Senate Study Bill 3130 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON GREEN) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the provision of water service for 1 manufactured home communities. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js
S.F. _____ Section 1. NEW SECTION . 384.84B Water service to 1 manufactured home communities and mobile home parks. 2 1. As used in this section: 3 a. Home space means a mobile home space as defined in 4 section 562B.7. 5 b. Manufactured home community means a manufactured home 6 community or a mobile home park as those terms are defined in 7 section 435.1. 8 c. Water system means a public water supply system as 9 defined in section 455B.171 or water utility as defined in 10 section 423.3, subsection 103. 11 2. This section applies only to manufactured home 12 communities that, currently or upon completion of improvements 13 to the community, are connected to a water systems water main 14 for water service and have individual water submeters for each 15 occupied home space in accordance with subsection 3. 16 3. A manufactured home community connected to a water 17 systems water main for water service may, at its sole 18 discretion, elect to have such water system directly provide 19 water service to the individual tenants within such community 20 under a written water service agreement to be signed by 21 the water system and the landlord of the manufactured home 22 community pursuant to the following terms and conditions: 23 a. The landlord of a manufactured home community desiring 24 to invoke the rights under this section shall notify the water 25 system of its election to have the water system directly 26 provide water service to the individual tenants within the 27 community. 28 b. After receiving a notification pursuant to paragraph a , 29 the water system shall promptly perform the following actions: 30 (1) Notify the landlord of the manufactured home community 31 of its standards and specifications for submeters, meter pits, 32 shutoff valves, and related plumbing facilities, provided 33 however that any and all such standards and specifications must 34 be reasonable and necessary and shall be no greater or more 35 -1- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 1/ 8
S.F. _____ burdensome than those required of other similar properties 1 to which the water system provides water service including 2 residential rental properties and horizontal property regimes. 3 (2) Inspect any currently installed water submeters and 4 related plumbing facilities within the manufactured home 5 community and thereafter notify the landlord whether the 6 currently installed water submeters and plumbing facilities 7 are compliant with its standards and specifications with or 8 without modifications or whether new water submeters or other 9 facilities must be installed. 10 c. After the landlords receipt of the information set forth 11 in paragraph b , and in the event the landlord still desires 12 to have the water system directly provide water service to 13 the tenants, the water system and landlord shall thereafter 14 work in good faith to enter into a water service agreement 15 under which the water system shall directly provide water 16 service to the individual tenants within the manufactured 17 home community pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth 18 in this paragraph. Unless otherwise mutually agreed upon by 19 both parties, the water service agreement shall include the 20 following terms and conditions: 21 (1) The landlord of the manufactured home community shall 22 comply with the water systems standards and specifications 23 for submeters, meter pits, shutoff valves, and other related 24 plumbing facilities necessary for the water system to 25 directly provide water service to the tenants for their water 26 consumption pursuant to individual water submeters for each 27 home space, provided however that any and all such standards 28 and specifications shall be reasonable and necessary, shall not 29 require anything other than reasonably accessible meter pits 30 in or adjacent to each home space, and shall not be any greater 31 or more burdensome than those standards and specifications 32 required of other similar properties to which the water system 33 provides service including residential rental properties and 34 horizontal property regimes. 35 -2- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 2/ 8
