I am writing as a resident of Oceanside Landing, a 55+ mobile home park in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, to urgently request legislative review and stronger protections for those on fixed incomes - seniors, disabled veterans, families stretching every dollar in manufactured home communities across our state.  Affordable housing isn’t a luxury for some, it’s survival.

 
Oceanside Landing has approximately 220 homes. About 30 have been listed for sale—many for more than two years—and remain unsold. A primary reason is the sharp increase in lot rents since the community was purchased by an investment company in 2021. Most homes are 40 to 50 years old and require updates, making them even harder to sell with rising lot fees.
 
The community manager is also a licensed Realtor. As manager, they have authority to approve or deny home sales. As a Realtor, they have offered to sell residents' homes for a reduced fee while earning buyer commissions. This creates a potential conflict of interest that deserves legislative review.
 
For many years, residents had stable leases with modest rent increases. Our original two-year lease increased rent by $20 every two years. After the ownership change, we signed annual leases with increases of about 7% to 8%. At the owners' first meeting with residents, we were told annual increases would be limited to 7%. That meeting was recorded, and residents reasonably relied on those statements as a verbal agreement. Instead, increases have far exceeded that range.
In November 2025, residents were notified that lot rent would increase 16% beginning in March 2026—about $85 more per month. No new written lease was provided despite the requirements of South Carolina's Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act (S.C. Code §§ 27-47-10 through 27-47-620), which requires written lease agreements for manufactured home lot rentals, this Act states a written lease agreement is mandatory, not optional.
 
For seniors living on fixed incomes, a 16% increase exceeds many annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and is simply unaffordable.
 
Management has stated that millions have been invested in the property, yet many improvements do not reflect residents' needs. For example, a clubhouse that seated more than 100 people was replaced with a smaller, more expensive facility accommodating fewer than 40 people with high-end features residents neither requested nor needed. These projects appear aimed at marketing rather than serving long-term residents.
 
Management has also promoted rent assistance programs for qualifying residents, effectively shifting the burden of rising lot rents to taxpayer-funded and Government assistance.

 
This problem extends beyond Oceanside Landing. Across South Carolina, investment companies are purchasing manufactured home parks and raising lot rents without meaningful limits. Unlike several other states, South Carolina has no laws regulating annual manufactured home lot rent increases.
 
We respectfully request:
+Legislation limiting annual lot rent increases to 3.5%–5%, tied to cost-of-living increases. Income- based protections for seniors on fixed incomes.
+Stronger lease and disclosure requirements.
+Oversight of potential conflicts of interest when park management also participates in home sales.
+Review of the 16% lot rent increase imposed on Oceanside Landing residents.
+We need a new bill or reform of the SC tenancy act of 1991. We need to aim it particularly regarding that act. Mobile homes on leased land. That's where it needs to be specific. We are not like any other entity. They don't rent the home, we own the homes, and lease the land. Rent caps pertain more to apartments, condos and such. Lot fees in Mobile Home Parks is what needs to be addressed. 
 
Many of us chose Oceanside Landing because it offered affordable retirement housing. Without reasonable protections, seniors across South Carolina risk being priced out of the communities they have called home for years. We support fair business practices and reasonable returns on investment, but housing stability for older South Carolinian's should not be sacrificed to excessive rent increases that far exceed Social Security cost-of-living adjustments.
We respectfully ask for your attention to this matter and welcome the opportunity to discuss legislative solutions that balance property rights with protections for vulnerable senior residents
 
Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
Sincerely,
 
Resident of Oceanside Landing
Murrells Inlet, SC 29576