TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has been cracking down on landlords across the state, citing them for violations that she believes are harming tenants.
The owners of Desert Haven Mobile Home Park was next on her list.
The Attorney General visited the park to talk to Desert Haven residents and hear their concerns, after complaints of improper submetering at the parks made their way to her office.
"Many of them are experiencing rate increases for their utilities, water, and electricity that we think are possibly illegal," Mayes said.
Submetering is where a landlord is charged for utilities rather than the tenants.
The landlord then splits the bill between tenants, measuring their usage.
However, Mayes and her team investigated the park for wrongdoing, saying they found that tenants were being charged hundreds to thousands of dollars extra for utilities.
"One couple almost got evicted for their increased prices that were totally unfair to them," Mayes said. "We actually intervened in that and had it stopped."
According to Mayes, what is happening in Desert Haven isn't an isolated case.
Mobile home tenants like Jose Verdugo is going through the same thing at his park.
“In our mobile home with my wife across the street, during the summer, we were paying between $65-$70 a month," Verdugo said. "Now, all of a sudden, for September, I get a $400 bill. The Mobile Tenant Act is so old, and their lawyers have found so many loopholes to make people lose their houses and evict them."
Stories like Verdugo's led Mayes to host a conference with mobile home owners and renters from across Tucson.
Many of them shared stories of leaks, making their utilities increase as much as $900. Many tenants felt powerless.
"My neighbor was evicted, put out of his home, and then passed away," Tucson citizen Mike Roy said. "They think it was the stress of all this. He lost everything."
"I’m a victim of their cruelty; my managers flooded my yard," Tucson resident Octavia Smith said.
The community hopes that voicing their concerns to the attorney general will lead to more action.
“The Attorney General’s Office is trying to make sure that the law is enforced," Mayes said. "The law does not allow these landlords to juice up the cost of utilities.”
We reached out to the owners of Desert Haven, who said that this incident was the fault of a third party.
They have since issued refunds to the affected tenants.
Attorney General Mayes says that anyone wishing to file a housing complaint can do so at www.azag.gov.
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