Hemet has more mobile home and manufactured home parks than most cities its size in the Inland Empire, including several 55 and older communities. What a lot of sellers and buyers do not realize is that Hemet has run its own space rent review process since 1979, separate from anything in your park’s rental agreement and separate from the general state rules that apply to every California mobilehome park.
It is not rent control in the form most people picture, a set percentage cap the park can never exceed. It is a review process, and understanding how it actually works changes what you should check before you put a price on a home or make an offer on one.
Hemet has run its own rent review process since 1979
Ordinance No. 772 came from a ballot initiative that Hemet voters approved in a special election on May 22, 1979, and it took effect that June. It created the Hemet City Rent Review Commission for Mobilehomes, a five member body appointed by the city council, including one mobilehome tenant and one park owner, operator or manager. The ordinance says it applies to any rental mobilehome park located within the city limits of Hemet, with no carve out for age restricted communities, so a 55 and older park is covered the same as any other. Zarko Maletin, a Realtor and InterNACHI certified home inspector who works with Hemet park sellers and buyers, treats the current rent and any hearing history as standard paperwork to pull before a listing price gets set, the same way title and park approval get checked. Local ordinances get amended over the years, so confirm the current version with the Hemet City Clerk before relying on any detail below.
It is a review process, not a fixed yearly cap
The ordinance does not tell a park owner what percentage they can or cannot raise space rent by. What it creates is a way for tenants to challenge an increase after it is proposed. If a majority of the tenants of a park who will be, or have been, subject to a rent or service charge increase within a 90 day period sign a written petition, the Commission has to hold a hearing, set no sooner than 10 days and no later than 30 days out. Each side puts up a cash deposit, and the balance is refunded once the hearing concludes. State law separately requires the park to give written notice of any rent increase at least 90 days before it takes effect, which is what starts the clock on whether tenants have time to organize a petition at all.
What the Commission actually decides
At the hearing, the Commission can require the park to reduce the rent, keep it at the prior rate, or increase it, either to a rate the Commission sets or to the amount the park requested. In weighing that, the ordinance directs the Commission to look at the park’s increased costs for utilities, property taxes, insurance and government assessments, along with repairs, capital improvements and a fair return on the owner’s investment. The decision has to come within 10 days of the hearing, and it is final. The ordinance gives no appeal rights to the city council, so the hearing is the only round.
What this means for a seller pricing a Hemet park home
You cannot point to a citywide cap and tell a buyer their space rent is safe at some fixed rate of growth, because Hemet’s ordinance does not work that way. What you can and should do is pull the current space rent, any increase notice the park has sent recently, and whether that park has a pending or recent petition before the Rent Review Commission. A park with an active hearing on file is a different conversation with a buyer than one that has not seen a challenge in years. None of this changes your ordinary disclosure duties either, and the seller disclosure guide walks through what a manufactured or mobilehome resale still has to cover on the standard side. Buyers researching a downsize into a Hemet park, including retirees moving from a larger home, tend to ask about this early, and the downsizing guide covers the rest of what that move involves even though it is written from a neighboring city.
What a buyer takes on when the sale closes
Your rental agreement and space rent come from the seller, not from a new negotiation with the park. The park still has to approve you for residency, a separate state law process covered in the Oceanside manufactured home guide, but approval and rent are two different tracks. Nothing in Hemet’s ordinance resets the space rent just because the home sold. If the rent you are told about at the time of purchase does not match what the seller has actually been paying, or does not match the park’s most recent notice, that is worth resolving with the park in writing before you close, not after.
Long-term leases used to get around this. That loophole is gone
For years, a park could hand an incoming resident a lease running longer than 12 months, and under Civil Code section 798.17, that lease was exempt from any local rent control ordinance, Hemet’s included. The legislature closed that door. The exemption stopped applying to any rental agreement entered into on or after January 1, 2021, and the section itself was repealed outright as of January 1, 2025. That means a lease signed in a Hemet park today, whatever its length, is still subject to Ordinance No. 772 like any other rental agreement in the city. If a park representative tells a buyer that signing a long lease puts them outside city rent review, ask them to point to the current code section that says so, because the one that used to say that no longer exists.
Where to check the current rent and hearing history
The ordinance requires the city to keep rent review hearing files and dockets at Hemet City Hall, listing the parties, addresses and outcome of every petition filed. Before you set a listing price or write an offer, it is worth asking Hemet’s Community Development Department whether the specific park has an open or recent petition on file, and asking the park directly for the current space rent and the last increase notice sent to residents. Neither the city nor the park is obligated to hand you a summary. You have to ask the right question of the right office.
The short version
Hemet does not cap space rent at a fixed number each year. It gives tenants a way to challenge an increase they think is unreasonable, through a Commission that can raise, lower or leave the rent, and whose decision is final. That structure covers every rental park in the city, including the 55 and older communities, and the long-term lease exemption that used to sidestep it is gone. Before you price a Hemet park home to sell or make an offer to buy one, get the current rent, the last increase notice, and any hearing history in front of you. If you want the whole picture on a specific home before you set a number, start with the home value tool.
Common questions
Does Hemet have mobile home rent control?
Yes, but not the kind with a fixed yearly cap. Ordinance No. 772, approved by Hemet voters in a 1979 special election, created a Rent Review Commission that hears petitions against space rent increases and can raise, lower, or leave the rent as proposed. It applies to every rental mobilehome park within city limits.
How much can a Hemet park raise my space rent?
There is no numeric limit written into the ordinance. The park can propose an increase, and state law requires at least 90 days written notice. If a majority of the tenants of that park sign a petition within 90 days of being subject to the increase, the Rent Review Commission holds a hearing and decides whether the increase is unreasonable.
Does buying a home in a Hemet park reset the space rent?
No. The buyer takes over the existing rental agreement and the space rent that comes with it, not a fresh negotiation with the park. Separately, the park has to approve the buyer for residency under state law, a process covered in detail in the Oceanside manufactured home guide.
Can a park use a long-term lease to get around Hemet's ordinance?
That used to work. Civil Code section 798.17 once exempted leases longer than 12 months from local rent control. The exemption stopped applying to any agreement signed on or after January 1, 2021, and the section itself was repealed outright on January 1, 2025, so no current lease length puts a Hemet park outside the ordinance.
Can I appeal the Rent Review Commission's decision?
No. Under the ordinance, the Commission's findings are final, and there is no appeal to the Hemet City Council. That makes the hearing itself, not a later review, the point where the numbers actually get decided.
