Massachusetts park sale — resident rights
Massachusetts gives residents a true right of first refusal when a manufactured home park is sold. This page is the resident side of that law: what triggers it, who must be told, the exact clocks, and how a purchase actually gets organized — computed from the national survey of state purchase laws and the statute it cites.
Trigger: Owner intends to sell or lease all or part of the community land; or owner receives a bona fide offer to purchase or lease that the owner intends to accept (especially where the sale would change the use or discontinue the community); or owner receives other offers (notice for these only if residents request it in writing)
Who must be told: Each resident, by certified mail, with copies to the Attorney General, the Director of Housing and Community Development, and the local board of health (the third, other-offers notice goes to residents only if more than 50% of tenants or a group/association representing more than 50% asks in writing)
Who can act: A group or association representing at least 51% of the homeowners
Households needed: about 51% — see who can act, below, for the exact form it takes.
| Step | Clock | What the statute says |
|---|---|---|
| make your offer — sign a purchase and sale agreement on substantially equivalent terms | 45 days from the owner’s notice | Within 45 days of receiving the bona fide-offer notice, a group or association with evidence that at least 51% of homeowners approved the purchase must submit a proposed purchase and sale agreement. The intent-to-sell notice itself must be mailed within 14 days after advertising/listing and no less than 45 days before the sale or lease. |
| get financing | 135 days from the owner’s notice | An additional 90 days after signing the purchase and sale agreement to obtain financing. |
| close the purchase | 225 days from the owner’s notice | An additional 90 days after the financing period expires to close. Missing any deadline ends the right to purchase; periods may be extended by agreement. |
Total window on the main track: 225 days.
Date these deadlines from your notice →
Assigning the right: Residents may assign the purchase right — typically to a local government, housing authority, or nonprofit that will keep the park a park.
Right of first refusal is limited: it arises on a third-party bona fide offer and, per the NCLC summary, does not apply if the owner received the offer as a result of listing the community for sale. The owner must negotiate in good faith and may not unreasonably refuse or delay a matching bona fide offer. Residents may assign their purchase right to a city, town, housing authority or state agency to keep the land as a community.
Park sold or closing anywhere else? The Park-Sold Deadline Checker covers all 22 purchase-law states, and the guides hub links every state's park-law and title pages.
See the $39 Manufactured Home Playbook
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Rule: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 32R. Source: National Consumer Law Center, Summary of State Manufactured Home Community Purchase Laws (September 2026).
Verified October 2026. State data verified October 2026 — re-checked quarterly.
General information about how the process works in your state — not legal advice. For a contested eviction, a park-sale fight, or a title dispute with a lienholder, a local attorney or legal-aid office is the next step.