No Percentage Cap on Lot Rent Doesn't Mean No Limit
Ask an owner in a state with no percentage cap on lot rent what stops them from raising it 20% next year, and the honest answer from most is: nothing, as long as I give proper notice. In four states, that answer is wrong. Colorado, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New York put no flat ceiling on a lot-rent increase, and each one still has a real mechanism that can slow it, shrink it, or block it outright. Washington belongs on this list too, for a different reason: it does cap rent, but the cap most owners have heard about is not the cap that applies to their park.
This is not a notice-period post. How many days you owe tenants before a new number takes effect is covered in our post on rent-increase notice periods by state, and Oregon and Washington's actual percentage caps are in our 2026 rent-cap roundup. This post is about a different question: once your notice is correct, what else can still cap, delay, or unwind the increase?
Five states, five different catches
Here's what actually limits an increase in each state. The detail follows below.
| State | Cap on paper | What can still limit it |
|---|---|---|
| Colorado | None | Blocked entirely if the park is out of compliance |
| Vermont | None | Above ~5% (2026), a majority can force mediation, then a lawsuit |
| Rhode Island | None | A majority can force binding arbitration on any "excessive" increase |
| New York | None | Above 3% is challengeable in court; 6% is a hard ceiling |
| Washington | 5% flat (parks) | Stricter and more permanent than the apartment cap you've heard about |
Colorado: no cap on the number, but you can lose the right to raise it at all
Colorado's Mobile Home Park Act, C.R.S. § 38-12-204, puts no ceiling on how much you can raise lot rent. It requires 60 days' written notice and allows one increase per 12 months of a tenant's occupancy. That's the entire limit on the number.
What it limits instead is your eligibility to raise rent at all. Under § 38-12-204(4), a landlord may not increase rent, or even send a notice of one, while any of this is true of the park: its registration with the Division of Housing's Mobile Home Park Oversight Program has lapsed; it owes an unpaid penalty to the Division; it hasn't fully complied with a government order (any final federal, state, or local administrative or judicial order); it missed a water-testing deadline under the separate Mobile Home Park Water Quality Act. Miss any one of those and § 38-12-204(5) makes the increase notice invalid on its face, no tenant challenge required. Separately, § 38-12-220 lets a court grant injunctive relief for violations of this article, so a judge can restrict what a park does while a case is pending — a decision in a specific lawsuit, not an automatic bar.
A newer law, HB26-1224, was signed June 2, 2026, and takes effect January 1, 2027. Once it's in force, a blocked landlord also has to notify residents in writing, within 14 days of learning they're blocked, that rent isn't going up and why.
Full detail on the registration system and every trigger: our Colorado lot-rent guide.
Vermont: cross a moving line and a majority can force mediation
Vermont's mobile-home-park statute, 10 V.S.A. §§ 6251–6253, sets no dollar or percentage ceiling either. But the state's Department of Housing and Community Development sets a threshold every year — the U.S. CPI housing component, plus one percentage point — and crossing it changes what happens next. For 2026, that threshold is 5.00%.
Every increase needs 60 days' written notice on the department's own form. Skip the form, or the timing, and the increase is ineffective and unenforceable by statute, full stop. If the increase is above that year's threshold, a majority of the park's leaseholders can petition the Commissioner for mediation, within 15 business days of getting the notice. If mediation doesn't settle it, a majority can sue in Superior Court, within 30 days of the increase's effective date, to have it abated as "clearly excessive" — measured against the park owner's total reasonable, documented expenses, including debt service.
Rhode Island: a majority can force binding arbitration
R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-44.1-2 also sets no percentage limit. Every increase needs 60 days' written notice stating the current rent, the proposed rent, and the effective date. What it adds is a majority-rule check: if most of the park's homeowners believe an increase is "excessive," they can demand binding arbitration through the American Arbitration Association. "Excessive" means unreasonable measured against the park owner's total expenses — including debt service tied to buying the park — and a reasonable return, looking back at least three years.
The part that changes your planning: the increase can't take effect until arbitration wraps up, or 120 days after your notice, whichever comes first. Budget every Rhode Island increase on the assumption it might take the full 120 days.
