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What is lot rent? What it covers, what's normal in 2026, and how it goes up

By · Published September 5, 2026 · 8 min read

Lot rent is the monthly payment for the piece of land your manufactured home sits on. Some parks call it space rent, site rent, or pad rent. It is the same thing. You own the home. The park owns the ground, the roads, and the pipes, and lot rent is what you pay to use them.

This is the plain version: what the money covers, what parks charge in 2026, why it goes up, and what the law says when it does.

What lot rent usually covers

Usually in the rentUsually separateDepends on the park
The lot itselfElectric (your own account)Water and sewer
Roads and street lightsGas or propaneTrash pickup
Common areas and any clubhouse or poolRepairs to your homeLawn mowing and snow removal
Park managementInsurance on your homeCable or internet
The water and sewer lines up to your padTax on the home (where it applies)Extra parking or storage

Water is the big one in the middle column. A park can fold it into rent, charge a flat monthly fee, split its own water bill among the lots by a formula, or put a meter on each lot and bill you for what you use. The last one is the fairest and is where the industry is heading. Our guide to who pays for utilities in a mobile home park explains all four.

What's normal in 2026

There is no single national number that means much, because lot rent tracks land. A lot in a rural park in Georgia and a lot in a park outside San Diego are different products. With that said, here is what the public figures show.

The investor-side number. Berkadia's 2025 Manufactured Housing Annual Report put the national average lot rent at about $752 a month, and reported that rent per space rose 1.4% in 2025. Broker research on the Southeast and Midwest puts typical parks lower: about $420 to $560 in North Carolina, $380 to $530 in Georgia, and $380 to $480 in Wisconsin, per Keel Team's 2026 summary of Berkadia, Northmarq, and Matthews data. Florida runs higher, with lot rents over $900 in many markets.

What parks publish. We keep a small, hand-checked list of parks that post their lot rent in public, park by park, with the source and the month we saw it. As of August 2026 it runs from $385 to $410 a month at Blue Jay Lane in Pennellville, New York, to $1,255 at Brentwood MHP in Chula Vista, California. In between: $390 at Green Acres Mobile Manor in Gustine, California, $550 at Camellia Gardens in Sacramento, $680 at Tower Estates in Troutdale, Oregon, and $850 at Hacienda Mobile Home Park in Whittier, California. That is a dozen parks, not a survey, so treat it as a feel for the range. The full list, with sources, is in The Lot Rent Index.

For scale. HUD's 2026 fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment runs from $873 to $4,214 a month across the 604 counties in our directory. Lot rent is usually well below the apartment rent for the same area, which is much of the reason a manufactured home makes financial sense for so many people.

Why lot rent goes up

Most years, most parks raise rent a little. MHVillage puts the typical increase at about 3% a year. The usual reasons:

None of those make an increase right or wrong. They are just the reasons you will hear. What you can hold the park to is the process below.

The rules when it goes up, state by state

Every state we cover has at least a notice rule. A few have caps. Here are the ones we have written up, as of September 2026.

StateCapNoticeWorth knowing
New York3% a year without justification; up to 6% if the park shows higher operating costs, taxes, or capital work; above 6% only with court approval90 days, in writingYou have 90 days to challenge an increase in court. Late fees are capped at 3% and can't start until 10 days after the due date.
Oregon6% for parks with more than 30 spaces; 9.5% for 30 or fewer (the 2026 statewide figure)90 days, once a yearOvercharging carries a penalty of three months' rent. Details in our Oregon guide.
Washington5% in any 12 months; none in your first 12 months3 months, on the state's formOur Washington guide.
CaliforniaNo statewide cap, but more than a hundred cities have one90 days, in person or by mailCheck your city before you check the state. Our California guide.
FloridaNo cap90 days, to every homeowner and the homeowners' associationThe park must meet with the HOA committee and go to mediation if asked. Our Florida guide.
IllinoisNo cap90 days, in writingYou have 30 days to accept or reject. The park must offer a lease of at least 24 months unless you agree to less. If the new rent would take more than 45% of your income, you can defer the increase for up to a year and pay it back when you sell the home.
ColoradoNo cap60 daysAn increase is void if the park's state registration has lapsed. Our Colorado guide.
TexasNo cap, and cities can't add one60 days before your lease ends, in writingNo mid-lease increase unless you separately initialed a clause allowing it. Our Texas guide.

For the states not listed, start with our rent increase rules by state hub. And for the numbers where a cap applies, the lot rent increase calculator does the date and percentage math for Oregon and Washington in a few seconds. It was built for owners, but the math is the same from either side.

When the notice arrives

  1. Check the dates. Count the days from when you received the notice to the date the new rent starts. If it is short, the increase isn't valid yet.
  2. Check the cap, if your state has one. Divide the increase by your current rent. In Washington, 5% of $600 is $30. A $45 notice is over.
  3. Check what is in the number. In New York, "rent" for the cap means everything: rent, fees, charges, and utilities together. A park can't move $20 from rent into a new "amenity fee" to get under the line.
  4. Ask what changed. A park that raised rent because water rates went up should be able to say so. In New York the park has to be able to show it.
  5. Use the process your state gives you. Florida has a mediation step. New York has a 90-day window to file in court, and you pay the increase into escrow while it is decided. Illinois gives you 30 days to accept or reject, and a deferral program if the new rent would take more than 45% of your income. Talk to your neighbors first. Most of these processes work better as a group.

If you own the park

The same rules from the other side: our guide to raising lot rent without losing the increase covers the notice math and the mistakes that void an increase, and the state guides linked above go statute by statute.

Sources

General information, not legal advice. Caps and notice periods change, and cities can add their own rules. Confirm the current rule for your state and city before you rely on any figure here.

Lot Sidekick handles the billing side (rent, submetered water, and who's-late) on a live map of your park. Send your spreadsheet and I'll set up your park, or see the live demo, or call (425) 405-0734.