Home or Holiday? Mobile home residents on holiday sites

BBC’s Panorama have recently aired a program exploring the issue of mobile home sales on holiday sites to residential buyers. The BBC investigation reveals evidence of holiday site owners misleading prospective mobile home purchasers about their rights.

This is an issue which many advisers in coastal or popular holiday regions may have seen — and which comes to the Expert Advice Team in consultancy queries from time to time. Typically, buyers have purchased a mobile home on the understanding that they will be able to occupy it as their home, but then find out that they have very limited security of tenure when they fall into a dispute with the site owner, or their occupancy comes to the attention of the local authority. Buyers are often older people looking to downsize, retire to an appealing area, or secure a long term affordable home. The issue may only come to their attention some time after they have purchased and moved into the home.

The legal framework — statutory protection for mobile home occupiers and site licensing

In England, the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (MHA 1983) grants rights to owners of mobile homes, including protection from eviction. However a mobile home located on a site which is only licenced for holiday use will fall outside this statutory protection. The MHA 1983 applies only to occupiers on ‘protected’ sites, and where they are entitled to occupy the mobile home as their ‘only or main residence’¹. The term “protected sites” is defined in the Caravan Sites Act 1968 and excludes sites where the planning permission or site licence are granted for holiday use only, or where occupation is restricted at certain times of the year².

In Wales protection from eviction comes from the Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013, but again sites licensed only for holiday use or where year-round habitation is restricted are excluded³.

It follows that it is important to establish the terms of the relevant planning permission or site licence to see whether the land on which a caravan park is located is limited to holiday use and/or restrictions for certain times of the year. Signs that a site might not be licensed for residential use could be:

• The website refers to ‘holiday homes’ or indicates that homes on the site cannot be used as a main or permanent address
• The contract requires a mobile home owner to supply another address for their sole or main residence
• There are certain periods of the year when occupiers must move off the site

Bear in mind however that even if a site is advertised as having a ‘12 month licence’, this may still be restricted to holiday use only.

Where a site is not licensed for residential use, it will almost certainly also lack planning permission for residential use. Indeed, the Panorama investigation found that some pitches lacked any kind of planning permission at all.

It is worth checking this to be certain. The local authority could be asked about licensing if the site owner is not willing to provide a copy of the site planning permission or licence. Local authorities are required to keep a register of site licences, and their website will often have a page relating to mobile homes and caravan sites where this can be accessed, or where contact details for the relevant department are given.

Despite licensing restrictions, it is not uncommon for site owners or sales representatives to give the impression or imply that these are mere formalities, and that in reality, year-round occupation is perfectly possible. These sales tactics can be seen in the undercover filming by Panorama, and are often reported by clients to advisers. In some cases, it is even likely that year-round occupation is achieved without issue — but this is essentially a case of ‘staying under the radar’, and in the absence of any situation arising where the mobile home owner’s right to occupy might be challenged.

Security of tenure on holiday sites

Occupation of homes on a site licensed for residential use is governed by statute, which means a process must be followed (valid notice and court order) before a site owner can end an agreement and regain possession of a pitch. However, a person living full-time on a site outside statutory protection, e.g. one that is licensed for holiday use only, is unlikely to be in a strong position. Any occupier who owns their caravan will only rent the pitch, not the ‘dwelling’. This means that they will not be covered by even the most basic statutory protection under Protection from Eviction Act 1977⁴. The occupier’s only right to notice at all will be contractual — governed by the terms of their contract with the site owner. Any notice entitlement may be even more limited in circumstances where the person is in breach of their contract — which might include occupying the home as their main residence where the contract notes that the home is for holiday use only.

Contractual notice provisions may mean that notice can be given to terminate an agreement within a matter of weeks — or even days or taking immediate effect where terms are breached. There is unlikely to be any requirement for a court order, and residents could find themselves barred from entering the site or required to remove their caravans. Some owners may find themselves bound by contractual obligations which dictate resale to or by the site owner, often as a loss.

A person occupying a mobile home on a site where they do not have permission to reside in it falls clearly into the statutory definition of homelessness⁵, and may need to consider making a homelessness application to their local authority if their occupation is in jeopardy.

