ELGIN — Residents of Willow Lake Estates, a 55-and-older manufactured home community on the bank of the Fox River, have seen their rent climb steadily for the past three years.

   It now has the highest rents in the state among similar types of communities, according to a state mobile homeowners group.

   Willow Lake Estates began seeing price increases of up to 14 percent after being bought by Sam Zell's Manufactured Home Communities Inc. five years ago.

   Phil Asplund, president of the community's homeowners association, said some residents can't afford to pay rents of up to $900 a month for land under a home they already own.

   Now, some people who have lived in the more than 600-home community for as long as 30 years are looking for a new place.

   "In effect, what they're telling us is if you can't afford it, get out," Asplund said.

   At one time, rent increases in the community, where residents own their manufactured homes but pay rent for the land and services MHC offers, were determined by the consumer price index. But legislation in the late 1980s ended that.

   Rent increases are now determined by the market rate, said Ron Bunce, MHC regional vice president.

   The market rate, or the amount the Willow Lake Estates residents are expected to pay, is determined by looking at what people in the area pay for homes, apartments and townhouses, Bunce said.

   In Elgin, that price has increased steadily in the past five years, driving the jumps in rent at Willow Lake Estates.

   Terry Nelson, who lobbies for the Mobile Homeowners Association of Illinois, said rent for land at Willow Lake Estates is the highest she knows of in the state.

   It is also, with the exception of MHC's other Chicago-area development, Golf Vista Estates, one of the only developments where rents are based on the market.

   "I don't know where they are coming up with that," Nelson said.

No cap on rent

   Although Willow Lake Estates residents have in the past consulted with a lawyer about their options, Nelson said what MHC is doing is legal.

   Unlike some states, Illinois does not set a cap on the amount of rent a landlord can demand for a property, she said.

   The mobile homeowners group is in the process of lobbying for a law similar to one already in effect in Florida that would force landlords to justify the rents they charge.

   In the meantime, however, the struggle over rent at Willow Lake Estates has opened up a new problem for residents.

   In answer to concerns about market rate pricing, MHC is offering residents a five-year lease agreement. Under it, rent would be increased according to the consumer price index, or about 3.5 percent annually. In five years, residents would have an option to renew their lease, after the land is assessed at its market rate again, Bunce said.

   The lease looks to be a good deal, Asplund said. However, it forces residents to waive their right to sue MHC and instead agree to solve problems through arbitration.

   The Willow Lake Estates Homeowners Association only found out about the five-year lease at the beginning of the month, but new residents have been signing it for several months, Asplund said.

   The long-term lease has been an option for residents of Golf Vista Estates for a longer period of time.

   Bunce said neither development's residents are obligated to sign the lease.

   Nelson said some probably will be afraid not to, though.

Fear of litigation

   Of the 400,000 people in the state living in manufactured homes, about 60 percent are senior citizens. Most fear any type of litigation with their landlords, she said.

   Asplund said he has run into the concern about rents at Willow Lake Estates. Many of the older residents, already worried about making rent, are concerned that legal action would break them.

   But at the same time the Willow Lake Estates Homeowners Association learned of the five-year lease option, they also received a new set of rules for the community, under which they would have to repair damage to their homes more quickly and might be responsible for some yardwork.

   Combined with the problems with rent, Asplund said the decrease in services may lead to residents once again examining their legal options.

   "We're paying more but getting less," he said.

06/26/01