I moved to Washington from Alaska in August 2010 when I was 51 years old. First I was living up in Tacoma, and it was always busy from the minute you woke up – right on the highway, next to I-5.
I decided to move to a trailer park, and found one I liked out in the country, not as crowded. I paid the full $8,000 purchase price for my trailer in 2017 and started paying monthly rent for the space.
When I bought my trailer, it had been vacant for a while and was pretty trashed. I hooked up the water supply and sewer. I connected the electricity. The sewer line was plugged so I cleaned it up. It didn’t have a kitchen sink and the hot water heater needed to be replaced. I got the range and refrigerator. I got it livable.
Once I paid the money, it was mine. But the park owners didn’t give me the title.
Although I wasn’t worried at first, by the second year, I started to ask the park manager about it. He’d say, “We’re working on it, we’ll get it to you by the end of the year.” Then I wouldn’t hear from him. I was told they had 400 titles they were working on.
Not having the title really affected what I could do with my home. After I got the trailer comfortable, I still wanted to do more work—put in hardwood floors in the living room, replace the carpet, other upgrades. But I didn’t want to invest in it until I got my title. Now I’m too old to do the work I could have done back then. And I was scared. They could sell the park and I’d have no way to prove my ownership. I could lose my home.
By the fourth year, I was really starting to worry. That’s when Clare*, another resident, got the whole ball rolling. She and two other neighbors had also paid off their trailers but never got their titles. Clare started working with Jason, a lawyer with Northwest Justice Project. She told me about it, and I got in touch with Jason.
He was a nice, caring person. He helped me get the paperwork that proved my purchase was legit. He filed complaints through the Mobile Home Dispute Resolution Program with the Attorney General’s Office. The park owners kept pushing it off with excuses and extensions, but Jason stayed with it and always kept me informed. Eventually, when they faced potential legal action, they produced the titles.
When I finally got my title, I was happy, happy, happy! I just didn’t understand why it took so long – seven years – and why there were no penalties. When you buy a car, you have 15 days to put it in your name.
Before I knew about NJP, I had thought about talking to a lawyer. I couldn’t afford it. Just a consultation was $500.
My advice to anyone dealing with title issues? Legal help is available. NJP is for people to get legal advice that they can afford. With NJP, you just have to stay with it. NJP does good things for people who have nowhere else to go.
Legal Knowledge is Power. Go to Washington Law Help to find out more about legal rights for People living in cars, shelters, motels, camps.