A TINY home resident has been given a surprise eviction notice after living at the mobile home community for 30 years.
Phyllis Slankard and some neighbors got an eviction letter from Thornhill Mobile Home Community in Maryville, Tennessee — about 25 south of Knoxville — the day before Easter.
A tiny home resident has been given a surprise eviction notice after living at the mobile home community for 30 yearsCredit: WBIR
The letter told residents that they had to vacate in 90 daysCredit: WBIR
Slankard was shocked by the sudden push to leave a place that she had called home for so long.
“We don’t know. I have no idea. None of us knows what we are going to do,” she said according to local NBC affiliate WBIR.
The letter told residents that they had to leave their homes within 90 days.
“Your lease agreement at Thornhill expires on March 31, 2024. Thornhill is not renewing your lease for an additional one-year term,” read the letter seen by the outlet.
“This letter is notice that you have ninety (90) days to vacate and remove your home and personal belongings from the Thornhill Community. The last day to vacate your property is June 30, 2024.”
The rest of the letter stated that after a one-year lease term, residents would be on a month-to-month rental agreement, and they would be charged rent until they left the property and take took mobile homes with them.
Many of the people who live at Thornhill own their homes but rent the land it sits on.
They had expected to live in the community for the rest of their lives.
The management company offered to appraise their mobile homes and purchase them, residents told the outlet.
Slankard has mentioned that she’s having a hard time finding an affordable rental place in the area.
She’s on a fixed income and needs help finding a place that fits her budget.
“They’re ruining our lives, they know you can’t go rent a place,” Slankard said.
“I did offer him, if you let me live here, we’d pay him extra money. Then he can have the place [after I die].”
‘LANDLORD CENTRIC’
Residents have turned to legal help as they try to understand why they are being evicted from their homes.
Tennessee’s Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act explains the rights of both tenants and landlords in rental situations.
We don’t know. I have no idea. None of us knows what we are going to do.
Phyllis Slankard
It is required by law that landlords give tenants 30 days notice before asking them to leave a rental property, according to Legal Aid of East Tennessee attorney, Darrell Winfree.
“[The] law is on the landlord’s side,” Winfree said, according to the outlet.
“I don’t think that’s ambiguous.”
He called the laws “landlord-centric.”
Winfree explained that if landlords followed the correct steps, they can do what they want.
“[Landlords] can’t turn off utilities, they can’t force people out,” he said.
“If they follow the law, [if] they give notice, they have a wide berth to do these types of things.”
The U.S. Sun has reported on multiple evictions including another woman who was threatened with eviction from her tiny home village.
She was among 30 campers under threat of eviction from the Webster Family Campground, about 20 minutes south of Worcester, Massachusetts.
Thornhill was unresponsive to the outlet who tried to contact the company multiple times for comment.