Trailer parks face rising rents. This one's residents found a way out.

Diane Buchanan was headed out her door to an evening church service when she heard the news. “The park is sold,” a worried resident told her.

The park is Meadowbrook, an over-55s community of mobile homes where Ms. Buchanan, a retired bookkeeper, has lived for 18 years. Like other homeowners, she paid a monthly rent to the family-owned company that built the park in the 1970s. Now the family had written to the residents to inform them of a pending $8.25 million sale to an outside investor.

By the time Buchanan got the letter dated May 17 there was rising panic among neighbors over the news. Trailer parks have become popular investments, and a new owner would likely seek to make a higher return. That could mean higher rents, which would squeeze out low-income residents, or even the demolition of the park to make way for more profitable properties.  

“I read it and I said, the park isn’t sold yet,” says Buchanan. “It was a proposal.”

Under Massachusetts law, the residents

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