When neighbours own the land

New Hampshire: the board might be your neighbours

This state has more resident-owned manufactured-home communities than anywhere else in the country. The people deciding your request may be the household two lots over, volunteering on a co-operative board — which changes the tone, not the duty.

A large New Hampshire house set back behind a lawn and stone wall
Ownership here takes more forms than in most states Photo: Upstateherd, CC BY-SA 4.0

Three ways a manufactured-home community can be owned

The duty is identical in all three. Who you write to is not.

Resident-owned A co-operative

Residents jointly own the land through a co-operative and elect a board from among themselves. You may own your home and hold a share in the ground beneath the whole park.

Write to: the board, and copy the management agent if one is retained.

Investor-owned A commercial park operator

A company owns the land and rents lots to homeowners. You own the structure; they own everything it sits on and set the community rules.

Write to: the operator, and ask in writing who holds the decision.

Conventional An ordinary tenancy

You rent the dwelling itself from a landlord, whether it is a flat, a house or a manufactured home somebody else owns.

Write to: the landlord or their managing agent.

Why a co-operative does not escape the obligation

Collective ownership changes the corporate form, not the analysis.

Common misunderstandings in resident-owned communities
“We are all owners here” Any organisation writing and policing conditions of residence is assessed like every other provider of homes, corporation and neighbourly co-operative alike.
“The board is unpaid volunteers” True, and irrelevant to the duty. It does mean a calm explanatory letter usually works far better than a citation-heavy one, because most boards simply have not met the question before.
“The members would have to vote” House process offers no excuse for keeping you waiting. An application left pending until the yearly gathering has been dealt with far too slowly.
“You own your home, so it is your business” Holding title to the building leaves your entitlements intact where another party governs the ground and sets the conditions binding you.
“Our bylaws were recorded years ago” Filed community regulations remain regulations, and regulations are what an application seeks to lift for a single household.

What boards say, and what answers it

“There is a fee for reviewing your application”
Billing you for the committee's own consideration puts a tariff on the animal, and stripping away such tariffs is precisely what approval achieves.
“Come and present at the next meeting”
No appearance is required. Documents covering the pair of permitted questions are all the procedure demands, and a public gathering is no venue for your health information.
“Other residents have objected”
Neighbours hold no veto. Real conflicts of requirement, a severe allergy for instance, get resolved by arrangement instead of by flat rejection.
“Our insurer will not permit that breed”
A general worry is not a demonstrated cost. Unreasonable hardship requires numbers drawn from this particular park, not a claim made in the abstract.
“We are fining you weekly until it goes”
Penalties accruing while nobody has answered you make matters worse. List each penalty in your submission; wiping them forms part of the remedy you want.

Writing to people you will see at the post office

Small communities reward a different tone. None of it costs you anything legally.

Open with the request itself Dense legal argument lands as intimidation on unpaid committee members. Four plain sentences achieve more and preserve a relationship you cannot avoid.
Put it in writing regardless Friendliness and a record are not in tension. Email the board secretary rather than raising it beside somebody's car.
Offer the damage point yourself Volunteer early that harm caused by the animal stays your financial responsibility. It is true, and it removes the worry most boards actually hold.
Send them the guidance Committee members who study the government publication themselves prove far easier to convince than those hearing it paraphrased by a neighbour.
Ask for an answer by a date Politely. Courtesy is preserved and you still gain the dated record required should matters escalate.
Copy the management agent Many co-operatives retain one. They usually know the rules better than the board and can advise it quickly.

If the board will not move

New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights takes housing grievances from all ten counties; Region I - Boston handles the federal track. Lodging a case is free at both, needs no attorney, and compels no relocation.

A federal year is measured from the incident, taking the earliest of denial, fine or billing, and not from when you finally decided to challenge it.

New Hampshire is small enough that distance is never a real obstacle, and organisations supporting resident-owned communities exist precisely to advise boards on questions like this. Suggesting the board ask one is often faster than anything adversarial.

Questions from New Hampshire

I own my home and my share of the land. Does this still apply?
Yes. Where a board controls the rules you live under, it is answering as a housing provider. Being a part-owner of the co-operative does not put you outside the protections.
Can the board ask what my condition is?
No. A volunteer committee is bound by precisely the same ceiling as any commercial landlord: is there an impairment, and how does the creature bear on it. Nothing further.
My lot rent went up right after I asked.
An increase touching your lot alone, landing just after a request, is worth examining closely. Community-wide increases applied to everyone are a different matter entirely.
Is a seasonal lakeside cottage covered?
Occupying a place for a full season establishes it as your residence and brings housing rules to bear. One week booked in a holiday property falls under hotel-style provisions.

New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights

The state agency that receives and investigates housing discrimination complaints in New Hampshire, alongside HUD.

Agency guidance

42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3619

The federal statute prohibiting housing discrimination, including on the basis of disability. Refusing a reasonable accommodation that a person with a disability needs to use and enjoy a dwelling is a form of discrimination under this Act.

Federal law

24 CFR § 100.204

HUD's regulation implementing the reasonable accommodation duty, including the example of waiving a no-pets rule for a person who needs an assistance animal.

Federal law

24 CFR § 100.202

Sets out the general prohibitions on disability discrimination in housing and limits inquiries into whether a person has a disability.

Federal law

HUD Notice FHEO-2020-01

HUD's central guidance on assistance animals in housing: the difference between a service animal and a support animal, what information a housing provider may request, and how requests should be assessed.

Federal law