Changes to the Mobile Homes Act
The Caravan and Control of Development Act 1960 requires us to licence sites that have gained or are in the process of obtaining the required planning permission to operate as a recognised caravan, mobile home or park home site. These sites are commonly known as ‘relevant protected sites’.
The Government passed the Mobile Homes Act 2013 which is designed to give greater protection to occupiers of residential caravan and mobile homes.
Changes to the sale or gifting of Park Homes and site rules
Legislation introduced changes to the sale/gifting of park homes and amendments to existing implied terms relating to the annual pitch fee review procedure on parks. In addition to this it is intended that existing site rules will eventually be replaced with new site rules to be deposited with the Local Authority.
The site owner may set site rules on residential caravan sites. The Council does not enforce these rules, although some rules may be a duplicate of the site licence conditions. The site rules are part of the contract between the home owner and site owner, and supplement the Mobile Homes Act Agreement.
The Council is required to keep and publish a register of site rules. We will update this page when we are notified by site owners that rules are in force. The rules that appear below have been written by the site owners, and not Rutland County Council.
Changes to licensing and the introduction of licence fees
The Mobile Home Act 2013 introduced some important changes to park home site licensing. These changes include the ability for Local Authorities to charge site owners a fee for applying for a site licence, for amendments or transfers of existing licences, and for an annual fee for existing site licenses. Failure to pay the annual fee may eventually lead to the site licence being revoked.
Caravan and/or campsite licence applications
Changes to the enforcement of site licence breaches
Local Authorities are able to serve compliance notices on site owners where site licence conditions are breached. These notices will set out what the site owner needs to do to correct the breaches and the timescales, and the notice will attract a fee. Failure to comply with the notice would be a criminal offence.
Further advice
Further information on the changes introduced by the Mobile Homes Act 2013 can be obtained from the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) website.
The Government has also extended the role of the Leaseholder Advisory Service, so that park home residents can contact them for help and advice. This will be particularly helpful for matters where the Local Authority does not have a role such as site rules, pitch fees or the selling/gifting of park homes.