DeLand mobile home park residents frustrated over rent increase
DELAND, Fla. - Residents in a DeLand mobile home park are panicking as a rent increase is about to go into effect in October.
Neighbors in Lakeside Village, off Woodland Boulevard, received a notice their rent would increase from $360 to $550. About 40 residents rent a plot of land to sit their homes on from a company registered as Lakeside Village MHP LLC.
Katherine Peebles said the increase is life-changing for residents living on fixed incomes from social security or disability.
"This is where I get emotional. There were people here screaming and yelling knowing that they were just done. There’s nothing they can do, they can’t work," she said.
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Peebles and her neighbors have tried tracking down the owner but said a property records search has led them to a tangled web and no answers.
"We don’t even know who owns the park, we don’t," said Gerald Dundon.
"So we can’t even get a hold of him to even justify a 52 percent increase," added Peebles.
A search on the state’s business database lists an address in Jacksonville along with a PO Box in New Jersey. Residents tell FOX 35 News they pay their rent to a resident who has been designated the park manager. She declined to comment on camera, saying she would pass along our contact information to the property owners.
"Somebody’s got to show a little passion here with these older people," said Dundon. "It’s frustrating, it really truly is frustrating. We don’t know what to do or where to turn."