Mobile home titles and taxes in Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, a manufactured home in a licensed community is treated differently from real estate: it is exempt from property tax, and the community instead pays a small monthly municipal license fee per home. The home itself is the resident's transferable property. The information below describes how the law generally works; anyone with a specific title or tax question should consider consulting a licensed attorney in Massachusetts.

What the statute says

M.G.L. c.140 §32G sets up the fee-and-exemption system. The community owner pays "an additional license fee of six dollars per month ... on account of each manufactured home, occupying space within such manufactured housing community," which a city or town may raise "to an amount not exceeding twelve dollars per month." That fee is "collected by such manufactured housing community operator from the owner or occupant of each manufactured home" and deposited "with the collector of taxes" of the municipality. In exchange:

Each manufactured home subject to the license fee provided for in this section shall be exempt from any property tax as provided in clause Thirty-sixth of section five of chapter fifty-nine.

On ownership transfer, §32L(3A) bars a park from refusing "to allow the transfer of a manufactured home ... on the ground that such ... owner has not sold as many manufactured homes as there are sites," and §32M provides that a prospective purchaser "may not be refused entrance if they meet the current rules of the community." A "manufactured home" is defined in §32Q as a structure "built in conformance to the National Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards" — the federal HUD code.

How it works in general

A Massachusetts manufactured home in a community is not assessed and taxed as real estate. Instead, the community is charged a monthly municipal license fee (between $6 and $12 per home), which the operator collects from the resident and pays to the town's tax collector — and the home is exempt from ordinary property tax. The home remains the resident's own property, which they may sell or transfer; the park cannot block a transfer because it would rather sell its own homes, and a qualified buyer cannot be refused entry. Because the home is taxed through this fee system rather than as titled real estate, questions about documenting ownership on a sale are handled through the bill of sale and the community's records.

Common scenarios

General examples Massachusetts residents commonly encounter:

• A resident gets a property-tax bill on the home. The home is exempt; it is covered by the monthly municipal license fee instead (§32G).
• A resident wants to sell the home in place. The park can't block the transfer for an unsold-sites reason, and a rule-compliant buyer can't be refused (§§32L(3A), 32M).
• A monthly fee shows up on the rent ledger. The $6–$12 municipal license fee per home is collected by the operator and paid to the town (§32G).

Other authorities that may apply

Title 32F–32S governs the community, the municipal fee, and transfer protections; the property-tax exemption is in c.59 §5, clause Thirty-sixth. The municipal tax collector administers the monthly fee. The home's construction is governed by the federal HUD code (§32Q). The bill of sale and any financing documents control how ownership passes, and a violation of the chapter is an unfair or deceptive practice under c.93A (§32L(7)).