H.R. 2461 — Manufactured Housing Tenant’s Bill of Rights Act of 2025

This section defines key terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) "affiliate," generally meaning any entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a borrower under section 3(a); (2) "covered loan program," meaning FHA insurance of loans for construction or substantial rehabilitation of manufactured home parks under section 207 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1713), Fannie Mae multifamily loans for manufactured home communities, or Freddie Mac loans for manufactured home communities; (3) "covered pricing incentive," meaning any pricing discount in a covered loan program that rewards borrower implementation of resident protections against predatory rent increases and management practices; (4) "Director," meaning the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; (5) "enterprise," meaning Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac; (6) "manufactured home," broadly meaning any structure transportable in one or more sections that is built on a permanent chassis and designed for residential use (including structures not complying with federal standards or predating them); (7) "manufactured home community," meaning any park, court, or community where pad sites (or pads and homes) are leased to residents primarily for residential use; and (8) "Secretary," meaning the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

This section requires that, effective 180 days after enactment, no loan for a manufactured home community is eligible for FHA insurance or purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac under a covered loan program unless (1) the borrower certifies inclusion of specified minimum consumer protections in leases for pad sites (or pad sites and manufactured homes) in communities owned by the borrower or affiliates and (2) the borrower submits documentation of compliance, including a copy of the standard lease agreement, per regulations issued by FHA or FHFA. The minimum consumer protections are: (1) 1-year lease terms renewable for additional 1-year terms absent good cause for nonrenewal; (2) written notice of new charges (including utilities) or rent increases, with justification based on operating costs, provided at least 60 days in advance (plus 30 days for each 2.5% increment above 5% of prior rent), identifying new charges and estimated amounts (or 5% of prior rent if unavailable); (3) a 5-day grace period for rent payments; (4) a right to cure rent defaults within 15 days; (5) a right to sell a tenant-owned manufactured home without first relocating it; (6) a right to sell a tenant-owned manufactured home in place no earlier than 45 days after eviction; (7) a right to sublease or assign the pad site lease to the home buyer absent reasonable, uniform denial criteria, with written notice of any denial and reasons; (8) a right to post "For Sale" signs; (9) 60-day advance written notice of community sale or closure, including price/terms/conditions, prohibiting offer acceptance for 60 days, and requiring good-faith negotiations with tenants wishing to purchase; and (10) tenancy termination only for material noncompliance with the lease, material violation of uniform community rules, or material legitimate business reason specified in the lease, with written notice of reasons. (These federal minimums do not preempt stronger state or local protections.) This section further requires pricing incentives for such loans to reward resident protections exceeding these minimums (prohibiting noncompliant incentives) and directs the Secretary and FHFA Director to publish a related list.

This section establishes the 16-member Manufactured Home Community Lending Standards Commission. The commission must submit a report to Congress, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency director within one year of enactment proposing consumer protection standards for covered loan programs (i.e., those enhanced under section 3) that exceed requirements in section 3(b) and could support pricing incentives under section 3(c), with approvals by simple majority vote. Membership includes the Secretary or designee, the FHFA director or designee, one representative from each Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) enterprise, and three appointees each by the House Speaker, House minority leader, Senate majority leader, and Senate minority leader—with one academic expert in housing and manufactured homes, one current or former Member of Congress, and one manufactured home community resident per appointing officer; the President designates the chairperson, and the House Speaker or minority leader (based on party alignment with the President) designates the co-chairperson; appointments occur within 45 days of enactment, with members serving without pay for the commission's life and vacancies filled within 45 days. The commission must hold at least two public hearings, meet within 30 days of majority appointment (with subsequent meetings as needed and Federal Register notice), and adopt rules including a quorum requirement; it terminates upon report submission.

This section prohibits additional appropriations to carry out this Act and requires that any required expenses be funded using amounts otherwise available to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

This section directs the Director, in consultation with the enterprises (i.e., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), to develop a standard site-lease agreement for manufactured home communities that the enterprises must certify provides sufficient certainty to make mortgage loans secured by homes in such communities eligible for purchase under the enterprises' single-family mortgage programs. The section also requires the Director to submit the standard lease to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services not later than one year after enactment of this Act.