Also known as: manufactured home · mobile home · modular home
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A structure transportable in one or more sections that meets detailed size thresholds, is built on a permanent chassis, and is designed for use as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation once connected to utilities. The definition expressly encompasses the structure's plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems. In secured transactions law the item qualifies as goods when a security interest attaches.
Monarch Pharmaceuticals extends credit to Miguel Mendoza to purchase a new dwelling unit. Miguel signs a security agreement granting the company an interest in the unit. Because the unit meets the statutory criteria for a manufactured home, it constitutes goods to which the security interest attaches upon Miguel's acquisition of rights in the collateral.
Monarch Pharmaceuticals extends credit to Miguel Mendoza secured by a manufactured home. After default, the secured party obtains a court order and removes the unit from its temporary site. Because the unit meets the statutory criteria for a manufactured home, it remains goods subject to the security interest and the removal is governed by Article 9 remedies.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The statute requires a minimum size of eight feet in width or forty feet in length when traveling, or 320 square feet when erected, plus a permanent chassis and design for dwelling use. Recreational vehicles intended only for temporary vacation use fall outside the definition even if they otherwise resemble mobile homes.
Supporting sources
A manufactured home is goods when it remains personal property at the moment a security interest attaches. Once affixed to land in a manner that satisfies fixture rules under UCC § 9-334, the home may become a fixture, but the statute expressly includes it within goods until that transformation occurs.
Supporting sources
Yes. A purchase-money security interest in a manufactured home that is not inventory may be perfected by notation on a certificate of title or by filing, and special rules under UCC § 9-334(e)(4) and § 9-102(a)(54) govern priority when the home is the primary collateral in a manufactured-home transaction.
Supporting sources
…Court. Edward Soldal and his family resided in their trailer home, which was located on a rented lot in the Willoway Terrace mobile home park in Elk Grove, Illinois. In May 1987, Terrace Properties, the owner of the park, and Margaret Hale, its manager, filed an eviction proceeding against the Soldals in an Illinois state…