S.F. _____ (2) The landlord of the manufactured home community shall 1 be responsible for the completion of all improvements, and for 2 all costs associated therewith, relating to the furnishing and 3 installation of submeters and related facilities within the 4 community required under subparagraph (1). 5 (3) The water system shall establish direct accounts 6 with the tenants of the manufactured home community and 7 directly bill the tenants under such accounts for their water 8 consumption shown by the submeters, with the water system 9 performing all tasks relating to the reading of the submeters 10 and billing the individual residents based upon those submeter 11 readings. 12 (4) The water system shall read and bill the landlord for 13 the consumption shown by the master meter, after deducting all 14 billings to tenants for consumption under their submeters, with 15 such deductions being provisional only and being subject to 16 rebilling to the landlord in the event of a tenant nonpayment 17 as provided elsewhere within this subsection. 18 (5) The water system shall provide the water service under 19 the water service agreement in accordance with all applicable 20 laws and its regular rules and regulations for water service to 21 customers, and all terms and rates imposed by the water system 22 under the water service agreement shall be no greater or more 23 burdensome than those terms and rates imposed on other similar 24 properties to which the water system provides service including 25 residential rental properties and horizontal property regimes. 26 (6) The landlord of the manufactured home community shall 27 grant reasonable and necessary utility access and easement for 28 the water system for the purposes of reading, maintaining, 29 repairing, and replacing submeters, and initiating and 30 terminating service. 31 (7) The landlord of the manufactured home community 32 shall retain full legal and financial responsibility for 33 the ownership, maintenance, operation, upgrade, repair, and 34 replacement of the private water infrastructure within the 35 -3- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 3/ 8
S.F. _____ manufactured home community, including but not limited to all 1 water distribution and plumbing facilities, lines, meter pits, 2 and submeters, serving the community and all home spaces from 3 the point of, and including, the incorporation of the service 4 line at the water systems master meter; shall ensure all 5 private infrastructure components are in good working order; 6 and shall facilitate the prompt completion of, and payment for, 7 any repairs necessary to the submeters as directed by the water 8 system. 9 (8) The water system shall retain full legal and financial 10 responsibility for the ownership, maintenance, operation, 11 repair, and replacement of the water systems water main and 12 master meter for the manufactured home community. 13 (9) The landlord of the manufactured home community 14 shall provide to the water system documentation in regard to 15 all existing and new tenants for each home space within the 16 community reflecting the implementation of the water service to 17 be provided by the water system to the individual tenants under 18 the water service agreement and shall otherwise provide the 19 water system with all necessary tenant information to enable 20 the water system to communicate with and provide service to all 21 existing and new tenants under the water service agreement. 22 (10) For existing manufactured home communities, the 23 landlord of the manufactured home community shall be 24 responsible for notifying its tenants of the change in the 25 provision of water service pursuant to this section, with 26 the landlord being required to provide tenants with the same 27 notice as is required for rent increases under section 562B.14, 28 subsection 7. 29 (11) The landlord of the manufactured home community shall 30 be jointly responsible for any and all delinquent charges 31 associated with water service to an individual tenant. The 32 water systems collection rights in the event of nonpayment for 33 water or other service by an individual tenant shall include 34 all rights provided by Iowa law, including those provided 35 -4- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 4/ 8
S.F. _____ in Iowa Code section 384.84, and shall include the right to 1 terminate service and impose a lien upon the manufactured home 2 community, with the landlord waiving any right that it may 3 otherwise have to establish an exemption from the right to 4 impose a lien by the water system. 5 (12) The water system shall not be liable to the landlord 6 or any tenants of the manufactured home community for any 7 service furnished for any reason other than the water systems 8 willful misconduct. The water service agreement shall include 9 an indemnification provision under which the landlord of the 10 manufactured home community indemnifies and holds harmless the 11 water system from any and all claims and liabilities, including 12 reasonable attorney fees and costs, arising from the tenants 13 for any service furnished by the water system for any reason 14 other than the water systems willful misconduct. 15 (13) If the water system also provides sewer and storm 16 water services to the manufactured home community, and if the 17 landlord of the manufactured home community also desires, at 18 its sole discretion, to have the water system directly provide 19 such services to tenants, then the parties shall also agree 20 upon reasonable and necessary terms relating to all sewer and 21 storm water services and charges that the water system, or its 22 affiliate, provides to the manufactured home community. 23 (14) The parties shall agree upon all other reasonable 24 and necessary terms within the water service agreement to 25 effectuate the water systems provision of water service to the 26 landlord and individual tenants within the manufactured home 27 community, provided that all terms and rates imposed by the 28 water system shall be no greater or more burdensome than those 29 terms and rates imposed on other similar properties to which 30 the water system provides service including residential rental 31 properties and horizontal property regimes. 32 d. At the discretion of the water system, for any charges 33 and bills to tenants remaining unpaid after no less than fifty 34 days, the water system may elect to transfer such delinquent 35 -5- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 5/ 8
