The Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (England) Regulations 2014

Statutory Instruments

2014 No. 5

Mobile Homes, England

The Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (England) Regulations 2014

Made

6th January 2014

Laid before Parliament

13th January 2014

Coming into force

4th February 2014

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by subsection 1(2)(e), subsection 1(9)(a), section 2C, subsections (3), (6) and (7) of section 2D of, and paragraphs 7B(7), 7C, 8B(7) and 8C of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to, the Mobile Homes Act 1983(1), makes the following Regulations:

Application, citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations, which apply in relation to England only, may be cited as the Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (England) Regulations 2014 and come into force on 4^th February 2014.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations—

“consultation response document” means a document sent to each consultee notifying them of the owner’s decision regarding whether to implement a proposal, which meets the requirements of regulation 9 of these Regulations;

“consultee” means a person or qualifying residents’ association (as defined by paragraph 28 of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Mobile Homes Act 1983), required to be consulted under regulation 7;

“deletion notice” means a notice which an owner is required to deposit with a local authority in accordance with regulation 12, notifying of the deletion of a site rule or more than one site rule;

“pre-commencement rules” in relation to a site, means rules made by the owner before the commencement of section 9 of the Mobile Homes Act 2013(2) which relate to a matter mentioned in section 2C(2) of the Mobile Homes Act 1983;

“proposal” means a proposal to make, vary or delete a site rule;

“proposal notice” means the notice required by regulation 8;

“the 1983 Act” means the Mobile Homes Act 1983.

Service of documents

3.—(1) The documents referred to in regulation 8, 9, 10, 13 and 17 must be—

(a) sent by post; or

(b) delivered by hand.

(2) Any document that is served in accordance with these Regulations shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be served—

(a) where the document is sent by post, on the second day after it was sent;

(b) where the document is delivered by hand—

(i) before 4.30pm, on that day; or

(ii) at or after 4.30pm, on the next day after that day.

Matters prescribed for the purposes of section 2C(2)(b) of the 1983 Act

4.—(1) The matters prescribed for the purposes of section 2C(2)(b) are the matters set out in paragraph (2).

(2) A site rule must be necessary—

(a) to ensure that acceptable standards are maintained on the site, which will be of general benefit to occupiers; or

(b) to promote and maintain community cohesion on the site.

Matters prescribed for the purposes of section 2C(8) of the 1983 Act

5.  A site rule is of no effect in so far as it makes provision in relation to any of the matters prescribed in Schedule 5 to these Regulations.

Prescribed procedure

6.  Regulations 7 to 9 prescribe the procedure for making, varying or deleting site rules(3) for the purposes of subsections (2), (5), (6) and (7) of section 2C of the 1983 Act.

Requirement to consult on a proposal

7.  An owner must, in relation to the protected site concerned, consult—

(a) every occupier; and

(b) any qualifying residents’ association,

on a proposal in accordance with regulations 8 and 9.

Notification of proposal

8.—(1) The owner must notify each consultee of a proposal, by issuing a proposal notice (“the proposal notice”).

(2) The proposal notice must—

(a) clearly set out a proposal;

(b) contain a statement of the owner’s reasons for making a proposal;

(c) contain a statement that the consultation response document will be sent to each consultee;

(d) contain a list of the matters prescribed by regulations 4 and 5 and a statement confirming that a proposal complies with the requirements of these provisions;

(e) specify—

(i) the date on which the notice shall be deemed served on each consultee, in accordance with regulation 3 (“the first consultation day”);

(ii) the date by which any representations made in response to the proposal must be received by the owner (“the last consultation day”) which must be at least 28 days after the first consultation day;

(iii) the name of the owner and address to which any such representation must be sent;

(f) be signed and dated by the owner; and

(g) be in the appropriate form set out in Schedule 1 or in a form substantially to the like effect.

(3) A proposal shall be treated as notified to the consultees on the first consultation day.

(4) The proposal notice may contain more than one proposal, and in such cases, this regulation and regulations 9 to 17 shall apply in relation to those proposals collectively as if they were a single proposal.

Owner’s response to the consultation

9.—(1) Within 21 days of the last consultation day, the owner, having taken into account any representations received from consultees, must—

(a) decide whether to implement the proposal (with or without modification) (“the decision”); and

(b) send a document, to be known as “the consultation response document”, to each consultee, notifying them of that decision.

(2) The consultation response document must also—

(a) give details of the consultation carried out under regulations 7 and 8, including the first consultation day;

(b) give details of the representations received, the owner’s response to the representations and such modifications as were made to the proposal (if any) as a result of the consultation;

(c) contain a copy of any site rules in the form in which the owner proposes to deposit them with the local authority;

(d) where relevant, contain an explanation that the owner intends to deposit a deletion notice with the local authority and a list of the site rules to be deleted;

(e) contain a statement that any site rules or deletions shall come into force in accordance with regulation 14, provided that a deposit has been made in accordance with regulation 12 and notified in accordance with regulation 13;

(f) explain the rights of appeal available to consultees under regulation 10; and

(g) be in the form set out in Schedule 2 or in a form substantially to the like effect.

