In search of help

Hi Folks,

I am looking for advice for a family member who resides on a Mobile home park in England. I live in Canada, but recently visited my family and was rather shocked and confused about some of the circumstances surrounding living on a park site.
My mother has been told to fix up her unit. I agree, it needs work, so I sought advice from the site owner to see what could be done, within my mother's limited funds. She is very much a senior, lives on a minimal income (what senior doesn't these days!), and due to her age is only capable of doing a certain amount of work.
The answer I got was to spend literally THOUSANDS of pounds, and given specific numbers of contractors willing to do the work... obviously at a premium.
I also found out from my mother (who has never told me any of this info before... she strives so hard to be independent, bless her), that monies for fuel bills such as electric and gas are collected by the site owner. My first reaction was "how do you know they're not skimming off the top", her reply was they were caught once, and money had to be given back to the residents... hhhrrrmm, is this normal?
Any info/advice etc on how this would normally work, and my mother's rights would be greatly appreciated. The site owner was rude enough to tell me to apply for a council house for my mother.
Im feeling that she is not welcome on this site, and I want to do everything within my power to protect her rights.

Thankyou in advance

Chrissy

Hello Chrissy, sorry to hear your elderly Mum is having problems with a difficult site owner, there are a few about unfortunately. Living abroad make the situation harder for you to offer help and increases your worries too.

First off, Electricity/water/ gas can only be re-sold at the price the site owner has to pay for it plus he is entitled to charge a small administration charge (about £5 per quarter).  There are laws governing the re-selling of gas/elec and water. If the residents suspect they are being ripped off, they must ask the site owner for a copy of the orginal bill he receives, he is duty bound to give them a copy, although don't hold your breath if he decides to be difficult about it!

Regarding work to be done to upgrade your mother's home; she is entitled to get her own quote from a reputable refurbishemnt company and discusss with them just how much work really needs to be done to bring her home up to date and then decide for herself what is really necessary.  Your mum should also ask the site owner just what he considers needs doing to satisfy him, try to get this in writing as his idea of what is needed may not actually be based on facts, rather that he is trying to get her off site so that he can re-develop her plot, sell a nice new home on it and make a vast profit!

Does the site have a Qualifying Residents' Association?  If so they should be able to help her negotiate with this unpleasant site owner or she could go to the local CAB. Look up Residential Property Tribunals as most disputes on sites are now dealt with by them rather thamn courts.

I suspect that your mum is being intimidated and being elderly it is hard for her to stand her ground, this seems to happen far too often on some sites.  There are some very good site owners but these unscrupulous ones are blackening the industry's name and spoiling life for far too many people.  I really hope you can get some help for your mum soon.

I'm sure Editor will also have some helpful advise for you.

Great advice so far, thankyou!
I have another question, what is the difference between a home on a site like this, where they sell for £100,000 or more, and one that you can buy prebuilt, I've seen them for as low as £7,000.
The site owner insisted that these were holiday homes, but minus central heating and some plumbing into the ground they look exactly the same. Seems a ripoff to me. I wanted to ask what it would cost to have my Mom's old van moved, and a new one in place, he wouldn't answer.
I'll ask her if there's a Qualifying Resident's Association. Not sure what CAB stands for.
I know my Mom is being intimidated, she has never been one to stand up for herself.
I find it interesting that he was offering £1000 as 'an act of goodwill' to tear down her van....
The more I think about the conversation, the less I agree that he was being 'kind' to her by letting her stay there. She does own the van outright, and has paid her rent and bills on time, always.
Thanks again for your help.

Chrissy

CAB stands for Citizens Advice Bureau.  The key to all the problems is to identify just which type of Site Licence the site owner holds, contact your Mum's local Council's Environmental department, they will be able to tell you.  He may have both a Residential licence and also a holiday one.  Your Mum's home, hopefully will be a residential one,she has more legal rights on a residential site. If the site is in a poor state you must ask the council to send an inspector to identify the problems and they should discuss with the site owner suitable improvements to bring the site up to the licence conditions.  A site licence should, by law, be on display although I imagine this is unlikely there.

Offering your Mum £1000 for her home is a common scam to try to get people off so that the owner can site a large, expensive new home and make a huge profit. Pre-sited homes, or second hand homes are obviously cheaper, although ones at £7000 are likely to be either very old homes or ones that are only on sites licenced as holiday homes. A lot depends on whereabouts in the country they are sited, obviously some areas/sites are more desirable than others.

Follow this link for a bit more help  http://www.parkhome-living.co.uk/images/stories/PDFs/park-home-factsheet-residents-rights.pdf

Hope this helps a bit.