Park Home Legislation – your right to improve to move

Recently we were approached by a park home owner on site, who posed a question as to whether improving their home was worth all the bother; this person had decided not to spend money on home improvements due to the old legislation.

The old legislation was in favour of the site operator, whereby they had the right to vet who was buying the home which often resulted in a block of the sale; this would eventually end with the home not meeting the true potential sale value. What would then happen in these cases is the site operator buying the home and replacing it with a brand new home sold for twice the value.  Why spend your money only to loose at the last hurdle.

We were more than happy to offer the following advice.

Residents of mobile home parks in England have been given new rights to protect them from rogue site operators.

A Commons select committee report last year found many residents experienced problems with maintenance, security, written contracts and intimidation.

The new legislation bans site owners from the buying and selling process and gives new powers to prosecute those who harass residents.

You may be interested to learn that there are about 84,000 residential park homes, mostly sited on private estates, on 2,000 sites across England.

As a park home owner on a site we know too well that you have to pay a pitch fee to the site operator, who owns the land and imposes rules and regulations.

There have been many court cases involving residents whose main complaints are:

• Site owners withholding “approval” of the prospective buyer which would in turn force a low-priced sale to the site owners who sell on again to make a profit
• Many problems with maintenance, security or safety standards
• Site owners or managers intimidating home owners

It is all too common to find that old homes have been removed, site owners have replaced them with new homes and sold them on for twice that amount.

The Department for Communities and Local Government have advised that removing site owners from the buying and selling process meant residents could no longer “be forced to, or prevented from, selling their park homes to fill the landlord’s pocket”.

The legislation will also make it harder to impose unexpected charges or changes of rules and it will be easier for councils to prosecute rogue site owners.

Park Home Legislation – your right to improve to move

This has given residents the rights they need and protecting them in law when buying or selling their homes.

So our advise to you is improve to your hearts content, safe in the knowledge that only you will benefit from the sale or improvement of your home and no one else!