Housing Benefit/Housing Costs claims

One of the most common scenarios in which mobile home occupiers on holiday sites become aware of their perilous security is when seeking advice about entitlement to housing benefit or universal credit housing costs to meet pitch fees. A claim for benefit also alerts the local authority to the issue. Sometimes this occurs when a person is exploring the viability of purchasing a mobile home, and at other times it may follow many years of occupation, when retirement or some other change in circumstances prompts an enquiry about benefit entitlement.

It might be arguable that an invoice for a pitch fee shows liability for housing costs, regardless of the terms of an occupier’s contract, if they do in reality occupy the accommodation as their home. This may mean that the client could in theory claim housing benefit or housing costs for the pitch fee⁶. However, the Local Authority are likely to ask for evidence that the pitch fee relates to the client’s main residence and not to a holiday home. This will not be supported by the client’s contract with the site owner, and if the site is asked to confirm that it is in fact occupied as a full time home, they are likely to dispute or deny knowledge of this, if their licence only permits occupation for holiday purposes.

Where a local authority becomes aware of residential occupation of a mobile home sited on a park which they have licensed only for holiday use, they are likely to address the issue with the site owner as a breach of planning and licensing conditions.

Local Authority enforcement

Residential occupiers on holiday sites are likely to be in breach of their contract with the site owner, as well as of the site owner’s licence and planning conditions. Site owners may well be turning a blind eye to this (or even encouraging it in order to secure sales). But if a site owner is pushed by the Local Authority to provide evidence of the nature of occupation (e.g. in relation to a benefit claim, or because the Local Authority otherwise becomes aware of the issue), they will almost certainly take the position that owners are permitted to occupy their mobile home on the site for the purposes of a holiday only. Where occupiers are evidently in breach of this, site owners may take steps to terminate contracts, in order to avoid attracting attention and consequences for a possible breach of their own licence. If they do not, then Local Authority enforcement action against the site owner for licence and planning breaches can result in unlimited fines and revocation of the holiday use licence.

The holiday is over

In short, anyone who intends to occupy a mobile home on a holiday site as their main home should be aware that they have very limited security, and may risk their contract being terminated if it comes to the attention of the site owner (or more critically the local authority) that they are doing so.

Pursuing a claim for benefit in relation to housing costs is likely to draw this type of attention (and provide evidence by their own admission that the accommodation is being occupied on a residential basis). Even where benefit claims are not made, the issue may arise in disputes with the site owner over changes to site rules, fees, site conditions, neighbour disputes or mis-selling, or at the point where an occupier either seeks to sell their home, or where ownership of the site changes hands. Occupiers need to be very aware that their right to occupy could be terminated with very little notice if their relationship with the site owner becomes compromised. Occupation can also come to the Local Authority’s attention in the absence of a benefit claim due to a site inspection, a complaint by a 3rd party, or through a benefit claim or council tax enquiry made by another resident on the site.

Anyone looking to buy a mobile home for residential purposes should check the licensing conditions for their prospective site with the local council carefully, and not take the word of sales representatives who may suggest that this is unimportant. Anyone who discovers that their site is not licensed for residential use after buying a mobile home to live in may need to seek further advice. There may be options to move the home to another site, or to sell it and seek alternative accommodation. Owners may decide to continue occupying their home for the time being, but should be aware that their security is tenuous, and that they may have problems with benefits claims, site owner disputes, and obtaining valid insurance. Consumer advice can be sought in respect of any mis-selling — although occupiers without alternative accommodation will need to bear in mind that challenging the site owner may result in their contract being terminated. If an affordable retirement in a seaside holiday spot looks too good to be true… it probably is.

Amy Hughes works as a senior housing expert in the Expert Advice team at Citizens Advice.

The information in this article is correct as of the date of publication.

Unfortunately, we are unable to respond to comments left on the medium site — please contact expertadvicesupport@citizensadvice.org.uk if you wish to give feedback on an article.

References

1. S.1 Mobile Homes Act 1983
2. S.1(2) Caravan Sites Act 1968
3. S.2 Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013
4. S.3(1) Protection from Eviction Act 1977
5. S.175(2)(b) Housing Act 1996
6. 12(1)(g) Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 SI 2006/213 and 2(d) Schedule 1 Universal Credit Regulations 2013 SI 2013/376