Claim explain in “Plain English” the Amendments to the Mobile Home Act 1983 which became law on 1st October 2006. Although at first glance the information contained within these Fact Sheets may appear to set out residents rights and obligations, in practice, much of the information is at least misleading. But by far the worst aspect is the fact that any information on the legislation which gives residents rights is totally worthless because the Government have not backed it up, For the resident there is NO POWER OF ENFORCEMENT. In PHRAA’s view these Fact Sheets have been aimed primarily at those considering buying park homes in a bid to convince them that they have the full protection from the law. Disillusioned and desperate existing residents imprisoned in their homes by unscrupulous park owners will already know they are worthless.
“As the Factsheets will be the nearest the majority of park home occupiers will ever get to the legislation, it is regrettable that a number of the assertions made are either incorrect or highly confusing”. Comment by Graham Watts LL.B LL.M. Published in Park Home & Holiday Caravan magazine July 2009.
Anyone wishing to obtain copies of these 4 Fact Sheets entitled….. Residents Rights and Obligations, Selling a Park Home, Qualifying Residents Association, Pitch Fees and other Payments to the Site Owner, see….www. communities.gov.uk or call 030 0123 1124 or write to: Communities and Local Government, Leasehold and Park Homes, Zone: 1/C3 Eland House, Bressenden Place, London. SW1E 5DD. I should mention that when PHRAA applied to obtain copies we were told that copies were strictly restricted to 20 copies of each. Hardly enough to satisfy the needs of the average park residents association.???? If the Government were really serious about improving the rights of park homeowners they would legislate that each of these so called Fact Sheets and every park home in the country carried a prominent Warning Notice stating that “BUYING A PARK HOME COULD SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS.!!!!!!” MORE ON THE GOVERNMENT FACT SHEETS ON THE PHRAA WEBSITE. Ron.
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IF PARK HOME LIFE IS AS IDYLLIC AS THEYWOULD HAVE US BELIEVE, WHY IS IT THAT THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR PRODUCING THIS GLORIFIED PROPOGANDA DON’T LIVE IN THEM?????
It is probably a safe bet that most park homeowners will have been persuaded to buy a park home by the enthusiastic salesperson capitalising on the overwhelming amount of advertising, glowing articles in the specialist magazines, newspapers, TV and Radio features all glamorising the park home life and telling the reader how much they would benefit, financially and health wise during their Autumn years, if they sold their bricks and mortar and purchased a park home. Then we have Government Ministers, including their Civil Servant advisors in the Department of Communities, even some MP,s. Add to these the Director Generals and the very well paid underlings of the park home industry trade organisations, BH&HPA and NPHC, most Park Owners especially the Unscrupulous variety. Not forgetting the very “clever” specialist legal companies raking in a very lucrative income by advising their park home industry clients on the most efficient method of parting the innocent and vulnerable from their life savings and homes after they have bled them dry.
But if this park home lifestyle is absolute paradise and as wonderful and desirable as they make it out to be, why is it that none of them, except perhaps for the odd park owner, actually live, would even entertain living in, or have ever lived in park homes? Surely if the park home lifestyle is as perfect, economical and worry free as portrayed, then would they not be falling over themselves to snap up all available park homes leaving none left for the ordinary person to purchase? The fact that this is not happening says it all does it not? Could it be that the reality of what they claim is too good to be true????? The glorified advertising frequently uses a quote claimed to have been made by a satisfied park homeowner who has just moved in to a brand new park home which goes….. “If I’d known it was as good as this we would have done it years ago”. The distressed lament from the park homeowners that contact PHRAA every day have a different quote….. IF I’d have known then what we know now, we would never have bought a park home”? or as one very relieved potential buyer of a park home stated in an email to PHRAA thanking them for the information on their website…..“My wife has stated that she would rather live in a touring caravan as an “old age traveller” than be at the mercy of such disreputable, money grabbing people”. What do you think??? Ron
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ARBITRATION SCHEME.
You may be wondering what has happened regarding the Governments proposal to bring Park Home Disputes under the Mobile Homes Act 1983/2006 into the jurisdiction of the Residential Property Tribunals (RPT;s) instead of the Courts, which was scheduled to come into effect in summer 2009. We understand that the Government have encountered certain problems and a further period of consultation has become necessary and a new consultation document dated May 2009 issued to the interested parties. PHRAA has learnt that reasons for this Government action is because…. Page 7 Part one of the Government Response to the Consultation Paper: “A new approach for resolving disputes and to proceedings relating to Park Homes under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (as amended)” Summary of Responses.