S.F. _____ charges and bills to the landlords account, which shall be 1 paid by landlord in accordance with the water systems normal 2 collection terms. 3 e. Based upon the landlord of the manufactured home 4 community being jointly responsible for delinquent charges 5 associated with water service to individual tenants, the water 6 system shall not require deposits from the tenants that would 7 otherwise be permitted for residential rental properties under 8 section 384.84. 9 4. Unless expressly provided otherwise in this section, the 10 provisions of section 384.84 for the provision of water service 11 to residential rental properties shall apply to a manufactured 12 home community for which the landlord has elected to have the 13 water system directly provide water service to the individual 14 tenants within the community. 15 EXPLANATION 16 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 17 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 18 This bill relates to the provision of water service at a 19 manufactured home community. The bill provides the landlord 20 of a manufactured home community with the ability to choose 21 whether water service is directly provided to tenants or 22 provided to the community as a whole. A manufactured home 23 community connected to a water main may sign a written 24 water service agreement to provide water service to 25 tenants individually in the community. The landlord of the 26 manufactured home community must provide notice to the water 27 system of the desire for individual water service. After 28 notification from the landlord, the water system shall inspect 29 the currently installed plumbing facilities in the community 30 and provide the standards and specifications for individual 31 use. The water system shall provide notice to the landlord 32 of the plumbing facilities compliance with the standards and 33 specifications. 34 The bill requires a water service agreement with a 35 -6- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 6/ 8
S.F. _____ manufactured home community to include certain terms and 1 conditions. The landlord is responsible for complying 2 with the water systems reasonable and necessary standards 3 and specifications provided prior to the agreement. Any 4 improvements and costs associated with installing submeters and 5 related facilities shall be the responsibility of the landlord. 6 Tenants shall have direct accounts with the water system to 7 view water consumption and corresponding bills. The landlord 8 shall be provisionally billed for the water consumption shown 9 on the master meter less the payments from the tenants and 10 shall be subject to rebilling in the event of nonpayment by a 11 tenant. 12 The landlord must provide utility access and easement 13 to the water system to read, maintain, repair, and replace 14 submeters, and initiate and terminate service. The landlord 15 shall retain full legal and financial responsibility for the 16 private water infrastructure in the manufactured home community 17 and is responsible for any repairs and corresponding payments 18 necessary. The landlord shall provide the water system with 19 documentation of the manufactured home community tenants. The 20 landlord must notify all existing tenants of the change in the 21 provision of water service. 22 The water service agreement shall include an indemnification 23 provision to hold the water system harmless from claims and 24 liabilities arising from the tenants for any reason other than 25 the water systems willful misconduct. If the water system 26 provides sewer and storm water services to the manufactured 27 home community, the landlord and water system shall also agree 28 to all sewer and storm water services and charges. The water 29 system must ensure that all terms and rates are no greater or 30 more burdensome than those imposed on other similar properties. 31 At the discretion of the water system, unpaid bills 32 remaining after 50 days may be transferred to the landlord 33 for payment. The water system may not require deposits from 34 tenants for the services. Unless otherwise provided by the 35 -7- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 7/ 8
S.F. _____ bill, the provisions of Code section 384.84 for water service 1 to residential rental properties shall apply to a manufactured 2 home community for which the landlord has elected to have the 3 water system directly provide water service to the individual 4 tenants within the community. 5 -8- LSB 5646XC (3) 90 lh/js 8/ 8