(3) Where a proposal is modified as a result of the consultation, the reference to “the proposal” in regulation 10 is to be read as a reference to the proposal as modified.

Right to appeal to tribunal in relation to the owner’s decision

10.—(1) Within 21 days of receipt of the consultation response document a consultee may appeal to a tribunal(4) on one or more of the grounds specified in paragraph (2).

(2) The grounds are that—

(a) a site rule makes provision in relation to any of the prescribed matters set out in Schedule 5;

(b) the owner has not complied with a procedural requirement imposed by regulation 7 to 9 of these Regulations;

(c) the owner’s decision was unreasonable having regard, in particular to—

(i) the proposal or the representations received in response to the consultation;

(ii) the size, layout, character, services or amenities of the site; or

(iii) the terms of any planning permission or conditions of the site licence.

(3) Where a consultee makes an appeal under this regulation, the consultee must notify the owner of the appeal in writing and provide the owner with a copy of the application made, within the 21 day period referred to in paragraph (1) above.

Appeal procedure

11.  On determining an appeal under regulation 10 the tribunal may—

(a) confirm the owner’s decision;

(b) quash or modify the owner’s decision;

(c) substitute the owner’s decision with its own decision; or

(d) where the owner has failed to comply with the procedure set out in regulations 7 to 9, order the owner to comply with regulations 7 to 9 (as appropriate), within such time as may be specified by the tribunal.

Deposit of site rules or deletion notice

12.—(1) Where an owner has decided to implement new site rules or the variation or deletion of site rules, subject to paragraph (2), the owner must deposit the site rules or deletion notice with the local authority no sooner than 28 days after service of the consultation response document but no later than 42 days after service of the consultation response document.

(2) Where an owner has received notification of an appeal to the tribunal in accordance with regulation 10, the owner shall not make a deposit until the appeal has been disposed of, determined or abandoned.

(3) On the disposal, determination or abandonment of an appeal to the tribunal, the owner shall deposit the site rules or deletion notice—

(a) no later than 14 days after the date of the tribunal’s decision;

(b) no later than 14 days after the date of the tribunal’s notification to the owner of an abandoned appeal; or

(c) such later date as the tribunal specifies.

(4) A deposit required to be made by virtue of this section must be accompanied by a fee of such amount as the local authority may determine.

Notification of deposit

13.—(1) The owner must notify every occupier and any qualifying residents’ association in writing of a deposit within 7 days of the deposit being made.

(2) The notice must—

(a) specify the date on which the deposit was made;

(b) give contact details for the local authority with whom the deposit was made;

(c) explain when any site rules, variations or deletions will come into force;

(d) be accompanied by a copy of the site rules, if any, as deposited; and

(e) be in the appropriate form set out in Schedule 3 or 4 as appropriate, or in a form substantially to the like effect.

Date on which new rule, rule as varied or deletion comes into force

14.—(1) The site rules deposited and any deletions shall come into force at the end of the period of 21 days beginning with the date of service of the notification of the deposit under regulation 13.

(2) Where it is proposed that a site rule is varied or deleted in accordance with paragraph 2C(5) or paragraph 2C(6) of the 1983 Act, the site rules in force prior to the consultation under regulations 7 to 9 shall continue to have effect until the new site rules or deletions come into force in accordance with paragraph (1).

Rules made by the owner prior to the commencement of the Mobile Homes Act 2013

15.  The period after which any rules made by the owner prior to the commencement of the Mobile Homes Act 2013 shall cease to have effect is—

(a) except in a case falling within sub-paragraph (b) or (c), the period of 12 months beginning with commencement of these regulations;

(b) where site rules come into force in accordance with regulation 14 of these Regulations, prior to the end of the period prescribed in sub-paragraph (a), the period ending with the coming into force of the site rules; or

(c) where an appeal under regulation 10 remains outstanding at the end of the period prescribed in sub-paragraph (a), the period ending with the coming into force of the site rules in accordance with regulation 14, following the disposal, determination or abandonment of the appeal.

Local authority registers of site rules

16.—(1) A local authority must—

(a) establish and keep up to date a register of site rules in respect of protected sites in its area; and

(b) publish the up-to-date register online.

(2) The register shall be open to inspection by members of the public at the offices of the local authority during normal working hours.

Right to appeal to tribunal in relation to a deposit

17.—(1) An occupier and any qualifying residents’ association may appeal to the tribunal in relation to a deposit, on the grounds specified in paragraph (2).

