Chap. 677.          AN   ACT   PROVIDING   FOR   THE   ESTABLISHMENT
AND ADMINISTRATION OF RENT REGULATIONS AND THE CONTROL OF EVICTIONS IN MOBILE HOME PARK ACCOMMODATIONS IN THE CITY OF PITTSFIELD.
Be  it enacted,   etc.,   as  follows:
SECTION 1. The general court finds and declares that a serious public emergency exists in the city of Pittsfield with respect to the housing of a substantial number of the citizens of said city, which emergency has been created by excessive and unwarranted rental increases imposed by certain owners of mobile home parks located therein; that unless mobile home park rents and eviction of tenants are regulated and controlled, such emergency and the further inflationary pressures resulting therefrom will produce serious threats to the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Pittsfield, particularly the elderly; that such emergency should be met by the commonwealth immediately and with due regard for the rights and responsibilities of the city of Pittsfield.
SECTION 2. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the city of Pittsfield may, by ordinance, regulate rents for the use and occupancy of mobile home park accommodations in the city, establish a rent board for the purpose of regulating rents, minimum standards for use or occupancy of mobile home park accommodations in the city and evictions of tenants therefrom and may, by ordinance, require registration by owners of mobile home park accommodations, under penalty of perjury, of information relating to such mobile home park accommodations. Such rents, standards and evictions may be regulated by the rent board in order to remove hardships or correct inequities for the benefit of both the owner and the tenants of such mobile home park accommodations. The rent board may make rules and regulations necessary to perform its functions, require registration by owners of mobile home park accommodations, under penalty of perjury, of information relating to the mobile home park accommodations, sue and be sued, compel the attendance of persons and the production of papers and information, and issue appropriate orders which shall be binding on both the owner and tenants of such mobile home park accommodations. Violations of any ordinance adopted pursuant to this act or any order of the rent board shall be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars for each such violation.
SECTION 3.     (a)     In    regulating    such    rents,    the    rent   board
established under section two may make such individual or general adjustments necessary to assure that rents for mobile home park accommodations in the city are established at levels which yield to owners a fair net operating income for such units. Fair net operating income shall be that income which, after the deduction of reasonable operating expenses, will yield a return on the fair market value of the property equal to the debt service rate generally available from institutional first mortgage lenders or such other rates of return as the board, on the basis of evidence presented before it, deems appropriate to the circumstances of the case. The fair market value of the property shall be the assessed valuation of the property or such other valuation as the board, on the basis of evidence presented before it, deems appropriate to the circumstances of the case.
(b) The city in its ordinance or the rent board by regulation may establish further standards and rules consistent with the foregoing.
SECTION 4. The provisions of chapter thirty A of the General Laws shall be applicable to the rent board, established under section two, as if said rent board were an agency of the commonwealth.
SECTION 5. (a) The district court of Berkshire county shall have original jurisdiction, concurrently with the superior court, of all petitions for review brought pursuant to section fourteen of chapter thirty A of the General Laws.
(b) The superior court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this act, and any ordinance adopted thereunder, and may restrain violations thereof.
SECTION 6. The city of Pittsfield may by ordinance regulate the evictions of tenants, and the rent board, established under section two, may issue orders which shall be a defense to an action of summary process for possession and such orders shall be reviewable pursuant to sections three and four.
SECTION  7.     The    personnel    of    the    rent    board    established
under    section    two    shall    not    be    subject   to    the   provisions    of
section nine A   of chapter thirty or chapter   thirty-one of the General Laws.
SECTION 8. If any provision of this act or the application of such provision to any person or circumstances shall be held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this act and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
SECTION 9.     This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved December 22,   1981 .