Rent Control In Mobilehome Park Not A Taking.

A city enacted a mobilehome rent stabilization ordinance which imposed rent control tied to the consumer price index. Years later, the city amended the ordinance to add “vacancy control,” which gave any new resident taking over a mobilehome pad lease the right to rent the pad at the same rate as the previous tenant. The park owner brought an action alleging that the combination of pad rent control and vacancy control amounted to an unconstitutional taking. The Ninth Circuit stated: “In this appeal, we consider whether San Rafael’s mobilehome rent regulation violates the park owners’ substantive due process rights, constitutes a regulatory taking under Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City (1978) 438 U.S. 104 [98 S.Ct. 2646, 57 L.Ed.2d 631] or runs afoul of the ‘public use’ requirement of the Fifth Amendment under the standards articulated in Kelo v. City of New London (2005) 545 U.S. 469, [125 S.Ct. 2655, 162 L.Ed.2d 439]. We conclude that the regulation passes muster against all of these challenges.”  MHC Financing Limited Partnership v. City of San Rafael (Ninth Cir.; April 17, 2013) (Case No.’s 07-15982, 09-16447, 09-16451, 09-16612, 09-16613).