OSTA: Empowering Park & Marina Residents
If you are an Oregon Manufactured Home Park or Marina resident who owns their home, but rents the space or slip in which your home is located, then we are here for you.
OSTA is your support network, a trusted source of information about your rights, and your advocate for more secure housing through improved legislation.
Through these efforts and initiatives, we enhance your quality of life.
OSTA is a nonprofit, grassroots organization that seeks direction from members, avoiding a top-down approach, regarding decision-making on critical issues affecting members’ lifestyle choices, quality of life, and rights as residents in manufactured housing and floating home communities.
OSTA works to provide an expanding array of programs, information, and services to its members. It is an organization focused, not only on protecting the rights of homeowners as residents in parks and marinas but an organization that supports all aspects of manufactured and floating home living.
To enable this to happen we rely on members, teams, and colleagues, across the state who support this common vision. This work requires time, investment, and dedication to serve our 80,000+ residents and we rely solely on memberships and donations to achieve our goals.
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OSTA: Empowering Park & Marina Residents
OSTA Update:Questionable Tactics:A Video Review
Deceptive tactics are being deployed against manufactured home residents across Oregon, with park owners circulating misleading videos to undermine tenant protections as crucial legislation hangs in the balance. Bill Bateman, president of the Oregon State Tenants Association (OSTA), shares some encouraging news about HB 3054A narrowly passing the House before diving into a troubling development affecting communities statewide.
At the heart of this episode is an attorney's detailed analysis of a video being distributed to manufactured home parks – a video riddled with false statements about tenant rights. The breakdown reveals how park owners are misrepresenting fundamental legal protections, including incorrectly claiming that rental agreements require 60-day termination notices (when Oregon law stipulates just 30 days), denying the existence of the 10% rent increase cap, and falsely asserting that agreements would remain unchanged even if laws are modified. These claims directly contradict established Oregon statutes that protect tenant rights.
Perhaps most concerning are the high-pressure tactics employed – artificial deadlines, psychological manipulation making tenants feel unintelligent if they don't understand complex agreements, and questionable tax practices requiring W-9 forms for "rent credits" that may constitute tax fraud. As Bateman powerfully notes, "These are times that people are clawing and grasping to hang on to their hold on your pocketbook and your lives." With HB 3054A now headed to the Senate, this episode serves as a crucial warning for all manufactured home residents to stay vigilant, understand their rights, and recognize when seemingly generous offers are actually designed to strip away long-term protections. Share this episode with anyone living in a manufactured home community – knowledge is the strongest defense against these underhanded tactics.
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Email: bbateman@oregontenants.com
Copyright OSTA2045,2025 Not for rebroadcast w/o express written permission. Please share and download for educational purposes with attribution.
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Well, hi everybody. I'm Bill Bateman, president of OSTA, the Oregon State Tenants Association, and this is an OSTA update Got a quick update on HB 3054A and that it has passed the House. It was a razor-thin vote. We even had some Democrats joining the no column, but the vote was successful. We squeaked out of the House and we're now headed toward the Senate. We have some meetings and as soon as we get those meetings completed those things will be happening. Tomorrow We'll get more information out to you so you can continue to support this measure.
Bill Bateman:Now, one of the interesting side effects of this whole legislative process is that we're seeing some interesting tactics being used by the owners. One is a video that was mailed to several parks up north. We're going to attach a copy of that video to this program so you can actually see what was said firsthand, and I'm just absolutely blown away. There's a lot of what I feel are misleading and inappropriate claims and inappropriate tactics, but we went instead of my opinion, we took it a little farther and we're presenting a review of this video. I'd like you to listen to this. We're going to go through it point by point and at the end we have a few closing points to make. This is regarding the video that is attached and the presentations of that ilk. There are several out that I have been made aware of, but this is specifically on the video that is attached to this program. The following is just the opinion of the author. Nothing here is intended to be legal advice. If you need legal advice, please consult with your own attorney. This is a response prepared by Matthew Johnson, attorney at law, to the accompanying video.
Bill Bateman:Okay, first let's deal with the FALSE statements in this video. Number one the speaker says approximately 12 times you can only terminate this rental agreement with 60 days notice. This is FALSE. You can terminate this rental agreement, or any rental agreement, with only 30 days notice. So says ORS 90.620. Now note the provisions and protections of the Oregon Landlord and Tenants Act always take precedence over any and all terms in a rental agreement. Now that means any provision in a rental agreement that is prohibited by law, interferes with, restricts or forgoes any of the rights or remedies of tenants granted in the law or contradicts the law, is prohibited and absolutely unenforceable. To that we look to ORS 90-220 and ORS 90-245.