“A number of respondents raised queries in relation to how a proposed transfer of jurisdoction to either Residential Property Tribunals (RTP’s) or a dedicated tribunal would work in practice. As a result a number of resondents gave qualified support or opposed the proposal. Specific concerns were raised by Gypsy and Traveller stakeholders in response to both the May and September consdultations. The equality impact assessment sets out the measures that will be put in place to mitigate or eliminate any potential disadvantage that some Gypsies and Travellers might encounter by a transfer of dispute resolution to tribunals. If you wish to obtain a copy of this May 2009 Consultation Paper it is available free of charge from Communities and Local Governent Publications. 0300 123 1124 or email
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Very enlightening and well worth a read. Ron
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UPDATE ON POLICE INVOLVEMENT.
Following the dedicated work by Detective Inspector Mark Colquon and his colleagues at West Mercia Police which resulted in a park owner and his bully boy cronies being sentenced to many years jail following their onviction for arson and fraud as reported in the Autumn 2008 news letter and in more detail on the PHRAA website, we had hoped to report that park homeowners suffering harassment etc., at the hands of their unscrupulous park owner, would have received a more positive response to their complaint from their local Police Officers. Unfortunately, it appears that nothing much has changed. We were encouraged by the fact that the Minister for Police and Security at that time, Mr. Vernon Coker MP attended a Working Party Meeting at Westminster and promised that he would do his best to make Police Forces across the country aware of park homeowners problems and take complaints more seriously. Ron, your PHRAA representative at the meeting emphasised to the Minister that by calling the Police only to be told that they can do nothing to help as they claim it is a civil matter, leaving the already devastated resident/s to face the terrifying backlash from the enraged UPO, who now knows he can commit as many acts of intimidation, harassment, abuse and bullying of his helpless victims, with absolutely nothing whatsoever to fear from the law. Unfortunately for park home residents it seems nothing has changed. Police Forces around the country are still regarding complaints from homeowners as a civil matter and taking no action. To illustrate this point I quote just one example whereby a UPO’s son delivered a tirade of abuse consisting of the most extreme foul language imaginable, finishing off by spitting in the terrified lady residents face. Although the lady actually kept a sample of the spit which she offered to the Police as a DNA sample, the Police Officer then said that the offence must be repeated at least a further 3 times before he could take any action. It seems that even actual assault is permitted against the park homeowner. It is no wonder that many park homeowners regard themselves as SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. I HOPE THIS GOVERNMENT IS PROUD OF ITSELF. IT IS THEY WHO CREATED THIS OUTRAGEOUS PARK HOME LEGISLATION THAT EFFECTIVELY PUTS UNSCRUPULOUS PARK OWNERS TOTALLY ABOVE THE LAW AND ABSOLUTELY FREE TO EXPLOIT POTENTIALLY 250,000 PLUS, ELDERLY AND DEFENSELESS PARK HOMEOWNERS.. I REPEAT I HOPE THIS GOVERNMENT IS PROUD OF ITSELF. Ron.
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HAVE YOU BENEFITED FROM THE NEW 2006 LEGISLATION?
Any long suffering Park Homeowner reading or listening too, statements from the Government, the Industry, Park Home Trade Organisations even certain other National Residents Associations stating how much better protected we are against the exploitation from the unscrupulous park owners, must wonder if they are living on the same planet as those issuing such statements. In a bid to find any park home residents who (a)….. are actually aware that the new legislation exists? (b)….. Now feel more secure ? and ©….. Have felt the benefit of the new legislation in any other way? PHRAA invites you and/or your fellow residents, friends etc, PHRAA members or not, to send us your verdict. ….Your views will be treated in confidence if you wish.
WHAT BENEFIT DO WE PARK HOMEOWNERS GET FROM PAYING COUNCIL TAX.?????
The most frequent questions we at PHRAA are asked by distraught park homeowners during the course of our work is what do we pay Council Tax for? We get nothing for it except the bins empted? We are already paying the site owner a very high fee for our roads, lights and services, therefore does it mean that by paying for it again in Council Tax we are paying twice for the same thing? If we approach the Council, as the Licensing Authority, for help regarding taking the necessary action against the site owner to ensure that he complies with the Conditions of the Site Licence, we are usually told that there is nothing they can do. Even the most serious breaches of site licence conditions committed by the unscrupulous park owner which are having a disastrous effect on the helpless park residents lives are totally ignored. When some Local Council Officers do actually conduct an inspection of the park, pot holes in roads, lack of street lights, flooding problems, etc etc., are carefully ignored so not to upset the park owner. The only exception to this usual course of action by Council Officers is when a complaint alleging a minor breach is brought by the park owner against an elderly resident who he wants to get off his park. Instead of the response period being possibly several weeks (if at all) in the case of a residents complaints, where the complaint is made by the park owner, scorch marks from the council officers smoking tyres are left on the council office car park, in their haste to confront the helpless resident backed up by their bringing down the whole might of the law enforcement upon the head of that unfortunate and, very often totally, innocent resident/s. THIS ISWHEN PARK HOMEOWNERS REALISE THAT NOW THEY HAVE INVESTED THEIR LIFE SAVINGS IN BUYING A PARK HOME THEY HAVE BECOME SECOND CLASS CITIZENS!!!!
