the carports or storage sheds without the tenants’ uncoerced, written consent.

FACTS

¶2 Seashore Villa Mobile Home Park is a mobile home park in Olympia for individuals 55 years of age and older. There are 110 mobile home lots in the Park. Tenants rent a lot for their mobile homes.

¶3 According to the Park, the Hagglund Family Limited Partnership owns the land situating Seashore Villa. The Hagglund Family donated a portion of the ownership of the *535 mobile home park to the Salvation Army. In 1992, the Hagglund Family and the Salvation Army jointly owned the mobile home park and leased the operation of the mobile home park to Emerald Properties LLC. PCF Management Services Inc. is the property manager for Emerald.

¶4 Construction of Seashore Villa was completed in the 1980s. The Park built storage sheds and carports on many of the lots in the mobile home park. Initially, when Seashore Villa sought tenants, advertisements ran in the local paper that marketed carports and sheds as amenities the mobile home park provided to residents. 2 In 1979, the mobile home park charged some tenants $3.50 each month for carports and $5.00 each month for storage sheds. In 1981, leases included a provision stating that rent included carports and storage sheds. In 1984, Seashore Villa’s rules and regulations read, “CARPORTS AND STORAGE SHEDS are provided by the park for use by the tenants. All tenants are required to keep their carports and storage sheds clean and free of moss, etc.” Clerk’s Papers (CP) at 49. In 1991, the rules and regulations stated that the carports and storage sheds “are provided ‘as is’ for use by the tenants. All tenants are required to keep their carports and storage sheds clean and free of moss, etc. Maintenance is the responsibility of the resident/tenant.” Exs. 1, 25, 215. Seashore Villa’s current rules and regulations state, “Mobile home, [c]arports and storage sheds are to be kept clean and free of moss, etc.” CP at 173.

¶5 In 1994, the legislature added a provision to the Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act (MHLTA) 3 prohibiting landlords from transferring responsibility to maintain permanent structures within the mobile home park to the park’s tenants. RCW 59.20.135(2). In 2000, PCF sent a letter to the Seashore Villa Association, stating, “Emerald *536 Properties L.P. regards the sheds and carports to be owned by the owners of each unit. .. . The maintenance of these items is the responsibility of their owners.” CP at 42. On June 28, 2005, Emerald sent a rent increase/notice of change of rental to each of its tenants. The notice informed tenants:

As you may recall, the management has advised you in prior years that the Park does not own any carport or storage shed that may be situated on your space. To clarify this, another purpose of this notice is to advise you that your new rent on the 1st day of October 2005 will not include the amenity of a storage shed or carport at your space. Insofar as you do not believe that you own any storage shed or carport at your space, the Park will arrange for the removal of the carport or shed. If you wish to keep your carport or storage shed at your space, please sign and return the attached Storage Shed/Carport Agreement to the management prior to the 1st day of October 2005.

CP at 43, 136. The “Storage Shed/Carport Agreement” stated, in part:

The Tenant hereby requests that the ownership and responsibility for maintenance of the Storage Shed and/or Carport at the Tenant’s Mobile Home Lot be transferred to Tenant.
The Landlord hereby transfers the ownership and responsibility for maintenance of the Storage Shed and/or Carport at the Tenant’s Mobile Home Lot to Tenant.
The Tenant hereby releases and holds Landlord harmless from any and all liabilities, claims or actions for loss, and damages from any and all liability whatsoever that may arise from the Tenant’s use, ownership, and maintenance of the Storage Shed and Carport, including without limitation any alleged violation of RCW 59.20.135.

CP at 44.

¶6 In October 2005, Seashore Villa Association and individual tenants (collectively Association) filed a lawsuit against the Hagglund Family Limited Partnership, the Salvation Army, and PCF, requesting a temporary restrain *537 ing order and a permanent order enjoining the park owners, PCF, and their successors from removing the carports and sheds from the tenants’ lots; an order declaring the park owner’s obligation to maintain the carports and sheds under RCW 59.20.135; and an order declaring void any agreement, signed by a tenant, to maintain the carports and storage sheds. Emerald then filed a lawsuit against individual tenants, seeking declaratory relief that its letter did not violate RCW 59.20.135. The cases were not consolidated; however, they were tried jointly and considered together.

¶7 The Association and Emerald both moved for summary judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
260 P.3d 906, 163 Wash. App. 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seashore-villa-assn-v-hagglund-family-ltd-partnership-washctapp-2011.