(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today sent a letter to Sun Community management opening an inquiry into longstanding property management concerns at Beechwood Community mobile manufactured home park in Killingworth. Attorney General Tong additionally submitted testimony regarding two legislative proposals seeking to ensure mobile home parks in Connecticut remain both affordable and well-managed.
Over the past year, the Office of the Attorney General has received numerous complaints from Beechwood Community residents in Killingworth who have seen sustained, escalating rent hikes despite deteriorating conditions. Beechwood...
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Let’s first address the concept that rents are high at this park. Here’s the stats for Killingworth, CT: SF homes average $411,000 and apartment rents are over $2,000 per month. Although the article refuses to state what the rents are now or what they were in the past, unless they’re $1,000 per month then they’re too cheap (based on the old rule of lot rents needing to be around 50% of apartment rents – which has no scientific basis at all).
As for the complaints about the property’s maintenance, let’s look at those complaints again:
“One disabled resident complained of a large beehive in front of her porch. The management company said they did not have money in their budget to remove it. The tenant paid herself to get it removed. Another tenant complained that her stairs lacked rails and were loose. She reported that maintenance agreed they were dangerous, but management has yet to fix them.”
Are you serious? That got the attention of the Attorney General of Connecticut? He must be really, really bored. The article does not even state if the homes belong to the tenants or the park (I’m betting the tenants) in which case those issues are not even a part of the park’s responsibility.
SUN is one of the best operators of mobile home parks in the U.S. They are a REIT. There are two sides to every story and I would personally bet that SUN’s story is the correct one – which this journalist chose not to share it at all.