Standing up to a bully and protecting my property

Note: for the sake of time, this blog post is over simplified. This was a very expensive and involved event in my life. Nothing about this was a simple or easy process.

My best friend Sid passed away in February 2020 after losing his battle with cancer, Sid had a heart of gold and while he was still here had taken me in when my life was a mess and helped give me a chance for success. In 2017, when I desperately needed a place to live he had given me a 1972 12x46ft mobile home in a small mobile home park he owned. This home had been vacant for several years after the death of his friend Rita who previously lived there. He helped me fix everything up and made it livable. It them became my home. My first house, I finally had someplace that wasn’t rented. It was mine. I was officially a homeowner. Something I had always dreamed of, but wasn’t sure would ever actually happen. I love that little house. Fast forward to 2018, I had an idea to open a thrift store, the abandoned property next door came up for tax sale. A half acre lot with a 1972 doublewide mobile home. Sid purchased this property at auction for me and sold it to me under a land contract. The thrift store never ended up happening (cost of starting a business and zoning complications). I ended up moving into the doublewide and kept the smaller home next door and basically used them as if they were one home. The 12×46 became known as “the little house” and the doublewide became known as “the big house”  I had Verizon split my phone line like a party line between them and all was well. Until things weren’t. While alive, Sid had given me the 12×46 word of mouth in 2017. However it was put in writing through his will and Sid and I had had conversations about what would happen with the home and the park when he passed. The mobile home is mine, however the park (land which it sat on) was to go to his friend Jonathan. Jonathan was aware of what everything Sid wanted to happen. He was an executor of Sid’s estate. Oh, did Sid misplace his trust in that man. Before I get into that, let’s rewind a bit and talk about the park’s water and septic. The park contained 4 mobile homes on one water meter. The average water bill for the entire park was around $60 quarterly. The park has an aging septic system. Sid wanted to get off of septic and onto town sewer before the system failed. Water is cheap, sewer… not so much. It was Sid’s intention that IF and WHEN the park got hooked onto town sewer I was to pay $100 monthly towards the expense of water and sewer. This is because I don’t pay lot rent and this free lot rent was in the will so it would continue after Sid’s death. Sid did not want Jonathan to carry the burden of my water and sewer expenses.

Now fast forward to April 2021, the estate has turned the deed to the park over to Jonathan. Jonathan comes by and informs me I am to start paying for water and sewer in May 2021. I reminded him that the park was not connected to the sewer yet, and me paying $300 for something that cost him $60 was not what Sid intended to happen. Jonathan came up with some BS that the septic tank was his sewer and if I didn’t like it “to go take it up with Sid” I offered to buy the lot from him, he said no. I mentioned the idea of moving my mobile home next door onto my land and out of his park. Jonathan said it was illegal to move an old mobile home and I would go to jail if I moved it out of the park. My only option according to Jonathan was to pay his demands. I was not happy to hear this, but I knew Jonathan had a habit of talking out of his ass so I started doing my own research on what I could and could not do. I discovered that the $100 water and sewer bill actually went against state law, so I could have fought that and won, but Jonathan had disrespected Sid and I had no intentions of having him as a landlord. (he has a reputation of being a bully). I wanted out.

Please keep in mind, that everything about Sid’s intentions for me and the park were known by all parties involved. Jonathan had a choice between one of Sid’s rental houses and the park. He chose the park knowing that I came with it and got greedy after Sid’s death. He got an entire property for nothing and wanted more. Had he hooked the park onto the sewer none of this drama would have happened. Instead, he saw dollar signs and decided to charge me for something that wasn’t being provided and got really mad that I fought back. Bullies don’t like being challenged. Sid inherited the park in 2000 from his friend Cora when she passed away under the condition that he took care of Rita (who lived in what is now my mobile home). Having a disability myself I imagine Sid has a similar vision for the park when he left it to Jonathan. Jonathan promised Sid on his death bed that he would look after me when Sid was gone.

The zoning board meeting:

With the help of a lawyer I applied for a variance to put my mobile home onto my property as an addition. The two homes were to become one. All I had to do was put down a slab, drag it next door, and connect them together. It seemed like my battle was almost over. Until the meeting started. Jonathan and his “highly educated” girlfriend Kellie showed up. Along with Gary who owned the apartments next door. Kellie had the role of being Jonathan’s mouth piece during the meeting. She stated lies about me, what was going on and the board ate it up. Gary (who wants my land to expand his apartment complex) called my yard trashy (I have had a toilet planter in my yard for years as a joke) and said I was ruining his respectable apartment community. My variance was denied and Jonathan left looking very smug. He had won the battle, but little did he know the war was just getting started.

