Shires Housing, Inc. v. Brown,2017
VT 60 [filed 7/21/2017]
EATON, J. This interlocutory appeal arises out of a mobile home park eviction in which landlord, Shires Housing, Inc., failed to provide tenant, Carolyn Brown, with written notice of tenancy termination before filing for eviction under the Mobile Home Parks Act. The trial court denied defendant’s Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, ruling that 10 V.S.A. § 6237(a)(3) contains an exception to the notice requirement. Because we conclude that the relevant provision of the Mobile Home Parks Act is ambiguous and because the available tools of statutory interpretation all indicate that the Act requires pre-eviction notice, we reverse.
SKOGLUND, J., dissenting. A co-tenant engaged in drug activity in tenant’s mobile home; this illegal activity substantially violated the lease for the lot where tenant’s mobile home is located. Subsequently, and without providing tenant with written notice of the intent to initiate eviction proceedings, landlord commenced eviction proceedings by filing a complaint against tenant in superior court. Landlord’s action was supported by 10 V.S.A. § 6237(a), which demonstrates a plain legislative intent to dispense with notice when a leaseholder commits a substantial violation of the lease terms. I dissent
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