Fiona Bruce MP welcomes new rights for park home residents
New rights giving park home residents the protection they need from unscrupulous site owners come into force this week.
Park homes offer many people an affordable opportunity to escape to the country, but some dishonest park home operators abuse their position to make a profit at their residents’ expense. In some cases, site owners have lied to prospective purchasers about the conditions of homes and even dug holes around homes to make them unsaleable.
The new laws will make these underhand tactics a thing of the past. The rules will:
- remove site owners from the park home buying and selling process, meaning that residents cannot be forced to, or prevented from, selling their park homes to fill the landlord’s pocket;
- make it harder to impose unexpected charges or changes of rules; and
- give local authorities more power to enforce breaches, making it easier to prosecute a site owner who harasses residents.
The Government has also launched a new national helpline, operated by the Leasehold Advisory Service, for residents to get advice on their rights when selling or gifting their home.
Commenting, Fiona Bruce said:
‘I’m delighted that the Government is safeguarding park home residents. For too long, some unscrupulous operators have made residents’ lives a misery, intimidating people and manipulating the rules to turn a quick profit.
‘These new protections will close the loopholes to root out the rogue operators and ensure those who run an honest business will continue to flourish. Councils will also now have the powers to protect the vulnerable, so park home residents will be able to enjoy their rural retreats in peace.’
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITOR
- The Mobile Homes Act 2013 gives more rights to people who live in a park home on a residential pitch. Changes include:
o a modern reformed local authority licensing regime for park home sites, to ensure local authority are properly funded for exercising their powers and have sufficient tools for enforcement action;
o a new regime for selling and purchasing park homes, which excludes the need to seek the approval of the site owner;
o certain site rules to be banned and all remaining rules to be re-made in consultation with residents, to prevent site rules being used inappropriately to block sales etc.;
o reform to the pitch fee review process to ensure greater transparency and reduce the opportunity for exploitation; and
o changes to the criminal law (relating to park homes) to make harassment easier to prove and to create an offence of providing false information when a home is sold (DCLG Press Release, 28 May 2013, link).
- There are approximately 85,000 owner occupied mobile homes (commonly known as ‘park homes’) on 2,000 sites in England (ibid.).
- A new Park Homes advice line, run by the Leasehold Advisory Service is available on 0207 383 9800 (ibid.).
