Park Homes

One of my longest campaigns has been to fight for improved rights for residents on Park Home sites.

Whilst the majority of sites are well run there have unfortunately been too many instances of Park Home residents being mistreated, victimised and in some cases unlawfully deprived of their property by a minority of unscrupulous site owners.

The good news is that due to the hard work of many in Parliament the Mobile Homes Act is now in place. The Act provides Park Home residents with key protections.

n Pitch fees — a Park Home site owner can now only vary pitch fees annually and in agreement with the residents on the site. Where agreement cannot be reached the owner must take the matter to an independent tribunal.

n Protections when selling — the Act removes the requirement for a person selling a Park Home to receive the approval by the Park Home site owner of the new purchaser. Also, site rules that interfere with the ability of a Park Home resident to sell their property are outlawed.

n Compliance with site licences — from April local authorities will have the power to charge Park Home site owners for their site licences. They will be able to require site owners to carry out necessary works and those guilty of non-compliance will face potentially unlimited fines.

The Mobile Homes Act is now up and running and I have written to a number of Park Home residents in my constituency to ensure they know their rights. I am especially thankful to Peter Mallaband at New Park and to the Buckingham Orchard Residents and Community Association for their assistance with this.

If you would like more information please do get in touch via my website http://www.melstridemp.com">www.melstridemp.com I will be very happy to help where I can.