Oregon Manufactured Home Laws: Parks, Evictions, and Sales

Oregon manufactured home laws sit in three places: ORS Chapter 446 and the Building Codes Division rules govern ownership records and siting, ORS 197.307 sets what cities and counties can require when a home goes on private land, and ORS Chapter 90 gives residents of manufactured home parks some of the strongest tenancy protections in the country. If you own the home, rent the space under it, or plan to buy, sell, or move one, the rules below are the ones that will actually affect you.

What Counts as a Manufactured Home in Oregon

Under ORS 446.003, a manufactured home is a structure built for movement on public highways, with sleeping, cooking, and plumbing facilities, intended for human occupancy and residential use, and built to the federal manufactured housing construction and safety standards in effect when it was made.¹ Oregon’s statute sets no minimum square footage, though the federal HUD Code requires at least 320 square feet when erected on site.²

Oregon uses the broader term “manufactured dwelling” to cover residential trailers, mobile homes, and manufactured homes. Recreational vehicles are excluded because they are designed for temporary travel, not permanent residential use. Manufactured dwellings are not built under Oregon’s structural or low-rise residential building codes; they are built to the federal HUD standards instead.

Ownership Documents Through MHODS

Oregon does not issue vehicle-style titles for manufactured homes. That system ended in 2005 and was replaced with an ownership document tracked in the Manufactured Home Ownership Document System (MHODS), which the Building Codes Division within the Department of Consumer and Business Services runs.³ MHODS tracks ownership, security interests, and location for every home sited in Oregon that has not been recorded as real property in county deed records.⁴

To establish or transfer ownership, you submit an application listing the home’s year, manufacturer, model, and identification number, along with the existing ownership document, a manufacturer’s certificate of origin, or other proof of your chain of ownership.⁵ Anyone releasing or assigning an interest must acknowledge that change. A county tax certification must accompany every application, and BCD will not process the paperwork without it.

The BCD fee for an ownership document is $55, and a trip permit costs $5 per section.⁶ Counties may add their own recording or transaction fees. Keeping the record current matters because a stale or unresolved ownership document will hold up a sale, refinance, or move.

Converting a Manufactured Home to Real Property

Under ORS 446.626, a manufactured home can be reclassified from personal property to real property by recording it in the county deed records. Conversion matters for two practical reasons. FHA and VA loans generally require the home to be classified as real property and permanently affixed to the land.⁷ It also shifts the home from personal property assessment to real property assessment along with the land.

You qualify to record if you meet one of three conditions:

You own the land the home sits on.
You hold a recorded leasehold estate of 20 years or more, and the lease specifically permits you to record the home as real property.
You are a member of a manufactured dwelling park nonprofit cooperative that owns the underlying land.

The application goes to the county assessor on a BCD-approved form. Any existing ownership document goes with it. Once the assessor records the home in the deed records, the ownership document is sent back to BCD for cancellation, and the home is treated as part of the real estate for sales, liens, and taxation going forward.⁵

Where You Can Site a Manufactured Home

ORS 197.307 bars local governments from banning manufactured homes outright on residential land. What a city or county can do is impose specific placement standards when the home is going on private land outside a park. The full list of conditions a local government may adopt:⁸

The home must be multisectional and enclose at least 1,000 square feet.
The home must sit on an excavated and back-filled foundation, enclosed at the perimeter, with the home no more than 12 inches above grade.
A pitched roof is required, but local rules cannot demand a slope steeper than 3 feet of rise per 12 feet of width.
Siding and roofing must be similar in color, material, and appearance to surrounding homes.
The manufacturer must certify the thermal envelope meets standards equivalent to Oregon’s building code for site-built homes.
A garage or carport may be required, and the jurisdiction can insist on an attached or detached garage over a carport if that fits the surrounding construction.

Those are the ceiling on placement standards. Beyond that, a jurisdiction can apply the same development standards, architectural requirements, and minimum lot sizes it would apply to a site-built single-family home on the same lot. Placement on private land needs a building permit and a site plan showing setbacks and drainage. Utility connections must meet Oregon Specialty Codes, and local inspectors verify anchoring before issuing a certificate of occupancy.

Placement inside a manufactured home park runs on a different track. Park infrastructure handles utilities and foundation standards, and the park’s own rules govern spacing and layout rather than the municipal lot-by-lot standards.

Rent Increases in Manufactured Home Parks

If you rent a space in a manufactured home park, ORS Chapter 90 controls how and when your rent can go up. A landlord must give at least 90 days’ written notice before any rent increase takes effect, and increases are limited to once every 12-month period.⁹

Oregon also caps the size of the increase. The Department of Administrative Services publishes the maximum allowable percentage by September 30 each year for the following calendar year:

In parks with more than 30 spaces, the cap is 6%.
In parks with 30 or fewer spaces, the cap is the lesser of 10% or 7% plus CPI.

A landlord who exceeds these limits is liable to the tenant for three months’ rent plus actual damages. A narrow exception in parks with more than 30 spaces allows a larger increase for major infrastructure projects, but only if 51% of tenants approve it in a written vote and the increase does not exceed 12%.

