Park and mobile home residents will get more protection from rogue site owners and get easier access to justice if they have a dispute with their site owner under new proposals published by the Government.
The proposals aim to make sure that the 200,000 park home residents across the country have reputable licensed site owners or managers and are able to easily challenge them on issues such as pitch fee increases, without having to go through the costly courts system.
Park home residents and others in the sector are being asked for their views in a 12 week consultation, ending in August 2009, on an improved site licensing system, particularly on key areas such as criteria owners or managers should meet and licence conditions.
At the same time, details are being published on making it cheaper, quicker and easier for park home residents to challenge unfair changes, such as excessive pitch fee increases, by giving them access to Residential Property Tribunals. Following an earlier consultation, the aim is to transfer the jurisdiction on appeals and applications under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 from County Courts to Residential Property Tribunals.
Licensing of Park Home Sites is currently governed by the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, but the existing site licensing regime does not meet the full needs of this part of the housing sector.
Authorities in general are obliged to grant licences to anyone owning a park home site, regardless of their suitability, and cannot impose any condition relating to its management. Some sites are, therefore, run by unscrupulous or incompetent persons, and residents' rights and expectations are often not met - some becoming victims of exploitation and intimidation.
This latest consultation builds upon decisions about proposals taken following an earlier consultation in 2005 and sets out for further consideration how the new licensing regime might look. Since the 2005 consultation, there has been ongoing discussions with stakeholders and their representatives about concerns and possible solutions in relation to poor management of some park home sites and unacceptable and, in some cases - illegal, practices of some license holders.
The proposed measures will meet the need to: