If you and your neighbors decide to buy your community, you’ll continue paying rent just as you do now. The difference is that instead of the rent money going to an external owner, it stays in the cooperative and is used to pay its bills, including the mortgage. The cooperative will borrow the money to purchase the park from financial institutions such as the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and banks.

Your monthly lot rent and, if you choose to join the cooperative, a $5 membership fee.

An important goal of resident cooperatives, and of ROC-NH, is to provide access to affordable housing for their members. If the cooperative chooses to buy the park, its members will democratically vote on the terms of the sale, including what their rents will cost. From then on, members will vote on the rent structure as part of their annual budget. 

Typically, cooperatives only increase the rents when operating expenses increase. Whether you choose to join the cooperative may affect your rent. Most cooperatives charge non-member households a higher rent than members pay.

If residents choose not to buy the park, you’ll continue to pay rent to the park’s owner, and will have no vote on the budget, rent, rules, or community improvements.

ROC-NH is a program of the nonprofit New Hampshire Community Loan Fund that helps manufactured-home-park residents understand their rights and options under state law when their park is for sale. Our goal is to preserve affordable housing across the state by helping to create resident-owned communities (ROCs).

Under New Hampshire law, when a park owner receives a purchase offer from an outside buyer, the park’s residents are notified and so is the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. That’s when our ROC-NH team takes action to help park residents understand their rights and options.

Our ROC-NH team may get involved in one of two ways. The first is when we are notified, we reach out to park residents to offer them our services. The second way is when a park owner contacts ROC-NH directly to negotiate a sale to their residents. Either way, we’re here to help residents begin a discussion with the park owner.

No, you're not buying your individual lot. When residents buy a park, they’re buying a business, including the land, infrastructure (electrical, water, wastewater systems, etc.), and any other property belonging to that business. The cooperative then owns the business, including all the house lots. Cooperatives are owned and managed by their members and exist to benefit their members.

If the owner’s negotiation with residents was triggered by the 60-day notice law, the park can be sold to the outside buyer. Otherwise, the current ownership will continue until the possibility of a sale, and the process starts all over again.

Under New Hampshire law, the only requirement of the seller is to “negotiate in good faith” with residents. Historically, this has meant the resident cooperative matches the competing offer.

A negotiated sale, in which the park owner doesn’t have an offer from an outside buyer, is just that — a negotiation. The two parties need to agree on price.

Who’s going to care more about the park being maintained and improved than the people who live there? Plus, cooperative ownership means there will be more money for improvements. That’s because the profit that would typically go to an investor owner is saved for community upgrades and improvements instead.

Like any other lender, we earn interest on loans to our borrowers. If your cooperative buys the park, we will also provide ongoing training, coaching and advising to help you manage it. But loan interest and fees aren’t enough to keep us in business. As a nonprofit, we also rely on donations, grants, investments, and a small amount of government funding to pay for services such as ROC-NH. 

That’s the cooperative membership’s decision. Most cooperatives hire a management company to handle the day-to-day financial transactions, and contractors for projects, and the co-op’s board of directors supervises their work.  In some co-ops, volunteers take on as many tasks as possible to save money and keep rents low.

No. Residents may join the cooperative at any time, but they’re not required to. However, only cooperative members get to vote on the budget, elect a board of directors, and participate in other important community decisions. The co-op may also charge a higher lot rent to non-members. It makes sense to be a member.

Yes, you can sell your home in a cooperative just as you would if anyone else owned the park. Living in a ROC actually gives you an advantage, because your buyer will have access to fair, fixed-rate home financing that isn’t available in investor-owned communities.

New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (RSA) 205-A are the state laws that regulate manufactured-home (mobile home) parks. Resident-owned communities (ROCs), their members and residents must follow, and are protected by, these laws.

All cooperative members should be familiar with RSA 301-A, which governs consumer cooperatives, including ROCs.

RSA 540 affects the landlord-tenant relationship and are applicable in manufactured housing where not inconsistent with RSA 205-A.

ROCs are also incorporated under the state's RSA 293-A, which offer guidance in the proper operation of a cooperative.