Agenda item

(Housing Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-007-2014/15).

(1)        That a charge of £130 be introduced for residential park home site owners to  meet the Council’s objectives for depositing site rules with the Council for the first time or for applications to vary or delete existing site rules;

(2)        That the Epping Forest District Council Policy on Fees for Licensing Residential Park Home Sites be revised to include the fees for depositing site rules; and

(3)        That the fees be added to the Schedule of Housing Fees and Charges and reviewed by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee on an annual basis.

The Housing Portfolio Holder presented a report on the proposed new arrangements for Park Home rules.

The Portfolio Holder reported that the Mobile Homes Act 2013 introduced some important changes to the licensing and enforcement of park home sites, one of which was the power for local authorities to charge fees for their licensing functions. The Cabinet had agreed the introduction of fees for the licensing of residential park home sites in the Epping Forest District from 1 April 2014 (report C-080-2013/14 refers).

The Portfolio Holder stated that the Act had also included new Regulations concerning ‘site rules’ and set new requirements with which site owners and their rules had to comply with. Although it was not a requirement for site owners to have site rules relating to the management of the site, they were often made by site owners and, where they existed, formed part of the express terms of the legal agreement between the park home owner and the owner of the site. New site rules that were produced in accordance with the Regulations had to be deposited with the Council, who had the discretion to charge a fee.

The Portfolio Holder added that these procedures would require the Council to carry out tasks in addition to their existing duties in connection with park home sites.  These included checking that the site rules had been made in accordance with the statutory procedures and maintaining and publishing a register of the site rules of all the residential park home sites in the District.  The cost of the additional work had been calculated as approximately £130 per site, which was the charge proposed. It was recommended that the Cabinet agreed this fee, which would be included in Council’s Fees Policy and reviewed annually.

The Cabinet welcomed the proposals, which would help those Park Home residents who believed that their Site Owners were unfairly setting rules. It was felt that the proposed charge was reasonable and would cover the cost of the work undertaken by the Council.

Decision:

(1)        That a charge of £130 be introduced for residential park home site owners to  meet the Council’s objectives for depositing site rules with the Council for the first time or for applications to vary or delete existing site rules;

(2)        That the Epping Forest District Council Policy on Fees for Licensing Residential Park Home Sites be revised to include the fees for depositing site rules; and

(3)        That the fees be added to the Schedule of Housing Fees and Charges and reviewed by the Finance and Performance Management Cabinet Committee on an annual basis.

Reasons for Decision:

The Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (England) Regulations 2014 introduced new responsibilities for local authorities in respect of depositing site rules and allowed local authorities to charge site owners for so doing. Moreover, the cost to the site owner was not considered excessive and was likely to be a one-off fee as site rules, once introduced, tended to remain with the site unchanged for the lifetime of the site and its owner.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

To not charge site owners for depositing their site rules. However, the cost of the work involved would then have to be borne by the General Fund, which was under increasing pressure.