HB2849 amends the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act to regulate how mobile home park owners may pass utility costs on to tenants for services used in common areas. The bill prohibits a park owner from requiring tenants to pay for utility services such as water, sewer, and trash in common areas when those services are already being billed by a public utility company. If common-area usage is not separately metered, the owner may charge tenants no more than 80% of the public utility bill for those services.
The bill also adds transparency requirements. Park owners must provide tenants with an annual written explanation of how each tenant’s share of utility charges was calculated, and must provide copies of monthly utility bills upon request for any separately billed utility charge covered by the new section. Overall, the measure is aimed at limiting overcharges and improving disclosure in mobile home park utility billing practices.
Impact
The bill creates a new Section 6.2 in the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act (765 ILCS 745/6.2), directly affecting mobile home park owners and tenants in Illinois. It restricts the ability of park owners to allocate common-area utility costs to tenants, sets an 80% cap when usage is not separately metered, and imposes annual disclosure and records-access obligations. These changes would alter how utility pass-through charges are calculated and documented in mobile home communities.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests strong bipartisan support and little opposition. HB2849 passed the Illinois House 115-0 and the Senate 56-0, indicating broad agreement that the bill addresses a fairness and transparency issue in mobile home park utility billing. No committee transcript is available, but the unanimous votes imply generally favorable sentiment toward the measure.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the available materials, and the unanimous roll-call votes suggest the bill was not controversial at the floor stage. The main policy issue inherent in the bill is the balance between protecting tenants from being charged for common-area utilities and preserving park owners’ ability to recover legitimate utility expenses. The 80% cap and billing disclosure requirements appear to be the central mechanisms for resolving that balance.