PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019
A
OAKS: ‘I want things done
by the rules’ Continued from Page A1
While waiting for a copy
of the lease agreement she
signed only months ago, Jones
was asked to return to the
McNary Oaks main offi ce to
sign another form – a long-
term 25-year lease. Jones didn’t
get a copy of that either, but
said it was a short, single-page
document.
From the outset, Jones has
harbored doubts about what
she is paying for, but her
situation is not unique. Her
kids put some money together
and helped her arrange for a
cash purchase of the home she
and her elderly father reside in
at McNary Oaks. They found
it on Craigslist and it said all
utilities except for electric bills
were included in the space
rent of $665.
In fairness to the previous
owner, those expenses likely
were included in their rent,
but a sea change in the
industry is placing most utility
payments on the shoulders
of renters in manufactured
home parks. Jones simply had
the misfortune of buying into
the park while the change
is being rolled out. In many
manufactured home parks,
there are rarely any two
residents paying exactly the
same amount for their space
and it works to the advantage
of owners like IPG.
In
addition
to
the
unexpected charges to her
monthly rent, Jones and
her family had to haul off
two storage units worth of
garbage left in the yard by the
previous owner, and at their
own expense. According to
Oregon law (Chapter 90.730),
property owners must keep
all vacant and rented spaces
free of “debris, fi lth, rubbish,
garbage, rodents and vermin.”
In short, the accumulated stuff
should have been gone before
Jones and her father moved in.
If Jones was the only one
experiencing such problems,
it might be dismissed as an
anomaly, but Joann Miller had
similar interactions when it
came to dealing with property
managers at the community.
Despite being told her
rent each month would be
$630, the utility bills became
her responsibility, too. Oddly,
the fi gures she’s paid never
amount to the total cost of the
utilities themselves. She’s been
undercharged by a few dollars
most months, but there is no
rhyme or reason to the fi gures.
Miller moved into McNary
Oaks in 2018 and she has yet
to see a copy of her original
lease. She recently received
what property managers claim
is a copy of her lease, but every
page is watermarked with
the word “SAMPLE” behind
the actual text. There are no
signatures or initials anywhere
on the pages.
Miller also got targeted
when it came to signing a 25-
year lease. When the Oregon
Legislature began talking about
possible rent controls earlier
this year – the bill eventually
passed – the property manager
visited Miller and told her that
changes were in the wind and
that she should lock in her
rent with the long-term lease.
“I was scared of what would
happen if I didn’t sign it. It was
like a threat,” Miller said.
Keizertimes has reviewed
copies of the long-term leases
IPG offered at other parks
and they offer no additional
protection or discounts for
residents who sign them.
Moreover, the sample lease
Miller was given a copy of
doesn’t mention a 25-year
option anywhere, only 5-, 10-
and 15-year leases.
Miller feels she and others
have been targeted because of
their circumstances.
“People that have husbands
[in the park], they’re not
getting so much shuck and
jive. It’s the single women and
the older women who they are
targeting, somebody like me,”
Miller said.
Residents might take some
solace if they felt the rent
collected was in some way
being reinvested in bettering
the community facilities, but
that isn’t the case either.
“The clubhouse and the
B
C
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
exercise room are all raggedy,”
Miller said.
Ducks regularly use the
community pool, but the
biggest complaint among
the women who contacted
the Keizertimes after reading
previous reporting about
other IPG properties are the
sidewalks and trees.
According to Oregon law,
park owners are responsible
for “completion” of driveways
and sidewalks and maintaining
“trees, shrubbery and grass”
not planted by current
residents.
Concrete pathways and
the driveway around Miller’s
space are riddled with cracks
small and large. When she
takes her father out of the
house in a wheelchair, “he
almost fl ips forward when we
hit some of them,” she said.
Throughout the park,
there are orange cones placed
on some of the worst cracks,
but there is no indication as
to why the cones are in place.
An inattentive walker might
think some larger project is in
the works.
One of the worst patches
in a sidewalk led to an injury
for resident Beth Anderson
last August.
“I was out walking my dog,
looking around at neighbors’
houses and, the next thing I
knew, I was on the ground. I
laid out there yelling, ‘Help,
help,’” Anderson said.
Anderson was able to get
the attention of neighbors
and asked them to call the
property
manager.
She
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wanted him to bring around
a golf cart to help her back to
her home, but the manager
said he would only call an
ambulance.
She made it back to her
home with some assistance, but
her ankle was soon swollen to
grotesque proportions. When
IPG sent someone out to ask
about the incident, he tried
to get Anderson to admit she
was on her cell phone when
she took the spill. She leaves
her phone at home while
walking the dog.
“If I had my cell phone, I
wouldn’t have been laying on
the ground calling for help,”
she said.
Anderson went through
physical therapy and enlisted
the help of a lawyer to get
the bills paid. It resulted in a
settlement and promises to fi x
the situation.
Two weeks ago, Jones
stumbled and fell over the
exact same spot walking her
dog.
“There was crab grass
grown over it. I stepped on it
and my foot went sideways.
I fell forward and my glasses
went fl ying. My hands were
all scraped up,” Jones said.
Jones didn’t fi le a report
at the time and regrets it
now. The crab grass has since
been trimmed, but the crack
remains.
Aside from the sidewalks,
there are no aprons where
the driveways meet the streets
and even small lips pose a
potential hazard for those
using motorized scooters,
Resident concerns in-
clude: A woodburning
stove vented into over-
head trees (A); repairs
only being made for IPG-
owned homes (B); and
the lack of ADA-compliant
sidewalk crossings (C).
walkers and wheelchairs. The
few spaces that appear ADA-
compliant are in the vicinity
of the community’s main
offi ce.
Curbs where residents
would cross from one side of
the street to another do not
have ramps, but are marked
with yellow paint in some, not
all, instances.
IPG doesn’t even list the
McNary Oaks among the
dozens of properties on its
website. The only mention
of the community is on the
“Homes for Sale Page” with
a listing for a new home. The
only places where recent
repairs have been made to
walkways, driveways and
paths are spaces where IPG
has placed new homes they
are trying to sell.
“They’re only taking care
of their investments, and not
taking care of the rest of the
park. Everything’s crazy,” said
Anderson.
The trees are also a source
of concern, Miller has one
hanging over her home that
she’s wary of, Anderson’s
carport has arbor vitae that
stand well over the seven-foot
limit in the parks rules and
regulations, but they are most
concerned about a neighbor
with a wood-burning stove.
The vent extends out of
the roof and right into the
foliage of two nearby trees.
Jones, Miller and Anderson
are trying to organize with
other residents to create a
stronger voice. They made
a recent trip to Oregon’s
Manufactured Communities
Resource Center to fi nd out
how to do it in a way that can’t
be fought, but they just want
IPG and the park manager to
take some ownership of the
problems.
“I want things done by the
rules,” said Anderson. “They
sell you these things on the
basis of what they say the
community is and we should
get what we are paying for.”
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