Isn't there supposed to be a law to protect park homes from hellish site owners?
New regulations were introduced three years ago to combat the worst owners of park home sites.
“Unscrupulous site owners must not be allowed to extract ever more cash from those who may already be on fixed or low incomes, or to harass or intimidate them without any fear of being sanctioned,” Lord Greenhalgh, then Housing Minister, told Parliament.
“Site owners who manage their sites professionally need not be concerned about meeting the required standards, but the minority who continue to abuse and exploit residents will have to improve or make way for more professional people to manage the site.”
The new rules mean that site owners and managers should be assessed by the local authority to check they are a “fit and proper person”.
A fine idea but, like any law, only as good as the people who are supposed to enforce it.
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There’s a park home site in the village of Great Horwood in Buckinghamshire where the owner has not been assessed by the council and, as a property tribunal has just heard, is far from fit and proper.
Andy Waller (Phil Harris for Daily Mirror)The case was brought by 60–year-old Andy Waller, who moved onto the Nook Park site in 2020 after deteriorating eyesight forced him to retire early from his job as an electrician.
Not long afterwards the site was bought by 49-year-old Joe Burns.
In his effort to expand the site and build more homes on it, Mr Burns tore up paths, lawns, hedges and trees, reduced the size of existing pitches and turned the once tranquil community into a hazardous building site, despite contracts entitling the residents to the “quiet enjoyment” of their homes.
Andy Waller's home before and after building work startedMr Waller told the property tribunal that he had been subjected to harassment and bullying by Mr Burns, including unlawful attempts to increase pitch fees, having his electricity cut off and his pitch encroached upon. The tribunal agreed that he had been treated dreadfully.
“Trees and sections of lawn were removed without permission or consultation," its adjudication reads.
"Although the pitch may be the same size as it was originally, it has been moved.
“The original designating points for the boundary of the pitch were the footpaths, these have been removed altogether.
“The manner in which the works have been carried out - without proper notice, without providing safe access to the mobile homes and without ensuring the lighting is maintained - are clearly breaches of the covenant of quiet enjoyment.
“The mobile home owners did not contract to live on a building site.”
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The ruling slated Mr Burns for leaving asbestos on the site after demolition work, calling it plainly hazardous despite "his best efforts to argue it was not”.
And it ruled that his defence that he was carrying out upgrading work was only part of the picture: “He clearly has major expansion plans and wants to site many more mobile homes.”
The tribunal found that the unlawful attempts to increase the pitch fees - on the first occasion by 17% - was less harassment and more down to Mr Burns’s ignorance of the law.
He was ordered to restore Mr Waller’s pitch to its previous state and pay his £300 tribunal fee plus damages which will be assessed later.
Nook Park owner Joe Burns“It’s been awful,” Mr Waller said after the hearing. “He’s completely vindictive, two hours after he heard that I had gone to the tribunal he dug up the other side of my pitch.
“This has been going on for a year and a half, the psychological damage it has caused is irreparable.
“If people here could get out they would but the homes are unsaleable because of the state of the site.
“He started the tribunal by insulting me. I’m now visually impaired and he made comments about who has ever heard of a blind electrician, that shows you the character of the man.”
His complaint isn’t just against Mr Burns, but also against Buckinghamshire Council.
“The council has a responsibility under the Mobile Homes Act to ensure these places are run properly,” he said.
“They’ve ignored us and swept the issues here under the carpet for over a year and a half.”
Mr Burns responded by saying that he was considering appealing what he called the “one-sided” ruling.
“There has been no harassment of any resident at Nook Park and the majority of the 12 residents are happy with the significant improvements being made,” he said.
“Some works have been disruptive to day-to-day living, however they are necessary improvements to utility supplies and sewage solutions.
“The residents’ safety has always been a priority during these works, and all health and safety procedures have been followed.”
I’ve since heard from other residents and not one of them has told me that they are happy.
“I would like to make clear that I, like all other residents to my knowledge, are not at all happy about the situation at Nook Park, none have been since this debacle of a development got under way,” Jacqueline Hughes said.
“I would also state that I have been equally shocked by the lack of action on the part of Buckinghamshire Council.”
The home of Liz Phillips now and, inset, before work by Mr Burns startedAnother resident, Liz Phillips, is also taking Mr Burns to the Property Tribunal.
“Mr Burns has said that nearly all the residents are happy, this is not true, we have been living in a nightmare,” she said.
A fellow resident Jon Whiting, told me: “We were ignored by council for 18 months while the illegal ripping out of hedges, taking of people’s land and removing safe access and lighting was carried out, to this day it is still a mess.”
Anne Maund's hedge was cut down (Phil Harris for Daily Mirror)The hedge planted by Anne Maund at the border of her pitch 30 years ago has been cut down.
“Mr Burns stated that the roots were causing the blocked drains, this was totally false,” she said.
“Since September 2021 we have lived on a building site with no lighting, no pathways, no road - just mud.”
Carolyn and Stephen Sage living said: “We have lived with constant disruption and noise, these are our homes and all we want is to enjoy our retirement in a happy and pleasant place, which it was when we moved here seven years ago.”
Ian Williams says that he was picked on because he founded the Nook Park Residents Association and was hit with an unlawful pitch rental increase which was back-dated three years with interest.
“Bucks Council say they do not class this as harassment or intimidation,” he said.
A neighbour Mark Fenton described Nook Park now as like living in a war zone and Colin Walker said: “None of us are happy”.
Residents say Nook Park has been turned into a building siteMark Winn, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Regulatory Services responded to criticism by describing the situation at the park as “complex”, insisting that officers have spent considerable time investigating the issues.
“We have issued an Article 4 Direction at the site which removes permitted development rights in relation to fences, walls and other means of enclosure,” he said.
“This means that any fence, wall or means of enclosure will require planning permission.
“Separately, we have also issued a Hedgerow Replacement Notice.
“Whilst we understand that residents might be frustrated at the length of time this is taking, it would be in no one’s interest if corners are cut in what is an ongoing investigation and we will continue to keep residents informed of developments.”
He also said that the council was now evaluating whether Mr Burns is a fit and proper person, though did not explain why this had not been done sooner.
Across the country there are more than 2,000 park home sites with around 180,000 residents, many of them older, less well-off and vulnerable.
The fit and proper test is meant to protect them but Nook Park is not the only site without an owner who has been assessed.
“Fit and proper is a joke, not one site owner has been taken to task,” said Sonia McColl of the Park Home Owners Justice Campaign.
“Councils have a duty to ensure that every site has a person running it who has been officially vetted but clearly this job has not been done to the best of their ability.
“We are calling on the government to put a dedicated park homes officer in every local authority.”
When the new regulations were debated in Parliament in September 2020, the crossbencher Lord Best asked: “The question in my mind is: will the fit and proper person test be adequately enforced? Will local authorities have the resources, skills and motivation to make this new requirement a reality?”
Those questions are as relevant today as when they were asked three years ago.
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