When a Park Can Evict You

Because park residents own their home and rent only the ground under it, the grounds for forced removal are narrower than in ordinary rental housing. ORS 90.632 lets a landlord require removal for the physical condition of the home’s exterior, and only through a set procedure.¹⁰

For standard exterior disrepair, the landlord must give at least 60 days’ written notice describing the specific problem and the repairs that would fix it. You can stop the termination by making the repairs within that window. If the condition creates an imminent risk of serious harm to people or nearby homes, the notice period is 30 days. A landlord cannot target a home for its age, size, style, or the fact that it predates the 1976 federal construction standards.

The 60-day repair window can be extended if weather blocks exterior work for a substantial part of it, or if the scope of the work reasonably cannot be finished in 60 days. If you fix the problem but the same condition returns within 12 months, the landlord can then terminate on 30 days’ notice without another chance to cure.

Selling Your Home in Place

ORS 90.680 protects your right to sell a manufactured home on a rented space without moving it first. A landlord cannot deny that right and cannot require removal just because a sale is happening.⁹ You can post a “for sale” sign on the home, subject to reasonable size and placement rules.

If your buyer wants to stay in the park, the landlord can require the buyer to submit a written tenancy application and must accept or reject a complete application within seven days. The screening criteria have to be substantially similar to what the landlord applies to other prospective tenants. Any outstanding rent or fees you owe can be required to be paid in full before the landlord accepts the new buyer as a tenant.

Every sale also has to run through the MHODS ownership document system. The seller needs a county tax certification, and any existing security interests must be released in writing before or as part of the transfer.³ A seller who knowingly conceals major structural problems can face liability under general Oregon fraud and misrepresentation principles.

Park Closures and Relocation Payments

When a park owner closes a park and converts the land to another use, ORS Chapter 90 requires at least 365 days’ written notice to every affected tenant.⁹ The landlord also has to pay each displaced tenant a relocation amount tied to the size of the home:

$6,000 for a single-wide.
$8,000 for a double-wide.
$10,000 for a triple-wide or larger.

These amounts are subject to CPI adjustment since 2017.¹¹ A landlord who violates the notice or payment rules can be sued for damages. The payments frequently fall short of what it actually costs to move an older single-wide, which is why closures often mean losing the home itself.

Tenant Opportunity to Buy the Park

ORS 90.842 gives park residents a chance to compete when the owner puts the park up for sale. The owner has to notify tenants of the pending sale, and tenants then have 15 days to form or identify a tenants committee and notify the owner they intend to compete.⁹ This is not a right of first refusal that blocks other buyers; it is a chance to submit a competing offer. Tenant groups commonly organize as nonprofit cooperatives under ORS 62.800 to 62.815. If they succeed in buying the park, individual homeowners can then record their homes as real property under ORS 446.626.

Moving a Manufactured Home

Moving a manufactured home on any Oregon highway requires a trip permit. ORS 820.570 makes it a Class B traffic violation to move the structure without a permit, to fail to display it on the rear of the home during transport, or to move the home before the permit is completed.¹² Trip permits cost $5 per section through BCD.⁶ Property taxes on the home must be current before the permit issues, and local authorities inspect anchoring and utility connections at the new site before occupancy.

Federal Construction Standards and Defect Claims

Homes built after June 15, 1976, must comply with the federal HUD Code at 24 CFR Part 3280, covering structural design, fire safety, plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, energy efficiency, and transportation durability.² These federal standards preempt local building codes for the home itself. Oregon codes still govern utility connections and foundation work at the installation site.

For construction defects discovered within one year of initial installation, the federal HUD Dispute Resolution Program under 24 CFR Part 3288 provides a formal process: reporting to the manufacturer, retailer, or installer first, then a HUD filing that runs through screening, a 30-day mediation window, and nonbinding arbitration if needed. HUD can issue an order assigning responsibility for repairs and setting a completion deadline, and failure to comply is a violation of the federal Manufactured Housing Act.¹³

Fair Housing Rules in Parks

The federal Fair Housing Act covers manufactured home parks the same way it covers apartment buildings. Park owners cannot discriminate in renting spaces based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.¹⁴ Two protections generate most park disputes. Parks cannot refuse to rent to families with children, restrict where families with children can live within the park, or impose rules that disproportionately burden them; the exception is a community that qualifies as Housing for Older Persons under the 1995 federal act, which permits age restriction for residents 55 and older. Parks must also make reasonable accommodations in their rules for residents with disabilities, and a blanket “no pets” policy does not override a tenant’s right to a service or emotional support animal with proper documentation.

1
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 446.003 – Definitions for ORS 446.003 to 446.200 and 446.225 to 446.285
2
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 3280 – Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards
3
Oregon Building Codes Division. MHODS Transaction Guide
4
Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. Manufactured Home Ownership
5
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 446 – Manufactured Dwellings and Structures
6
Building Codes Division. Manufactured Home Ownership Forms
7
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Archives. HOC Reference Guide – Manufactured Homes: Eligibility and General Requirements
8
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 197.307 – Effect of Need for Certain Housing in Urban Growth Boundaries
9
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 90 – Residential Landlord and Tenant
10
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 90.632 – Termination of Tenancy Due to Physical Condition of Manufactured Dwelling
11
Oregon Housing and Community Services. Manufactured Dwelling Park Closure Rules
12
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 820 – Special Provisions for Certain Vehicles
13
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 3288 – Manufactured Home Dispute Resolution Program
14
U.S. Department of Justice. The Fair Housing Act