Buying a mobile home in Tennessee

Tennessee has no dedicated mobile home park act, so a buyer's protections come mainly from the written lease, the park's rules, and general law rather than from mobile-home-specific statutes. The information below describes how the law generally works; anyone buying should consider consulting a licensed attorney in Tennessee.

What the statute says

Tennessee has no mobile-home-park statute requiring pre-sale disclosure, limiting buyer approval, or guaranteeing a buyer the right to take over the seller's lot. Where the URLTA applies, the landlord must keep the premises "in a fit and habitable condition" (Tenn. Code §66-28-304) and handle the security deposit through a separate account with inspection rights (§66-28-301) — but the URLTA "applies only in counties having a population of more than seventy-five thousand (75,000)" (§66-28-102(a)), and it is built around a "dwelling unit," so a lot-only rental may not be clearly covered. The home is titled through the county clerk under the state's title law (Tenn. Code Title 55, Ch. 3) and built to the federal HUD code.

How it works in general

A buyer in a Tennessee park is largely on their own as a matter of statute: there's no required disclosure statement, no limit on how a park screens a buyer, and no guaranteed right to take over the seller's lot. That makes due diligence essential. Read the written lease and the park rules to learn the rent, the charges, and the park's approval requirements; confirm the seller holds a clean Tennessee certificate of title and check for liens; and confirm whether the home is titled as personal property or has been converted to real property. In a county over 75,000 people, the URLTA's habitability and deposit protections apply once the buyer becomes a tenant; in a smaller county they don't. Federal fair-housing protections apply to how a park screens buyers.

Common scenarios

General examples Tennessee buyers commonly encounter:

• A buyer wants the terms up front. No statute requires a disclosure statement — read the lease and rules.
• A park screens the buyer. No statute limits buyer approval; federal fair-housing law still applies.
• A buyer checks the home. Confirm a clean county-clerk certificate of title and any liens (Tenn. Code title 55, ch. 3).

Other authorities that may apply

Tennessee's lack of a dedicated park act means the written lease, the park rules, and (in larger counties) the URLTA govern a purchase; the home is titled through the county clerk and built to the federal HUD code. Federal lending rules and the Fair Housing Act can apply. The lease, the park rules, and the title are the core documents to review.