(2) The grounds are that a deposit as required by regulation 12 has not been made before the end of the period prescribed by that regulation.

(3) Where an appeal is made under this regulation, the appellant must notify the owner in writing, within 21 days of making the appeal to the tribunal.

(4) On determining an appeal under this regulation, the tribunal may make an order requiring a deposit with the local authority by a specified date, accompanied by a fee of such amount as the local authority may determine.

(5) Where a deposit is made under sub-paragraph 4, the owner must notify every occupier and any qualifying residents’ association in writing of the deposit in accordance with regulation 13 and the site rules as deposited and any deletions shall come into force at the end of the period prescribed in accordance with regulation 14.

Amendment of the Mobile Homes (Written Statement) (England) Regulations 2011(5)

18.—(1) The Mobile Homes (Written Statement) (England) Regulations 2011 are amended as follows—

(a) In Part 1 of Schedule 1, after paragraph 3 (express terms), insert—

“The following paragraph does not apply to an agreement for a transit or permanent pitch on a local authority or county council Gypsy and Traveller site.

3A The site rules for your site, as deposited with your local authority, also form part of the express terms of your agreement, which are set out in Part 3 of this statement. Site rules may only be made, varied or deleted in accordance with the prescribed procedure, as set out in section 2C of the 1983 Act”;

(b) after paragraph 4, underneath the heading “right to challenge express terms”, at the end of the sentence within the brackets “The following paragraphs do not apply to an agreement for a transit pitch on a local authority or county council Gypsy and Traveller site” insert—

“They also do not apply to site rules which form part of the express terms of your agreement.”; and

(c) after paragraph 8, underneath the heading “Six months time limit for challenging the terms”, at the end of the sentence within the brackets “The following paragraphs do not apply to an agreement for a transit pitch on a local authority or county council Gypsy and Traveller site” insert—

“They also do not apply to site rules which form part of the express terms of your agreement.”.

Amendment of the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013(6)

19.—(1) In regulation 2 of the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013 (Interpretation), at the appropriate place insert—

““gypsies and travellers” has the meaning given in paragraph 1(4) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act;”.

(2) In regulation 7 of the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013 (Existing agreements: grounds on which site owner may apply for a refusal order), after regulation 7(2) insert—

“7(3) Where a site is owned by a private registered provider of social housing, as defined by section 80 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008(7), there is an additional prescribed ground for the purposes of paragraphs 7B(7) and 8B(7) of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act, where the provider has a policy in place for the allocation of pitches to gypsies and travellers, which a sale or gift to the proposed occupier would contravene”.

(3) Regulation 11 of the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013 (period prescribed for the purposes of section 2C(3) of the Act) is revoked.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Kris Hopkins

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Communities and Local Government

6th January 2014

Regulation 8

SCHEDULE 1 Form of proposal notice

Regulation 9

SCHEDULE 2 Form of consultation response document

Regulation 13

SCHEDULE 3 Form of notification of deposit of site rules

Regulation 13

SCHEDULE 4 Form of notification of deposit of deletion notice

Regulation 5

SCHEDULE 5 Matters prescribed for the purposes of section 2C(8) of the 1983 Act

The matters set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 are prescribed matters for the purposes of section 2C(8). (Site rules or rules such as are mentioned in section 2C(3) of the 1983 Act are of no effect in so far as they make provision in relation to the prescribed matters.)

Matters relating to the sale or gift of a mobile home

1.—(1) The matters are—

(a) whether the occupier should be prevented from selling or gifting the mobile home to anyone other than the owner;

(b) whether the occupier should be required to notify the owner of the occupier’s intention to sell or gift the mobile home;

(c) whether the occupier should be required to use the services of the owner or a person specified by the owner for the purposes of selling or gifting the mobile home;

(d) whether the occupier should be prevented from using the services of an estate agent for the purposes of selling the mobile home;

(e) whether the occupier should be prevented from using services provided by a solicitor for the purposes of selling or gifting the mobile home and assigning the agreement;

(f) whether the occupier should be prevented from using any services that would otherwise be available to the occupier for the purposes of selling or gifting the mobile home;

(g) whether the occupier should be prevented from advertising the mobile home for sale by means of a notice, board or placard affixed to the mobile home or to the pitch;

(h) whether the occupier should be required to—

(i) obtain a survey of the mobile home or the pitch; or

(ii) permit the owner or his agents to undertake a survey of the mobile home or the pitch

before selling or gifting the mobile home;

(i) whether the occupier should be required to sell or gift the mobile home or assign the agreement in the presence of the owner;

(j) whether the occupier or the proposed occupier should be required to provide the site owner with the personal details of the proposed occupier or of any other person intending to live in the mobile home with the proposed occupier;

(k) whether the proposed occupier should be required to attend a meeting with the owner.

