Code of Massachusetts Regulations
940 CMR - OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Title 940 CMR 10.00 - Manufactured Housing Community Regulations
Section 10.01 - Definitions

Act: shall mean M.G.L. c. 140, §§ 32A through 32S, as amended and supplemented from time to time.

Basic Utilities: shall mean those utility services listed in 940 CMR 10.05(4).

Clear and Conspicuous Type: shall mean printed typeface no smaller than 12 point print.

Common Areas and Facilities: shall mean all land areas and facilities in a manufactured housing community, except manufactured homes, manufactured home sites, and areas and facilities that are specified in the occupancy agreement or the written community rules as not available for common use by residents. Common areas and facilities shall include, without limitation, community roads, common parking areas, common storage areas, common walkways, community social, recreational and operational facilities, and utilities other than those located on a manufactured home site.

Cooperative: shall mean a manufactured housing community where the land underlying the community is cooperatively owned by at least 51% of the community manufactured home owners.

Fair market rental rates: shall mean the rental rates that would be charged in the market between a willing owner of a manufactured housing community and a willing prospective tenant seeking initial residency in the community, each acting freely and without compulsion or collusion, for the manufactured home site in question. This definition is not intended to replace or supersede any applicable rent control laws and, with respect to manufactured housing communities that are subject to rent control, "fair market rental rates" shall mean the rates established pursuant to such laws.

Federal Fair Housing Act: shall mean 42 U.S.C. §§ 3600 et seq. and regulations promulgated thereunder.

Guest: shall mean a person who resides in a home for fewer than 90 days in any 12 month period.

Licensee: shall mean an operator who holds a current manufactured housing community license from the local board of health under M.G.L. c. 140, § 32B.

Manufactured Home: is defined in M.G.L. c. 140, § 32Q.

Manufactured Home Dealer: shall mean a person engaged in the business of selling manufactured homes to retail customers.

Manufactured Home Site: shall mean the land within a manufactured housing community on which a manufactured home and appurtenances are or may be located and over which a tenant has possessory or other rights or interests.

Manufactured Housing Community: shall have the meaning assigned in M.G.L. c. 140, § 32F.

Non-Discriminatory Rent Increase: shall mean proposed rental increases, to the extent permitted by occupancy agreements, that are apportioned equally among similarly situated tenants in the community.

Occupancy Agreement: shall mean any written agreement, including but not limited to a lease, a license, or a tenancy at will, and any amendment, renewal or extension thereof, for use or occupancy of a manufactured home site, common areas, facilities, and other appurtenant rights.

Operator: shall mean a person who directly or indirectly owns, conducts, controls, manages, or operates any manufactured housing community, and his/her agents or employees.

Person: shall mean any individual or entity described in M.G.L. c. 4, § 7, twenty-third.

Personal Motor Vehicle: shall mean any automobile, van, truck, motorcycle, or motor bicycle as defined under M.G.L. c. 90, § 1, that is for personal use by a resident, whether or not it is also used to conduct a trade or business, except for vehicles with two or more axles with a gross weight exceeding 8,600 pounds.

Qualifying Retirement Community: shall mean a manufactured housing community that qualifies for exemption from the age discrimination prohibitions contained in M.G.L. c. 151B and the familial status discrimination prohibitions contained in the Federal Fair Housing Act because it meets either the definition of "55-or-over-housing" or "62-or-over-housing" as provided for in the Federal Fair Housing Act.

Reasonable Insurance Requirement: shall mean an amount and type of required insurance coverage that is reasonably correlated to the nature, scale and probability of the potential loss and does not exceed the then-prevailing average amount or type of coverage that is customarily required of vendors of the particular goods or services being supplied in the area where the manufactured housing community is located.

Resident: shall mean any person who normally resides in a manufactured home in a manufactured housing community, regardless of whether or not he or she has an occupancy agreement with the operator.

Rule: shall mean any written or unwritten rule, regulation, or policy imposed by an operator that governs procedures, conduct, or standards within the manufactured housing community, including without limitation procedures for the screening and approval of prospective residents.

Secretary: shall mean the Secretary of the Executive Office for Communities and Development.

Tenant: shall mean a person who has an occupancy agreement or oral tenancy agreement with an operator for the use and occupancy of a manufactured home site, common areas, facilities, and other appurtenant rights.

Tenants' Association: shall mean any association of which the operator has notice and which represents at least 51% of the tenants in a manufactured housing community.