In most mobile home parks, utilities are not included in the space rent. Water, sewer, electricity, gas, and trash collection usually show up as separate charges on top of your lot fee, and the only document that tells you which, if any, are bundled into your base rent is your written rental agreement. Billing practices vary widely from one community to the next, so the short answer to whether utilities are included in mobile home space rent is: read your lease, because the park next door may handle it differently.
What Your Lease Should Tell You
The written lease is the single document that controls which utilities you pay separately and which are folded into the base rent. Look for a section labeled “Utilities,” “Services,” or “Additional Charges.” It should list each utility by name and state whether the park provides it as part of the rent or whether you set up your own account or pay the park directly.
If a utility is not mentioned, ask for clarification in writing before you sign. Verbal promises are worth almost nothing if the lease contradicts them. A manager who tells you during a tour that “water is included” creates no enforceable obligation unless that same commitment appears in the signed agreement. Pinning this down before move-in is how you build an accurate monthly budget instead of discovering surprise charges on your first statement.
The Three Ways Parks Bill for Utilities
How your park handles utility billing shapes the answer to whether anything is really “included.” Communities use one of three approaches, and each puts a different line on your monthly statement.
Direct Billing From the Utility Company
Under direct billing, you open your own account with the local utility. The utility reads the meter at your lot and sends you a bill, just as it would for a conventional house. The park has no involvement. This is the most straightforward arrangement: you pay the utility’s published rates for what you actually use, and you can call the utility directly with questions. In this setup, utilities are clearly not part of your rent.
Sub-Metering Through the Park
In a sub-metered park, the park owner holds the master account and installs an individual meter at each home site. Management reads those meters and adds a utility line to your rent statement showing the previous and current readings and the calculated charge.1National Conference of State Legislatures. Utility Submetering You pay for your actual consumption, but the park sits between you and the utility.
Meter accuracy matters here. If a sub-meter malfunctions or gets misread, you can be billed for consumption that never happened. Photographing your meter at the start of each billing cycle gives you a record to compare against the park’s numbers.
Master-Metered Parks With Flat Fees or RUBS
Some parks have only one meter for the entire property. These communities split the master bill among residents in one of two ways. A flat fee rolls a fixed utility charge into your monthly rent regardless of what you personally use. A ratio utility billing system, commonly called RUBS, divides the total bill among occupied lots using a formula based on factors like unit size, number of occupants, or a flat per-lot split.
Flat fees give you a predictable monthly number but no incentive to conserve, and you may end up subsidizing a neighbor who runs the air conditioning around the clock. RUBS gets closer to individual usage but is inherently imprecise, since the formula is an estimate rather than a measurement, and your share will fluctuate month to month based on the collective consumption of every household in the park. Some jurisdictions restrict or ban RUBS for specific utility types, so what your park can use may depend on where you live.
A flat fee is the one arrangement where utilities are genuinely “included” in the rent in any meaningful sense. In every other setup, you are paying something separate, whether it is calculated from your own meter or your pro rata share of the master bill.
What Parks Can and Can’t Charge You
Most states prohibit manufactured home park owners from turning utility billing into a profit center. The general rule: a park cannot charge residents more for a utility than what the utility company charges the park. Oregon’s manufactured dwelling statute, for example, explicitly bars landlords from billing tenants more than the utility charges the landlord and prohibits adding any handling or administrative fee on top of actual costs.2Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Revised Statutes 90-568 – Pro Rata Billing Minnesota prohibits billing residents for administrative, capital, or other costs beyond actual utility charges. Some states allow a small monthly administrative fee but cap it.
The variation is wide enough that you should check your own state’s manufactured housing or landlord-tenant statutes for the specific rule. The core principle across most jurisdictions is the same: the park passes through its actual utility costs, not a marked-up version of them. If your charges look high relative to your consumption, that principle gives you a basis to push back.
If a Charge Looks Wrong
Challenging an inflated utility charge is harder in a mobile home park than in a conventional rental because you often have no direct relationship with the utility company. In a master-metered park, the utility’s customer is the park owner. If you call the utility to dispute a charge, it will typically refer you back to management.
Start by requesting a copy of the park’s master utility bill for the billing period in question. The no-profit rules in most states are meaningless without some way to verify the math, so if management refuses to share the master bill, document the refusal. Compare the total master bill against the sum charged to all residents. The numbers should roughly match after accounting for common-area usage like streetlights or a clubhouse. If the total collected from residents significantly exceeds the master bill, you may have evidence of an overcharge.
If the park will not resolve the issue informally, most states let you file a complaint with the agency that oversees manufactured housing or bring a small claims action. Document everything in writing from the moment you first notice a discrepancy.
One Thing a Park Cannot Do
A park owner cannot shut off your water, electricity, or gas to pressure you over unpaid rent, a disputed utility bill, or anything else. Cutting off service to force a tenant out is a prohibited self-help eviction in every state. A park that wants you to leave has to go through the formal court eviction process.
Penalties are designed to sting. In many states, courts can award the greater of actual damages or a statutory minimum per violation, plus attorney fees and court costs, and each day the utility remains disconnected may count as a separate violation. If your park shuts off your utilities, document the dates and times, contact local code enforcement or your housing authority, and consult a tenant rights attorney.
Help If Utilities Are Rolled Into Your Rent
If your utilities are bundled into your lot rent and you are struggling to pay, you may still qualify for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP. The federal statute requires states to treat homeowners and renters equitably, which means a state cannot deny you benefits simply because you do not receive a separate utility bill.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 8624 – Applications and Requirements
Eligibility is generally limited to households with incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level or 60 percent of state median income, whichever is higher.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 8624 – Applications and Requirements Households already receiving TANF, SSI, or SNAP benefits typically qualify automatically. To apply when your heating costs are embedded in your rent, you will generally need a copy of your rental agreement showing that utilities are included, the monthly rent amount, and your landlord’s contact information. If you qualify, the benefit is usually paid directly to you rather than to a utility company, since there is no separate account to credit. Contact your state’s LIHEAP administrator or local community action agency to apply.