New York: no flat cap, but a hidden 3%/6% ladder
New York's manufactured-home-park law requires 90 days' written notice before any increase in rent, fees, or assessments (Real Property Law § 233(g)). A newer section, § 233-b, does the rest of the work. An increase above 3% can be challenged in court by an affected homeowner, within 90 days, as "unjustified" — the park owner then has to show it's backed by higher operating expenses, property taxes, or capital-improvement costs. An increase above 6% is barred outright unless the park owner first gets a court to approve it as a temporary hardship. Where a court finds an increase impermissible, the statute requires refunding the excess to every affected household.
In practice: under 3%, you're clear. Between 3% and 6%, you're legal unless a homeowner successfully sues. Above 6%, you need the court's sign-off before you can charge it.
Washington: the cap you've heard about is not your cap
Washington is the one state on this list with a real statewide percentage cap — House Bill 1217 (2025) put a hard ceiling on rent increases across the state. The catch is which ceiling applies to your park. Apartments got 7% plus inflation, capped at 10%, and that whole cap sunsets on July 1, 2040. Manufactured and mobile-home lots got a flat 5%, no CPI math added on, and — unlike the apartment cap — no expiration date written into the statute (RCW 59.20.370). The number that made the news is not your number. Yours is lower, and it doesn't go away in 2040.
The rest of the mechanics: three months' written notice on the state's required form (RCW 59.20.090, RCW 59.20.390), and no increase at all during a tenant's first 12 months. Full detail: our Oregon and Washington rent-cap post and our Washington lot-rent guide.
If your state isn't one of these five
This isn't an exhaustive list. We picked five states because each shows a different mechanism, not because they're the only ones with one. If your state has no percentage cap on lot rent, don't assume "whatever I want, with notice" is the whole rule. Rules for manufactured and mobile-home parks are almost always their own statute, separate from general landlord-tenant law, with their own rent-increase section, and states keep amending them. Three of the mechanisms above — Colorado's block, New York's ladder, and Washington's split cap — are recent changes.
Before you send a notice, look up your state's manufactured-home or mobile-home-park act specifically, not just the general "rent increase" statute, and scan the rent section for words like "excessive," "unjustified," "mediation," "arbitration," or "registration" sitting next to "rent." Those are the words that hide a real limit.
Once you know your actual number, our free rent-increase notice generator drafts the letter, and how to raise lot rent without losing the increase walks through the rest: timing, delivery, and proof.
Sources
- C.R.S. § 38-12-204 (notice, no cap, and the rent-increase block): https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_38-12-204
- HB24-1294 (2024) — expanded the rent-increase block: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1294
- HB26-1224 (2026), signed June 2, 2026, effective January 1, 2027 — the resident-notice duty when rent increases are blocked: https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1224
- 10 V.S.A. § 6251 (notice and the mediation threshold): https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/10/153/06251
- 10 V.S.A. § 6252 (mediation): https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/10/153/06252
- 10 V.S.A. § 6253 (abatement and civil action): https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/10/153/06253
- Vermont 2026 MHP Lot Rent Notice and Worksheet (the 5.00% threshold): https://outside.vermont.gov/agency/ACCD/ACCD_Web_Docs/Housing/Mobile-Home-Parks/Park-Owners/2026-Vermont-MHP-Lot-Rent-Notice-and-Worksheet.pdf
- R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-44.1-2 (rent increases; binding arbitration): https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE31/31-44.1/31-44.1-2.htm
- N.Y. Real Property Law § 233, subsection (g) (90-day notice): https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/233
- N.Y. Real Property Law § 233-b (the 3%/6% thresholds): https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/233-B
- RCW 59.20.370 (Washington's flat 5% park cap): https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.20.370
- Washington HB 1217 summary, including the 2040 apartment-cap sunset (Stoel Rives): https://www.stoel.com/insights/publications/washington-enacts-statewide-rent-control-key-rules-now-in-effect
General information, not legal advice. Rent-increase rules for manufactured and mobile-home parks change often and vary by state. Confirm the current statute text, or ask a local landlord-tenant attorney, before you rely on any number here.
Lot Sidekick flags who's late and generates the notice in one click, with the fee schedule you set already applied. Send your spreadsheet and I'll set up your park, or see the live demo, or call (425) 405-0734.