(a) An owner of a mobilehome park who obtains a final money judgment for unpaid rent against the registered owner of a manufactured home or mobilehome registered with the department may, subject to subdivision (b), perfect a lien against the manufactured home or mobilehome pursuant to Section 18080.7 by filing a form prescribed by the department. The priority of the lien shall be determined in accordance with Article 3 (commencing with Section 18085) and Article 4 (commencing with Section 18098). For purposes of a sale conducted pursuant to Section 18037.5, an owner of a mobilehome park filing a lien pursuant to this section shall be treated as a junior lienholder.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department shall accept, for the purposes of the perfection of a lien pursuant to this section, a certified copy of either the final money judgment or an abstract of the final money judgment in lieu of the certificate of title, registration card, or signatures otherwise required by subdivision (a) of Section 18080.7.
(c) Upon satisfaction of the final money judgment, a lien perfected pursuant to this section shall be released in accordance with Section 18100.5.
(d) A lien created pursuant to this section shall not be subject to execution pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 699.010) of Division 2 of Title 9 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure or in any other manner.
(e) If the final money judgment for unpaid rent against a registered owner covers any portion of the period for which a legal owner or junior lienholder is required to pay past due obligations of the registered owner pursuant to Section 798.56a of the Civil Code, the amount of the lien created by this section shall be reduced by the amount required to be paid by the legal owner or junior lienholder pursuant to Section 798.56a of the Civil Code.
(f) A surrender of ownership interest by the registered owner of a mobilehome or manufactured home to the legal owner shall operate as a matter of law to divest the registered owner of any claim to possession or title to the mobilehome or manufactured home and shall be effective upon acceptance of that surrender by the legal owner. Any judgment lien filed pursuant to this section on a mobilehome or manufactured home that is thereafter surrendered to the legal owner shall be extinguished by any of the following:
(1) If the proceeds of the sale of the surrendered mobilehome or manufactured home by the legal owner to a third party after the surrender is effective are not sufficient to satisfy the amount due to the legal owner by the registered owner under a security agreement, promissory note, or other debt instrument secured by the mobilehome or manufactured home.
(2) If the proceeds of the sale of the surrendered mobilehome or manufactured home by the legal owner to a third party after the surrender is effective are sufficient to satisfy the amount due the legal owner by the registered owner under a security agreement, promissory note, or other debt instrument secured by the mobilehome or manufactured home, but there are no surplus funds available for payment to the junior lienholder.
(3) Upon payment of any surplus proceeds owed to the junior lienholder if the proceeds of the sale of the surrendered mobilehome or manufactured home by the legal owner to a third party after the surrender is effective exceed the amount due to the legal owner from the registered owner under the security agreement, promissory note, or other debt instrument secured by the mobilehome or manufactured home.
(g) The completion of a foreclosure on a mobilehome or manufactured home pursuant to Section 18037.5 shall divest the registered owner of title to the mobilehome or manufactured home by operation of law. The foreclosure shall (A) make any judgment lien created pursuant to this section invalid and unenforceable, and (B) extinguish and bar any levy upon a judgment lien perfected pursuant to this section. Except to the extent that surplus proceeds from the foreclosure sale were paid to the judgment creditor under the judgment lien perfected pursuant to this section, nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to extinguish, satisfy, or reduce in any way the final money judgment owed by the former registered owner for unpaid rent.
(h) If the money judgment has been satisfied and the judgment creditor fails without just cause to comply with Section 18100.5 within 20 days from the date the judgment creditor’s lien is satisfied, the judgment creditor is liable for all damages sustained by reason of that failure and shall also forfeit one hundred dollars ($100) to the person who sustained those damages. In any action to enforce this provision, the court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party. Where the prevailing party is someone other than the judgment creditor, the court shall order the department to remove the lien from the manufactured home or mobilehome record. A copy of the court order may be submitted to the department as evidence that the judgment creditor’s lien has been satisfied.
(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 124, Sec. 57. Effective January 1, 1997.)