Bill Bateman:Point two the speaker says approximately nine times that the new buyer or owner must assume the rental agreement. Again, this is absolutely false. While a purchaser of the facility must assume the rental agreements of all the tenants, the opposite is not true. A new tenant requires a new agreement. The opposite is not true. A new tenant requires a new agreement. A new purchaser may assume the prior agreement at their own option. That's ORS 90-620.
Bill Bateman:Point three when asked about the current 10% cap, the speaker said there is no such cap. That's completely false ORS 9600. Point four he even claims that if the home burns down and the tenant brings in a new home, the agreement continues. Well, that's false. Like an insurance company saying if you replace your brand new Mercedes with the 30-year-old VW Bug, you're stuck with the same agreement and premiums. A different home would require a new and different agreement.
Bill Bateman:Point five One asks what happens if the law changes. The answer was the agreement remains in effect. The implication was that a change in law would not infect the enforceability of the agreement as signed. That's false. If the law changes, any part of the agreement that doesn't comply with the law becomes unenforceable. That's ORS 90-220 and ORS 90-245. Point six the speaker says the new agreement creates no changes in the rules. Well, false. Many facility rules and regulations are contained in a document titled Park Rules and Regulations. That document does not contain all the rules and regulations in a facility. Many rules are in the rental agreement. They know that and we should all know this as well. Read your current agreement and then read the proposed rental agreement carefully. You can spot the rule changes. Those rules are changed by signing this agreement. Getting tenants to sign a new agreement is a tactic used by facility owners as a way to change the rules and avoid the ORS 9610 process that requires a facility-wide vote on rule changes.
Bill Bateman:Now let's turn to some of the misleading claims. Point 1. The new agreement gives owners and I quote more stability and predictability. Close quotes, vacancy rates have only gone down in recent years. There are few businesses with such a dependable record of stability and guaranteed high rate of return. These agreements just give the owners more control over your lives. Controlling your life is their definition of stability and predictability. Point two the rent credit refund is free rent. There's nothing free about this. Tenants are signing these draconian agreements and giving up the stability of a month-to-month agreement. Despite the seeming temporary sounding term month month these agreements are essentially permanent, forever agreement with no end date that cannot be changed or terminated by a landlord without just cause or justification. This is better than an agreement that must be renegotiated periodically. Point three the speaker fails to mention the current overall 10% cap on all rent increases applies even under their new rental agreement.
Bill Bateman:Let us look at ORS 90-600. Point four they also insist that tenants sign a W-9 tax form. Now, a W-9 is for generated earned income. This is not generated and earned income and it is inappropriate and a possible violation of federal tax codes to claim it as such. This is not a business expense, it is merely income they have chosen to forego. It's like putting something on sale. You cannot claim the difference from the original price and the sales price as an expense. When you buy something on sale or get a refund, you don't sign a W-9. This appears to be tax fraud.
Bill Bateman:And finally, let's look at some of the high pressure tactics. Point one when asked about the some of the high pressure tactics Point 1. When asked about the downside of signing, the speaker says there are none. This should probably be in the misleading claims section too. Point 2. Tenants are given a very short term deadline and they say we don't know if we'll offer this again. This is a classic high pressure tactic. Point 3. The speaker repeatedly says you don't have to sign, like they are being nice and could force tenants to sign if they wanted to, but they don't mention the law says you don't have to sign and they cannot force you to do that. Point four the speaker keeps repeating if you don't understand it, don't sign it. This is intended to make people feel dumb. Many folks have difficulty understanding complex contracts and they make these long and complicated for just that purpose. Folks will sign to prove they are not dumb. That's another common high-pressure tactics.
Bill Bateman:Well, these are not all the issues that come up watching this video, just the most blatant lies misinformation and undue pressure tactics. I urge anyone faced with such a choice to reject the apparent short-term gains and consider the long-term consequences. Okay, that was the response. As mentioned, it is just the opinion of the author. Nothing here is intended to be legal advice. If you need legal advice, consult with your own attorney.
Bill Bateman:Well, okay, that's the review of the video and that is quite a lot to unpack. That's a little over three pages of concerns and I'm going to attach the document that I was presenting so you can review it on your own. What concerns me is the length people are going to take away your rights and to keep their hands in your pocket. There's much more to say about this, but I don't want to just go on and on. I want to be factual, I want to be accurate and I want you to be informed.
Bill Bateman:So please come back for another OSTA update. We'll be updating you on the bill which is moving into the Senate. That meeting will happen tomorrow, the 18th of April. I'll be attending and I'll report out on that as soon as the information is available. First and foremost, be advised. These are times that people are clawing and grasping to hang on to their hold on your pocketbook and your lives, and this is something you need to be aware of and we need to work together to put down You're up to date for now. We'll be reaching out again tomorrow. We'll have more information as it's available. Until then, be safe, be good to one another and we'll see you then. The preceding program was a presentation of Retired Guy Productions.
