Mobile Home Park Insurance: Why Standard Carriers Say No (And Who Says Yes).

Mobile home parks (also called manufactured home communities) are one of the most overlooked specialty asset classes in real estate investor insurance. The risk does not fit standard commercial property templates. Most carriers decline rather than try to underwrite it, which leaves park owners with a small panel of specialty markets and a lot of coverage gaps if they end up with the wrong policy.

Done right, MHP insurance is straightforward. Below is the asset class explained, what coverage matters, what investors get wrong, and which carriers actually write it.

MHP as a unique asset class

A mobile home park has a structure that does not look like anything else in commercial real estate:

• The park owner owns the land and the underlying infrastructure (roads, utilities, common areas).
• Tenants typically own their mobile homes and rent the lot from the park.
• Some parks own a portion of the homes (park-owned units, often rented to tenants who do not own the home).
• Common area structures (clubhouse, laundry, office, pool, playground) are park-owned.
• Utility infrastructure (water lines, sewer lines, electrical pedestals) is park-owned and exposed to wear and weather.

This mix of ownership structures does not fit a standard commercial property form. The park owner's policy needs to cover what the park owns, exclude what tenants own, and address the specific habitational and utility exposures of the asset class.

Coverage you actually need

Property coverage on park-owned structures

Clubhouse, laundry, office, maintenance buildings, gazebos, playground equipment, signs, perimeter fencing, paving. Written at full replacement cost.

Park-owned home coverage (if applicable)

If the park owns and rents some homes (often older units acquired when residents move out), those homes need separate dwelling coverage. Treated as residential rentals on the same policy.

Utility infrastructure coverage

Underground water lines, sewer mains, electrical pedestals, well heads, septic systems, and other park-owned utility infrastructure. Standard property policies often exclude or sublimit these. A park-specific policy includes them as a named coverage with a meaningful limit.

General liability

Premises liability for slip/fall on roads and common areas, dog bite (if the park allows pets), playground injuries, pool incidents (if applicable), and general resident/visitor exposure. Typically $1M to $2M per occurrence. Park size determines whether higher limits make sense.

Habitational liability buy-backs

Standard commercial liability policies often exclude or sublimit:

• Assault and battery (claims against the park for foreseeable third-party violence).
• Sexual abuse and molestation (SAM).
• Communicable disease.

For habitational properties (which mobile home parks are), these exclusions can be added back as endorsements at meaningful limits. We add them by default on MHP policies.

Loss of rents / business income

If a covered loss takes part of the park out of operation, business income coverage pays the lot rent income lost during the repair. For a 100-pad park, that adds up.

Equipment breakdown

Pump systems, well equipment, lift station equipment, common area HVAC. Equipment breakdown pays for mechanical or electrical failure plus resulting damage.

Pollution liability

MHPs have specific environmental exposures: leaking fuel tanks (for park-owned equipment), septic system issues, stormwater discharge concerns. Standard liability excludes pollution. Add it back where appropriate.

Umbrella

$1M to $5M umbrella over the underlying liability is standard for MHPs. The combination of habitational exposure plus large resident populations plus aging infrastructure makes the umbrella one of the highest-value coverages on the policy.

Common areas vs tenant-owned structures

The line between what the park insures and what the tenant insures is critical to set correctly:

Park insures: land, roads, paving, fencing, common area buildings (clubhouse, office, laundry, restrooms), utility infrastructure, signage, lighting, playground equipment, park-owned mobile homes (if any), and the operator's liability.

Tenant insures: their mobile home, their contents, their personal liability. The lot lease should require tenants to carry insurance and name the park as additional insured on their policy.

When the line is unclear (or the lease doesn't require tenant insurance), claims can land on the park's policy that should have been on a tenant policy. We help structure both the insurance program and the lease language to keep this clean.

What investors get wrong

1. Buying a generic commercial property policy. Standard commercial does not address utility infrastructure, habitational liability buy-backs, or the unique tenant-owned home structure.
2. Skipping habitational liability buy-backs. Assault and battery and SAM exclusions on a multi-resident property can be financially catastrophic at claim time.
3. Not addressing utility infrastructure. A sewer collapse or water main break can cost $50K to $200K to repair. Standard policies often exclude.
4. Not requiring tenant insurance. Park leases should require tenants to carry insurance on their own homes. If not, the park gets pulled into claims that should go to the tenant's policy.
5. Underestimating dwelling limits on park-owned homes. Older park-owned homes still cost real money to replace. Underinsurance at claim time is common.

Which carriers write MHPs

The carrier panel is narrow. Specialty carriers that actively write MHP include Markel, Burlington, Capacity Insurance, and certain E&S markets. A few standard commercial carriers retain MHP appetite for larger or institutional-grade parks.

The right carrier depends on:

• Park size (number of pads).
• Park-owned vs tenant-owned home mix.
• Age of infrastructure.
• Location and catastrophe exposure (wildfire, hurricane, hail).
• Prior loss history.
• Occupancy and tenant profile.

What to send us for a quote

• Park address and total acreage.
• Number of pads and current occupancy.
• Number of park-owned homes and their values.
• Common area structures (list with values).
• Utility setup (city water/sewer vs well/septic).
• Year park was developed and year of major infrastructure work.
• Annual gross income (lot rent, home rent, other).
• Prior 5-year claims history.
• Lender details if there is a mortgage.

Common questions