Park Home Owners’ Rights and Obligations

As a park home owner, you have certain rights and obligations that differ in important respects from conventional ‘bricks and mortar’ home ownership. This article may help to clarify what those are, if you are already an owner and may help to prepare you if you are thinking of moving into a park home for the first time.

Park home owners’ rights to residence

The first thing you may want to check is that you have the right of residence in the park in which you have your home. A residential park is licensed by the local authority for all year round living. The licence should be prominently displayed by your park owner. It should include things like:

  • How many homes can be in the park
  • Services and amenities
  • Health and safety

This means that your park home must be your primary residential address, where you are registered to pay council tax. This does not affect your rights to own other properties such as holiday homes.

In the unlikely event that your park home is on land which is not covered by a residential licence (some holiday parks, for instance) you and/or your home may be subject to removal.

Pitch fees

When you own a park home, you enter into an agreement with the park owner or management to pay a pitch fee on the land on which your home is sited. If you honour this agreement, you have a right to reside there free of interference.

Your park owner can change the pitch fees no more than once a year and only with your agreement. Reasons to increase the pitch fees include improvements to the services and amenities of the park and an increase in the retail price index (inflation), to give two examples. If there is a dispute about increased pitch fees, you should carry on paying at the old rate while the case is decided in court.

You cannot be evicted in any case, without a court order obtained by your park’s owner.

Inclusive bills

If your services such as electricity are included in your fee, you must also pay these in a timely manner. If you fail to do so, you risk losing your residence.

Park home owners’ obligations: Park rules

Every residential park will have rules that the residents agree to and abide by. These usually include stipulations about the age of residents (usually a minimum age), a policy on the keeping and behaviour of pets and restrictions on the number and types of vehicles you are allowed to keep on the park.

There are some legal restrictions on what these rules can be. For example, the park owner cannot make rules that interfere with your rights to sell or gift your park home to someone else. 

Maintenance

You will be expected to keep your park home in a good condition and your pitch neat and tidy. If you allow your park home or your pitch to fall into disrepair, such that it affects the safety or the attractiveness of the park, you may face eviction.

You may want to bear in mind that the park owner does have rights to enter your pitch to carry out emergency repairs and with 14 days’ notice, to carry out other essential works that affect the safety of the park.

Maintaining your park home is also an obligation or condition of your park home insurance policy. If your home is not properly maintained, you may find that you are unable to make a claim if something fails. See our recent blog post on park home maintenance for some tips.

Selling your park home

You have the right to sell your park home to whomsoever you wish. You do need to give the park owner notice but not to ask permission. They have no right to interfere in this process. You may want to bear in mind the legally imposed park rules however, as any new resident you sell to will need to comply with these.

Your park owner has the right to up to a 10% commission on any sale of your home.

You are under no legal obligation to contract the services of solicitors or surveyors for the sale of your park home but many do find it helpful to do so.

You have the right to gift your park home to a family member who is living with you or leave it to someone in the event of your death. For more information on this see our previous article on selling and gifting your park home.

More information on the rights and obligations of park home owners is available on the government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/park-homes, and do consult a professional if you are unsure of your rights.

This is a marketing article from multi-award-winning Park Home Assist.

Please note that all insurance cover is subject to acceptance of terms and conditions.

To stay up to date with similar topics like this, please like and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. For more information about any of our other insurance products, please choose your product of interest below:

Published – 23/02/24