After losing my fight with the zoning board, I realized just how difficult the town was to deal with in regards to mobile homes. Everything was grandfathered. They didn’t want anything to be changed. Not even moving a couple hundred feet. I had to find somewhere outside of the town to move this mobile home. I was going to find a place with different zoning laws.

Water Bills, Rule Changes, Moving the sheds.

I focused my energy on moving out of the park. However, being stuck paying the $100 ransom during the time I was still there. For the first month I paid the town directly for the water (I put $100 onto the account for the park) so Jonathan couldn’t pocket the money. It was for water and water only. This angered him greatly, as his intent all along was to pocket the cash. He had the estate lawyer send me a letter threatening to back bill me $100 monthly back to Sid’s death in February 2020 if I didn’t start paying him in cash. I consulted a lawyer and found out that there was nothing written about how much water I could use. Basically I knew I had to pay $100, but it was all I could use. I got my money’s worth. I did a lot of lawn watering to use every last drop of water I was paying for. This angered Jonathan even more. He started to change the park rules and made it against the rules to use water for more than 15 minutes without his permission. Although the idea of calling him at 3 AM to ask if it was okay for me to do a load of laundry or take a shower was tempting, I had a goal and I had to stick to it. I complied with his crazy rules, I started moving everything off his land and onto mine. He added in rules banning sheds, they were pre existing. They were there with Sid’s permission. One was over 100 years old and already there when I moved in. He had no right to tell me I couldn’t have them. He was clearly laying the groundwork for a park rules violation eviction. However my goal was to move so this was already part of my plan anyway. So one at a time, all 3 sheds got moved. I started with the 100 year old shed, just to send a statement that I could overcome any roadblock he threw at me. I had my friend Paul help me move the 100 year old shed, and Meagan and I took care of the other two. A plastic rubbermaid and a shelterlogic tent. Those two were easy compared to the first. I even dug up all my plants. This fight was personal. Jonathan was to get nothing I owned.

Going up the mountain:

I found a new property. A vacant lot outside of town in the mountains. The zoning laws were perfect, the codes enforcement officer was a pleasure to work with. I had a place to put my home and a to do list of what had to be done. I was getting closer. But there was still a lot to do.

Repairs & Construction:

Because my mobile home is from 1972, it predates HUD codes (1976) so I had to meet certain criteria to be allowed to move it. I also had a ton of work to do on the new property to get it ready. I spent months making repairs, having construction done and making sure everything the codes enforcement officer wanted done got done. It was a LOT to do, but I had my parents on my side so we got it all done. One step at a time.

Moving Day:

In October 2021, it finally happened. My mobile home was moved onto my new property. Things went mostly smoothly. I couldn’t move the porch addition on the road, and other than some bad behavior from a neighbor who freaked out that a big truck blocked his driveway for 5 minutes while the movers were figuring out the game plan the move went well. Jonathan didn’t know what was happening until I was already gone. It was glorious watching him having to suppress his rage due to how many witnesses I had with me.

The Porch:

Because the porch couldn’t be moved, it was still in the park. I wasn’t completely free from Jonathan yet. I had to finish getting off his property. Paul came back and after several days of work, I finally was out of the trailer park. The porch is now a shed, and I will finish it here and there as I have time. It is now the middle of November 2021.

Goodbye & New Beginnings:

Being out of the park, I mailed Jonathan a letter letting him know I was out of the park and he would no longer be receiving any money from me. So far things have been quiet. I hope this continues.

Now that I am out of the park I am going to focus on finding a higher paying job to pull myself out of this mountain of debt I have to my parents, working on my mobile home and new property. Winter is just about here, so a lot of landscaping will be happening next spring along with painting the front of my mobile home. (Siding will be repaired in a few days, but I won’t be able to paint until spring unless I get really lucky and get a warm day).

While I am still living in my doublewide next to the park, my 12×46 is now a camp/2nd home and I am looking forward to enjoying my new property for years to come!

Conclusion:

Okay, you may be wondering was it worth all the time and money involved to move something that had almost no monetary value? Money wise, no. not at all. However, this mobile home holds many memories for me. It was my first home that was all mine. It was a project that Sid and I worked on together, and in some small way it is a part of him that lives on after his death. I also do not like bullies, and when the little guy wins one over on the big guy, it’s something worth celebrating. All I lost was money, and at the end of the day, money really isn’t all that important. People are. And while you can’t take things with you when you’re gone, I’m still here and have a lot more memories to make with this home while I’m on this earth.

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