pitch fees

Hi All Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

All the residents on our park have received a letter stating that the pitch fee will go up by £6.75 per month which is in line with the RPI , we have a Quilifing Residents Assocoiation on our park so most of  the resident went to a meeting of the QRA to discuss this issue, As half the park are single owner and only have one pension coming in so this is a big increase to them. It was agreed by all at the meeting that the committee of the QRA should have a meeting with the site owner to try and negotiate a lower increase,bearing in mind that on improvement or no maintainace had taken place over the last 5 years or so. This meeting took place, and the site owner stated that they can increase the pitch fee each year by the RPI then charge extra if they expended monies on the park. The committee said that according to the Residents Property Tribunal hand book on pitch fees it stated increase should take into account any benefits or any decrease in benefit on the park ,the site owner would not negotiate so the committee told the site owner that they did not agree with the increase and would advise there members to carry on paying the old rate of pitch fee until the site owner contacts the Residents Property Tribunal so the can decide a fair increase. Have anybody had dealings with the Residents Property Tribunal as they are quite new to park home disputes?   

Happy new year to all,as for your increase trev personally i dont think £1.60 a week increase excessive,bearing in mind that pensions will increase also in April,if nothing has been done on the site for 5 years but no refusal to pay an increase because of this i doubt you have a leg to stand on

As long as the increase is in line with your agreement ie RPI in the stated month, it appears ok. Seems you are currently paying £135 per month

When you say no maintenance for 5 years, question, is the site lacking because of no maintenance ie faulty street lighting, blocked drainage, damaged roads etc. That would be a concern.

As I understand, improvements may be a different thing, and residents may be asked to cover costs.

As always, I stand corrected if incorrect, I am still learning.

I am sure you are correct jah - to successfully challenge an annual RPI increase the residents would have to demonstrate to the tribunal that they had suffered a decrease in amenity of the site.  If the tribunal agrees to the proposed pitch fee they will backdate it to a point 28 days after the original review notice was served to the residents.
If a park owner wished to carry out improvements and increase the pitch fee above the RPI to cover the costs then the residents would have to be consulted and the majority not to have disagreed in writing to the proposal.  If the majority do disagree then the owner has three options - not to proceed, continue negotiations with the residents or apply to the tribunal for the proposed pitch fee to be allowed.

Happy New Year!

Hi In reply to Jah Question 1, Street lighting only 5 light on the site for around 60 homes,2, yes we do get blocked drains, drainage over 25year old, 3,Tarmac road starting to subside and cracking, so we do have a decrease in amenity.
 One further point The Commmunities and local goverment committee are about to carry out an inquiry into park homes  (just put above in Google and it will come up) they need your reports etc by 1st Feb 2012 the committee invites submission from interested parties, particularly those who live in park homes,site owners and local authorities with park homes within their area, on adequacy of operation of the law as it affects park homes, ie site fees,site license,resales and fit and proper person to be run a site etc. The Committee sees the inquiry as a means of identifying key concerns and, if necessary, examining the need for legislative changes. 

The first paragraph of your recent post highlights a lot which was not included in your first post.

Has your QRA approached the park owner with all these issues?
What has been the result?
(I can guess your answers)

I know on the park where we moved onto 9 months ago, the park owner did nothing, there was problems which he would not tackle, the residents refused to pay any increases. The park owner could have took then to court but he probably knew he would loose. The problems were still there though, so the residents got the council involved (they issue the licence to the park owner), eventually got the press and tv involved. The park owner was taken to court by the council 3 times, lost every time, with his fines, costs and legal fees it probably cost him as much then if he had kept the site up to scratch.
He sold to a new owner during the summer, now jobs are being put right.
But the residents, some of them have not paid an increase for the last 10 years because of this stubborn park owner.