Another vital service denied to park homeowners but freely available and on call to every other citizen of this country is the reasurance that if your right to live your life is violated in any way, you can call on the Police and expect protection from the law. As already mentioned earlier in this newsletter, this protection is not available to park home residents. Not only are we SECOND CLASS CITIZENS we are also abandoned by the Police. Is it any wonder that many park homowners openly state that they are prisoners in their own homes living in PRISON CAMPS FOR PENSIONERS.
This Government also insist that Park/Mobile Homes continue to conform tio the definition of a CARAVAN which must remain (mobile) capable of being moved from place to place at all times. AS Park Mobile Homes are classed as CARAVANS, sited on CARAVAN SITES and subject to CARAVAN SITE REGULATIONS, it must surely mean that we park homeowners are classed as CARAVAN DWELLERS? As park homeowners receive very little benefit from paying Council Tax, SHOULD WE REALLY BE PAYING COUNCIL TAX AT ALL????? YOUR VIEWS PLEASE Ron.
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EXCEPT FOR PHRAA, WHO ELSE CARES ABOUT THE FATE OF PARK HOMEOWNERS.
Certainly not the Government who continue to bring in park owner biased legislation which only serves to further strenghten the almighty power the Unscrupulous Park Owner holds over his helpless victims. Certainly not the industries (park owners) trade organisations and their “clever” legal teams employed to crush any resistance shown by a few brave residents fighting against oppression. Even certain other National Residents Associations who besides being so far up the backside of the industry they have not seen daylight for years, also urge park owners to become members of their organisation. PHRAA is the only NATIONAL PARK HOME RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION willing to stick its head above the parapet and FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL PARK HOME OWNERS TO A FAIR DEAL. PHRAA IS ALSO THE ONLY NRA WITH THE GUTS “TO TELL IT AS IT IS“. PHRAA WORKS EXCLUSIVELY FOR PARK HOMEOWNERS. BY JOINING PHRAA HELP PHRAA TO HELP YOU. TOGETHER WE WILL WIN. Ron.
L.P.G. IS O.T.T.
When you have a government regulator that sets itself up, at taxpayers expense, to regulate the gas industry, but their remit is to ignore the liquefied form, you smell a rat. Talking of which, I recall a certain MP in the cash for questions era, being exposed in a national newspaper, the subject of which was gas supplies on holiday parks.
More recently this alliance, through a Freedom of Information Act request, obtained a wad of documents associated with the relationship between the regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM)and the park and holiday home industry. You will not be surprised to learn that the same thick pen that obliterated the most disturbing extracts of MP’s expenses, had earlier been hard at work on the documents we eventually received! What neither party don’t want you to know, covers the most significant area; sufficient, of course for us to put two and two together.
What that equals is a guarantee of Over the Top (O.T.T.) prices all round. Although Calor, for example, and to be fair, do produce a somewhat elusive Recommended Maximum Prices leaflet, can you imagine many of this bunch abiding by it? But they’re not the only ones manipulating prices, as I discovered when visiting a supplier who once supplied a local park, and offered a bulk discount for park residents. Sadly, they transferred their customer base to another supplier some years ago, who raised the prices sharply. But here’s the interesting bit. A recent survey carried out by us, discovered the first firm are now once again delivering gas in the same areas. But instead of them obtaining their supplies direct, they obtain them from the very same firm that took their business several years ago! Although, upon request for a price for a given sized container, both suppliers offered identical prices, further questioning revealed the former provider, now added a £10 delivery charge, whereas the other same priced bottle included delivery! Thus, in reality, a £10 increase in price between two local suppliers, and an even greater profit.
This is a classic example of how, at first sight, things look equal, it’s not until one delves deeper, that the real truth is a far cry from what it first seems. Which is why we’re so angry at the incessant and misleading media claims that park home living is cheaper than bricks and mortar, when editors and journalists alike deliberately deceive their readers simply by refusing to compare like with like on equal terms Colin
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SHORT MEMORIES.
Yet again, as a visitor to the “Drain ‘em dry; before they die” exhibition in London recently, not one park operator “remembered” to bring along a specimen copy of their Written Statements. No sign of the two and a half year old “new” (April 09) quartet of “must Have” government booklets to turn your stomach - such as denying wives the right to vote, is one of Labour’s offerings therein! Colin
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AUCTION FOLLY?
