It is estimated that there are around 85,000 households living in mobile homes on 2000 sites in England. The majority of sites are privately owned with the others being owned by local authorities, of this it was estimated that 68% of people in mobile homes were aged 60 or over. Everyone in a mobile home has the right to feel safe and secure and have a decent standard of living.
I am pleased to see the government has taken steps to protect these people by requiring the owner or manager of a residential mobile home site to be a fit and proper person to manage the site properly.
By ensuring that sites are managed properly it will prevent people particularly older residents from being harassed and financially exploited which has a knock on effect to people’s health, both physically and mentally. We must work to protect people in all walks of society including those who live in Mobile Homes.
The new measures go further by requiring each local authority to set up and maintain a register of people who are fit to manage a park home site in their area. When an applicant applies for registration, their criminal record and all sites in which the applicant has an equitable interest must be considered by the local authority. Furthermore if convicted of any offences the site owner could face an unlimited fine, this includes operating a site without being on a local authority register, providing false information or breaching conditions attached to an entry on the register.
There are people who run mobile home parks well but sadly there are too many who don’t. I have campaigned for fifteen years for this change in the law and I hope these moves will now enable those living in mobile homes to be free of harassment and provide them with protection so they can live in a decent and safe environment.
