NORWAY — Residents of Norway Commons mobile home park packed a special town meeting at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School on Monday, unanimously passing a moratorium on mobile home lot rent increases, pausing what some have called predatory practices against seniors on fixed incomes.

Most of the 160-plus in attendance were Norway Commons residents, but many live in other areas of town and came out to support their neighbors and preserve mobile home ownership as a means of affordable housing.

At the beginning of this year, Sun Communities, a Michigan-based real estate investment trust corporation owning more than 500 manufactured home and RV parks, notified Norway Commons home owners that it would increase lot rents starting April 1.

In response, residents of the 55-and-over park organized and lobbied town officials to step in and close a loophole in Maine state law that allows park owners to raise rents as often as every three months using formulas with vague, inflated data with no geographic basis.

All who spoke during Monday’s 35-minute town meeting voiced support for the moratorium.

“I have been following this very closely,” said Sally Holt. “I am very concerned. I want you all to stay in your homes and with your neighbors … with everything you need. I am going to vote for this moratorium and I encourage the selectmen to get on this (ordinance). Every day that these people wake up, I imagine they’re shaking about what will happen after 180 days? I support you, I am here for you, and thank you to the selectmen for supporting and pushing this moratorium forward.”

Resident Lloyd Green said that as a recent widower, he worries about the rent hikes eating away at his income.

“My daughter, she wants me to move out of here,” he said, “but this is my home.”

Gale Ward moved into his home in 2025 and said rent increases are just one way that Norway Commons residents are not getting their money’s worth. When he closed on his mobile home purchase he was told his monthly lot rent would cost $50 more than it had been advertised for. Then they told him it would increase by another $32 a month.

“That’s (in) less than a year,” he said. “On top of that, our amenities aren’t very amenable. We don’t get trash service and we pay for our own water and sewer. It’s all extra and it’s not right. They’re supposed to supply the water. But half the time we don’t even have water pressure at the top of the hill. The fire hydrant is halfway down the hill. If we have a fire they’ll have to bring pumped water in.”

With the moratorium in place, town officials will next tackle a permanent ordinance meant to improve on a lot rent regulatory law, LD 1923, passed last year by the Maine Legislature.

Other towns including Jay, Waterville, Lewiston, Auburn, Saco and Sanford are undertaking similar actions to address rent increases that have spiked in recent years.

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