And if you felt you offered a bit too much in the heat of the moment for your dream home or plot in the recently reported experimental auction, we wonder whether bidders were first made aware of the legal aspect of occupying the home or plot? Hopefully, you got a bargain……. We’d be pleased to know the full story, and whether this form of purchase was right for you in the end. Colin
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Malcolms Meditations. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS?????
I have a problem that perhaps readers could have a solution for me? With all the problems that keep coming in from all; over the UK., from those who live in Mobile/Park Homes, why does it seem that the tabloid press and their journalists do not want to print anything that may be adverse to the industry.
There may be a little cutting here and there in a local paper, but nothing in the national press in spite of many letters from desperate and distraught park homeowners to these national papers. Therefore, I ask the question, WHY NOT? Does it not strike you as rather odd that the press can print large articles which maybe of no significance to a lot of people, but when asked to write a story on the rapidly multiplying number of reported examples of the carefully concealed incidents of barbaric exploitation practised everyday against an ever growing number of terrified park homeowners who are mainly the elderly, frail and most vulnerable members of our society therefore the least able to fight back, the answer is NO! A recent media release by the West Mercia Police Force highlighting horrifying incidents of Arson, Conspiracy and Blackmail against homeowners by the parks unscrupulous park owners which resulted in the accused being sentenced to a total of 64 years never made it into any of the national press that I have read. So I beg the question again. WHY NOT? Has anyone else encountered the same problem? I would be interested to know. Do you think there is a block on the subject? Who is suppressing the news? I thought we had freedom of the press. Malcolm.
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Postscript to the above…….
We are sure that most of the answer to Malcolms question is clearly set out in a statement from the British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BH&HPA) contained within the pages of their Journal dated January- February 2008, issue 129, page 63 boasting to its members, (park Owners) that that organisation controls the press and the media where information regarding the park home industry is concerned. I quote……. “The year once again saw the popularity of park home living reflected in the media. Many national and regional newspapers carried reports about the boom in the park home prices, and the reasons why ever-growing numbers of people now prefer the none-brick option. “
“ The Daily Mail, Daily Express, Guardian, Times and Mirror all featured stories about the advantages of park living, and spoke to residents who painted a glowing picture of their relaxed and comfortable lifestyles.” Were these residents having just moved in , been carefully selected for interview by the park owner and BH&HPA I wonder?? Be interesting to find out if those same residents are still as enthusiastic having now sampled their first year of park home life???? “Residential parks also featured in television reports on the radio, and in the national press property supplements”. The government insist that Park/ Mobile Homes remain classified in law as Caravans, stationed on Caravan Sites and in order to comply with their definition as a caravan they must remain capable of being towed from place to place, in common with a caravan you put a horse in front of, (Check with your local Council or the Government if you don’t believe me). As this means that these homes are “Chattel” they therefore cannot be classed as property in the usual meaning of the word and therefore articles referring to park/mobile homes as property could be misleading????? The Daily Telegraph property editor (see what I mean) even followed a park home from the factory to its eventual resting place on a BH&HPA members park, and interviewed the “fortunate “ couple who were its new owners,” Wonder if they still feel so fortunate now after the first 12 months or so occupation., if they are not desperately now trying to sell that is????? Helping the Telegraph writer plan his piece was BH&HPA’s press office. The Association is often the first port of call for journalists preparing such articles, and BH&HPA works proactively to encourage Media reports on the industry. Sometimes park homes themselves make the news. For example earlier this year Tingdene hit the headlines when it unveiled what may well be the industry’s first two storey park home”. End of quote. Judging from the total lack of response or even the slightest interest shown by these same newspapers when PHRAA or distressed residents who are suffering harassment, bullying and being generally ripped off by the ever growing numbers of unscrupulous park owners that have infested this industry with the blessing of government, the BH&HPA & Co are extremely proactive in making sure that news of this sort never makes it into print. A perfect example is the suppression of the horrific arson etc., attacks on park homeowners homes mentioned earlier in this newsletter. We also note that no mention is made of the “You and Yours”, Face the Fact and several regional Inside Out and Watchdog programmes, all of which only PHRAA, out of the National Residents Associations has the guts to supply information for, assist and appear in the making of, exposing the rogue elements of this industry. In fact PHRAA is the only National Residents Association willing and able to provide, via our Website full, comprehensive and accurate information on the current minefield situation for park home residents and those contemplating buying. PHRAA is the only National Residents Association not up the backside of the industry. PHRAA “TELLS IT AS IT IS”. 128, 000 hits and growing daily. Are all those viewers wrong ? PHRAA is also Proud to be linked up with CoMOC-CAL , a sister National Park Homeowners Association, in the USA. PHJRAA. FIGHTING FOR YOU! Ron 2009.
