Park Homes: Know Know Your Rights

Since our elections to Exeter City Council (in September 2010 and May 2011 respectively), Cllr Heather Morris and I have bee championing the rights of residents in park homes

We found that residents at Exonia Park in our Cowick ward felt neglected, even though living in a mobile home comes with many special problems.

We have learned all about the specific rules and regulations about selling homes (the site owner can charge up to 10% of the sale price - in practice than means the owner does charge 10% - and the blocking of sales for spurious reasons).

To help deal with some of these concerns that are common across all 4 of Exeter's park home sites (Newport Park, Ringswell Park and Rydons, as well as Exonia Park ), Cllr Morris proposed setting up a Mobile Homes Residents Forum, which she now chairs. The Forum meets 3 times a year and minutes are published on Exeter City Council's website

Following a DCLG consultation document, "Park Homes:  A Better Deal for Mobile Home Owners", Heather, Ben Bradshaw MP, Exeter City Council and Exonia Park Residents Association made many and varied representations to the Communities and Local Government Committee on Park Homes which published its report on 20 June 2012.

As a result, the Government have introduced changes to the law [Mobile Homes Act 2013], the majority of which came into force on 26 May 2013 and these are highlighted in a new publication, "Park Homes: Know Your Rights".

This is such an important document that Exeter Council Leader, Cllr Pete Edwards, has suggested that it should be distributed to all park home residnets.

But in summary, this is how the law has changed:
1) Pitch fees
There are new rules about how site owners review pitch fees and what can be included in the review.
Site owners will have to use a special form (which can be filled in on-line or downloaded from here) to inform residents about this - if they don't use this form, the review is invalid and residents will be entitled to a refund of any new pitch fees they may have paid.

2) Selling or gifting your home
In the past site owners have had a say in who can buy or receive a park home as a gift, and some have made it dfificult for residents to sell their home for its real value.

The new law means that residents no longer need to seek the site owner's approval of the new buy - although, in the case of any mobile homes gifted before 26 My 2013, the site owner will need to know who the new buyer is.

There are a series of documents and forms that make all this easier to understand on the Department of Communities and Local Government website.

3) Site rules
Any site rules that interfere with the sale or gift of a mobile home are banned.

The new Act allows for further Regulations to be drafted. The intenstion of this is to ensure that all park rules are uniform and are deposited with the relevant Local Authority.

With this in mind, other changes about site rules will be announced later in the year.

4)  Local Authority Licensing
From 01 April 2014, Local Authorities will be able to better able to make sure that site owners are complying with the terms of the site licence.

Local Authorities will be able to charge for licensing, require site owners to carry out necessary works and prosecute those who fail to comply. The courts will be able to impose unlimited fines on those found guilty of non-compliance.