Tenant site lease protections on agency park loans

If you finance a park with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you agree to put eight protections into every resident’s site lease and keep them for the life of the loan. They include a one-year renewable lease, 30 days’ written notice of rent increases, a 5-day grace period, the right to sell a home in place, and at least 60 days’ notice before the park is sold or closed. The two agencies’ lists are close to identical; the biggest difference is how long a resident has to sell a home after an eviction: 45 days at Fannie Mae, 30 days at Freddie Mac.

The eight protections

Protection	Fannie Mae	Freddie Mac
Lease term	1-year renewable at the resident’s election, unless good cause	1-year renewable, unless good cause (defined as violations of law, rent default at renewal, or serious or repeated material lease violations)
Rent increases	At least 30 days’ written notice	30 days’ written notice
Late rent	5-day grace period and a right to cure; 10 days to cure if the lease sets none	5-day grace period and a right to cure; 10 days after the grace period if the lease sets none
Selling the home	Right to sell without first moving it out	Right to sell to a buyer who qualifies as a new tenant, without moving it
Sublease and assignment	Right to sublease or assign the site lease to a buyer who meets community rules and checks	Right to sublease and to assign the pad lease without unreasonable restraint
“For Sale” signs	Allowed under community rules	Allowed under community rules
After an eviction	Right to sell in place within 45 days, while connected to utilities	Right to sell in place within 30 days (safety exception)
Sale or closure of the park	At least 60 days’ notice	At least 60 days’ notice

Freddie Mac applies all eight to residents who own their homes, and protections 2, 3 and 8 (rent-increase notice, grace period, and sale or closure notice) to renters of homes too. Freddie Mac’s term sheet adds that any protection that violates applicable law, or is less favorable to the resident than the law, is void, and the rest stay enforceable.

When they apply and how they’re checked

Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae requires the protections on 100% of sites for loans committed on or after December 31, 2021, in place by the end of the first loan year and kept for the whole term. The borrower certifies compliance every year, and the servicer audits at least 25% of the required leases. Missing them is a Performance Default and triggers an “MH Site Lease Protection Payment” to Fannie Mae.

Freddie Mac

Freddie Mac requires them on MHC loans quoted on or after September 1, 2021, in written agreements within 12 months after origination, for the life of the loan. Communities owned by their residents, by a government or by a nonprofit are exempt.

What it costs an owner

If your leases already run a year and give 30 days’ notice of a rent increase, the first three protections change little. The ones that change how you operate are the right to sell in place after an eviction (the resident, not the park, gets the first 30 or 45 days to sell the home), the assignment right (you can’t make a buyer sign a new lease at a new rent if they meet your rules), and 60 days’ notice before you sell the park. Build the time into any sale you plan during the loan term.

Some states have their own manufactured housing tenancy laws (California’s Mobilehome Residency Law is one). Where your state requires more, you follow your state, so read it before you treat the agency list as the ceiling.

A “5-month notice” requirement shows up on some websites. It isn’t in either agency’s current term sheet or Guide.

Fair housing

These protections are minimums owed to every resident. Apply lease terms, rent increases, fees and screening the same way to everyone. The Fair Housing Act prohibits treating residents or applicants differently because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin, and some states add more, so check yours. Nothing here is advice on how to screen residents.

Sources

• Fannie Mae Multifamily Guide, glossary entry “Tenant Site Lease Protections”, Part III Ch. 6, Section 603.05B, and Part V Ch. 4, Section 420, effective September 28, 2026.
• Fannie Mae Multifamily Wire, “Expanding Tenant Site Lease Protections to Better Serve Renters,” January 27, 2022.
• Freddie Mac, MHC term sheet, April 2026, and Seller/Servicer Guide Ch. 22, Sections 22.1 and 22.2.