What recourse to arbitration or appeal permanent residents of caravans and chalets located on holiday-home sites with 12-month licences hav…

The rights of permanent residents of sites with residential licences, which can include holiday-home sites, are governed by the Mobile Homes Act 1983. This allows mobile home owners to have an agreement with the site owner allowing them to occupy their home on the site as their main residence. A site owner must give each resident a written statement setting out the terms of the agreement between them. The agreement will normally include express terms which fix the pitch fee the resident has to pay the site owner, when it is to be paid and how it is to be reviewed each year.
A resident who is unhappy with an increase in pitch fees should ask the site owner if they are prepared to make changes to that part of the agreement. If the site owner refuses, the resident can apply to the sheriff court, or to an arbiter, to ask for the changes to be made. In addition, residents who are in dispute with site owners who are members of either of the relevant trade bodies representing the parks industry “ the British Holiday and Home Parks Association and the National Caravan Council “ can seek conciliation from either body. If this fails the trade bodies may suggest reference to the Independent Consumer Redress Service (ICRS) which is an independent mediation or arbitration process allowing access to low cost and speedy consumer redress using standard models of conciliation and arbitration.
The 1983 act does not apply to sites which have a licence for holiday use only. This means that people who live on such sites, even if occupying a caravan or mobile home as their main residence in breach of a site''s licence or planning permission, do not have the statutory protection of the act. People who rent pitches on holiday sites for accommodation rather than leisure purposes will have certain rights under common law. However, common law does not impose any restrictions on the amount of rent the site owner can charge for the mobile home and/or pitch, or restrict how often the site owner can increase these charges.
A holiday caravan owner''s rights will be contained within a licence agreement agreed with the site owner. The trade bodies have also agreed a joint code of practice for holiday homes, which covers pitch fees and offers a complaints procedure for objecting to increases. If complaints arise that cannot be resolved between the parties then the trade bodies will offer conciliation and if this fails suggest reference to the ICRS.