Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that: (a) There are factors unique to the relationship between mobile home owners and mobile home park landlords; (b) Once occupancy has commenced, a mobile home owner may be subject to violations of the "Mobile Home Park Act", part 2 of this article 12, without an adequate remedy at law because the difficulty and expense in moving and relocating a mobile home can affect the operation of market forces and lead to an inequality of the bargaining position of the parties; (c) Taking legal action against a mobile home park landlord for violations of the "Mobile Home Park Act" can be a costly and lengthy process that is not timely enough to prevent significant harm, and many mobile home owners and residents cannot afford to pursue a court process to vindicate statutory rights. Mobile home park landlords will also benefit by having access to a process that resolves disputes quickly and efficiently. (d) Certain actions by mobile home park landlords may cause imminent harm to mobile home park residents. (2) Therefore, it is the intent of the general assembly to provide an equitable as well as a less costly and more timely and efficient way for mobile home owners, mobile home park residents, and mobile home park landlords to resolve disputes; to provide a mechanism for state authorities to quickly locate mobile home park landlords; and to grant the division of housing the authority to issue cease-and-desist orders to stop actions by landlords that pose the potential for imminent harm.