The number of joint venture sites.

No definition available.

Name:	els_NumberOfJointVentureSites
Namespace Prefix:	els_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Proceeds from Equity Investment, Distributions, amount in excess of basis

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	els_ProceedsfromEquityInvestmentDistributionsamountinexcessofbasis
Namespace Prefix:	els_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Proceeds from Equity Investment, Distributions, including those in excess of basis

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	els_ProceedsfromEquityInvestmentDistributionsincludingthoseinexcessofbasis
Namespace Prefix:	els_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=114001798&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EquityMethodInvestmentOwnershipPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	invest_InvestmentAxis=els_CrosswindsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=els_RecreationalVehicleResortMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	invest_InvestmentAxis=els_VoyagerMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=els_ServicingAssetsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Investment in Unconsolidated Joint Ventures - Additional Information (Detail)	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) joint_venture_site	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019 site
Schedule of Equity Method Investments
Number of sites	2			5,941
Economic interest (in percentage)			65.00%
Income from distribution made to us	$ 7,200,000	$ 1,800,000
Distributions, including those in excess of basis	$ 2,700,000	$ 0
Crosswinds
Schedule of Equity Method Investments
Economic interest (in percentage)			49.00%
Recreational Vehicle Resort \| Voyager
Schedule of Equity Method Investments
Economic interest (in percentage)			50.00%
Servicing Assets \| Voyager
Schedule of Equity Method Investments
Economic interest (in percentage)			33.00%