Under the new measures, councils will be given greater
powers to tackle bad practice and exploitation of
residents, such as failure to address residents’
complaints or anti-social behaviour by site owners – with
strong enforcement against those who don’t comply.
Managers or owners of mobile home sites will have to pass
a new ‘fit and proper person’ test to prove they are
suitable for the job.
Councils will judge the applicant based on their past
behaviour and that of their associates and decide if they
can be placed on a fit and proper person register. If
they fail, councils will have the authority to choose who
replaces them.
It will be an offence to operate a site without having a
fit and proper manager in place, or to provide false
information in an application. Anyone found breaching
these rules will be taken to court and could face an
unlimited fine.
,
Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing said:
Every park home resident deserves a safe, secure and
affordable place to live. That is why we have taken
this important step to drive up standards across the
country.
By introducing a fit and proper person test for site
operators, we are strengthening councils’ powers to
tackle bad practice and to ensure that residents are
protected from exploitation by a minority of rogue site
owners.
Councils have until 1 July to prepare to receive
applications from site owners. Site owners can start
submitting their applications from 1 July 2021 and have
until 1 October 2021 to do so.
Approximately 85,000 people in England live in owner
occupied mobile homes across 2,000 sites.
