Background

The Mobile Homes Act 1983 (the 1983 Act) provides a framework of rights and obligations to park home owners on ‘protected sites’. These are sites that are required to be licensed by the local authority (under Part 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960) and with planning permission that allows for residential homes or a mixture of residential and holiday homes and does not stipulate periods of the year where no home on the site can be occupied.

A ‘park home’ falls within the definition of a caravan for these purposes which means that they are subject to certain size restrictions and must be capable of being moved although they are referred to as ‘mobile homes’ in the legislation.

If you have an agreement to station your park home on a protected site and occupy it as your only or main residence then you will have the benefit of the rights and protections provided by the 1983 Act. 

Implied terms are the minimum rights and obligations that all park home owners in England have. The 1983 Act contains 28 implied terms, covering such areas as security of tenure, dealing with the circumstances in which the agreement can be terminated, your right to sell (or gift) the home, the review of the pitch fee and the other obligations of both the site and home owner.

The current implied terms came into force on 30 April 2011 whether or not the agreement was made after that date and cannot be excluded by any express term in the agreement.

Please see the Park Homes Factsheet produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government which sets out in detail these implied terms under Schedule 1 of the 1983 Act subject to the changes made by the Mobile Homes Act 2013.

When you come to sell a park home, it is important to remember that the resale value will depend on the location and the condition of the home when you put it up for sale. In addition, the state of the current housing market will have an impact on the resale value.

If you are selling a park home it is also important to remember that the park site owner is entitled to receive a commission on the sale of the home at a rate not exceeding 10% of the sale price.

For instance, if you sell your park home for £200,000, you will receive only £180,000 from the purchaser, who must pay the £20,000 balance to the site owner.