Entitled “Do we have to pay a one-off sum on a willed home?” the writers letter stated that their late mother had left her Park Home to the writer and her sister in her will. The writer explained that she planned to buy her sisters share and take up residence in what was now legally her own property. Imagine her shock and horror when informing the park owner of her wish to occupy the home only to find that he was demanding a ‘one off’ payment of £10,000 before he would allow her to move in.
This is just another outrageous example of the absolute power a park owner has over the lives of not only the residents of his park, but their relatives as well. Park Home Law (Mobile Homes Act 1983/2006 ) clearly states that the homeowner can gift their home to a relation or the executors of the will who have the right to sell the home. Should the beneficiary wish to occupy the home, permission has to be obtained from the park owner, but this permission should not be unreasonably withheld. Nowhere in the Act does it state that the park owner has the right to receive any payment from the beneficiary as a condition of giving his approval to the beneficiary to occupy the home. In fact the Act clearly states that the park owner should not receive any payment whatsoever on the gift of a home. The only circumstance where the park owner receives a payment is when the beneficiary sells the home. The park owner is then entitled to receive up to 10% of the sale price payable by the beneficiary (seller) on completion of the sale as is the normal practice where the homeowner sells his home.
As with almost every other aspect of park home law what is laid down, due to the total lack of any power of enforcement, is very different to what actually happens in practice especially where the unscrupulous park owner is concerned. Should a relative, probably s son or daughter, be left a park home in a will and decide they would like to live in it then, they are either faced with having to pay the park owners demand for a large sum of money to obtain his permission to occupy their own property, or face months, even years of expensive and traumatic legal action through the courts, during which time they will have to keep up the ground rent payments and other charges on a home they cannot occupy, to try and obtain their rights. Such action may cost considerably more that the illegal fee demanded by the park owner and with no guarantee of a successful outcome. Whatever the unfortunate beneficiary decides to do with the park home he/she has inherited, whether it be to live in it or sell it, the unscrupulous park owner holds all the aces in a marked pack of cards. He can prevent occupation by the beneficiary and can also by illegally putting off any prospective buyers successfully prevent the home being sold. He will know and take full advantage of the fact that the helpless beneficiary will be responsible for paying to him the ground rent and all other charges due on the home from the day of the deceased homeowners death. The longer the park owner delays the sale, the more desperate the beneficiary will become, until they are left with no option other than court action but to sell the home to him for a pittance.
Most people who sell up their bricks and mortar to buy a park home for their retirement years believe the glowing adverts, which persuade them they are investing in an appreciating asset in which they will be able to spend their Autumn years and still have a valuable asset to leave to their loved ones on their eventual demise, or sell up, relying on the perceived equity in the value of the home to finance their future life should they have to enter sheltered accommodation in later years. It would seem however that entirely due to the never ending greed of the ever growing band of unscrupulous park owners buying up parks at an increasing rate, together with the total absence of enforceable law instead of leaving your nearest and dearest a valuable asset you could be leaving them an inheritance, which will cause them much trouble and expense. Certainly not what you intended or believed.
PHRAA would strongly advise anyone considering the purchase of a park home to employ the services of a competent solicitor conversant in park home law to oversee the transaction and raise this issue with him or contact PHRAA.
If you or any of your fellow park homeowners have fallen victim to this or any other outrageous scam, please let PHRAA know. All information passed to PHRAA will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Stop Press…….. Even before the ink had dried on this warning bulletin when PHRAA received two further separate reports from distraught relatives of deceased park homeowners in a similar position and being held to ransom by unscrupulous park owners, which proves beyond doubt that this outrageous scam is already in widespread use. Please let PHRAA know if you have any information.
IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING A PARK HOME CONSIDER THAT YOUR DREAM OF SOMEDAY LEAVING OR GIFTING YOUR PARK HOME AS VALUABLE ASSET TO YOUR NEAREST AND DEAREST MAY WELL IN REALLITY BECOME A MILLSTONE ROUND THEIR KNECKS.
Compiled for PHRAA by Ron Joyce, General Secretary. May 2007.
