Residents of a large mobile home park in Gorham are hoping a town ordinance update will protect them from excessive rent increases after their recent efforts to purchase the park failed.

Homeowners at Friendly Village organized last spring to buy their 302-lot park after learning the owners were planning to sell it, along with seven other parks across four states, to an out-of-state investment firm.

But Dawn Beaulieu, president of the board for the Friendly Village Cooperative, which was formed as part of the attempt to purchase the park, said Monday that residents made three offers above the listed price of $22 million. Each was rejected by the owners — two New Hampshire families who said they would not consider less than $29 million.

“We’re not in a position to offer that,” Beaulieu said. “It would increase our lot rents incredibly and we just can’t. That’s more than the residents can pull together.”

A reporter who called the Friendly Village office Monday seeking an interview about the sale was directed to contact Baldwin Investments in New Hampshire. A voicemail message left for the company Monday was not returned.

Residents at some mobile home parks across Maine have been able to successfully organize to purchase their parks as they’ve gone up for sale, allowing them to avoid falling under the ownership of out-of-state investors. In Maine and around the country, those deals have often resulted in rising rents, often without improved services or infrastructure investments.

A new law passed by legislators and signed by Gov. Janet Mills last spring will make it easier going forward for residents to purchase parks by giving them the “right of first refusal” when their parks go up for sale. That law won’t take effect until Sept. 24.

If residents in Gorham are unable to purchase Friendly Village, Beaulieu said they are hoping the town might be able to help protect them against the possibility of excessive rent increases.

The Gorham Town Council voted Aug. 5 to instruct staff to work with its Ordinance Committee on updates to its mobile home park ordinance, something Council Chair Suzanne Phillips said hasn’t happened since 1987.

The order approved by the council specifically calls for consideration of restrictions on excessive increases in rent and fees and ensuring that landlords invest in proper maintenance of property infrastructure. Phillips said the committee is expected to conduct its review over the next few months and will report back to the full council.

“We feel it’s important to update the rules and regulations for our mobile home parks, and if we can do anything about rent increases and making it affordable, that’s important too,” she said.

At Friendly Village, Beaulieu said residents are hoping an ordinance update could protect them from excessive rent increases that could come under a new owner.

Other communities around Maine have already passed or are looking at restrictions on rent increases at mobile home and manufactured housing parks, including Old Orchard Beach, Waterville and Sanford.

“We have a lot of senior citizens, a lot of people living on fixed incomes off Social Security,” Beaulieu said. “And they’re in panic mode because if the lot rent is jacked up $100 or $200 per month, they don’t know what they’re going to do.”