(2) The following are examples of “personal details”—

(a) the home address, other contact details or vehicle registration number of the person concerned;

(b) any financial information relating to the person concerned;

(c) a birth certificate or certificate of marriage or civil partnership of the person concerned; and

(d) details of the age, ethnic origin, sex or sexual orientation of the person concerned.

(3) In sub-paragraphs (c), (d), (e), (f) and (h) of paragraph 1(1) references to selling a mobile home include a reference to marketing, advertising or offering the mobile home for sale.

Other matters

2.  The matters are—

(a) subject to paragraph 3, any matter which is expressed to grant an occupier a right subject to the exercise of discretion by the owner, except in relation to improvements to an occupier’s plot;

(b) any matter which is expressed to apply retrospectively;

(c) any matter which is contrary to the implied terms of the agreement, as defined by section 1 of the 1983 Act;

(d) any matter which is expressed to apply only to particular persons or to persons of a particular description, apart from where a rule makes an exception for the owner, the owner’s family or an employee of the owner (where an employee of the owner does not occupy the site under an agreement to which the 1983 Act applies);

(e) whether the occupier should be absolutely prohibited from making improvements to the home or pitch;

(f) whether visitors to the site should be required to report to the owner on arrival;

(g) whether any category of person should be restricted from visiting the site, regardless of whether the site has an age restriction in place;

(h) whether the owner should be allowed to reduce the size of a pitch or its reorientation;

(i) whether the owner should require the collection of deposits or charge for other services or permissions in addition to charges for the pitch fee, utility charges, for parking or sheds, where the charge is not permitted to be made under the agreement (as defined by section 1 of the 1983 Act) or by other legislation;

(j) whether vehicular access to the site should be restricted in any way;

(k) whether the occupier may have visitors to stay for short periods of time, whether or not the occupier is present at the time;

(l) whether the occupier should be required to purchase only goods or services supplied by the owner or such other person as the owner may nominate;

(m) whether the occupier should be required to use only such tradesmen as the owner may nominate, including the owner himself;

(n) whether the site rules may be changed other than by the procedure set out in regulations 7 to 13 of these regulations;

(o) whether the site rules may purport to threaten eviction for failure to comply with the site rules.

3.  Sub-paragraph 2(a) of this Schedule shall not prevent an owner from exercising discretion to grant an occupier a right in order to accommodate that occupier’s disability.

4.—(1) Where—

(a) prior to the deposit of a site rule, the occupier of a site enjoyed a benefit; and

(b) the effect of the coming into force of the deposited site rule is that the enjoyment of the benefit by the occupier will be in breach of the deposited site rule;

the occupier will not be in breach of the deposited site rule for the period that the benefit continues to subsist.

(2) On the cessation of the benefit, the occupier will be bound by the deposited site rule.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe the procedure for the making, variation and deletion of site rules, prescribe the matters to which site rules may and may not relate and grant appeal rights in relation to these matters, under provisions which have been inserted into the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”) by section 9 of the Mobile Homes Act 2013. They also make amendments to the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013 and make consequential amendments to the Mobile Homes (Written Statement) (England) Regulations 2011.

Regulation 3 sets out the rules of service for certain documents referred to in these Regulations.

Regulation 4 prescribes the matters which site rules may relate to, in addition to the management and conduct of the site.

Regulation 5 prescribes the matters that a site rule is of no effect in so far as it makes provision in relation to; and a list of these matters is set out in Schedule 5.

Regulation 6 sets out what constitutes the prescribed procedure for making, varying and deleting site rules and regulation 7 sets out who must be consulted on a proposal to make, vary or delete a site rule.

Regulation 8 prescribes the information which must be contained in a proposal notice issued by the site owner, and Schedule 1 prescribes the form in which that information must be provided.

Regulation 9 sets out how the site owner is required to respond to the consultation and prescribes the information which must be contained in the consultation response document; and Schedule 2 prescribes the form in which that information must be provided.

Regulation 10 prescribes the grounds on which a consultee may appeal to the tribunal against the site owner’s decision and the time period for doing this, and regulation 11 sets out how the tribunal may determine the appeal.

Regulation 12 sets out the requirements for the deposit of site rules or a deletion notice with the local authority, and regulation 13 provides for notification of the deposit to occupiers, including the information to be provided with such notification.

Regulation 14 prescribes when a new site rule or variation or deletion of a site rule shall come into force and regulation 15 prescribes when any rules made by the site owner prior to the commencement of the Mobile Homes Act 2013 shall cease to have effect.

Regulation 16 sets out the requirements placed on local authorities regarding the keeping of a register of site rules.

Regulation 17 prescribes the grounds on which an occupier may appeal to the tribunal in relation to a deposit with the local authority, as required by regulation 12.

Regulation 18 makes consequential amendments to the Mobile Homes (Written Statement) (England) Regulations 2011 to set out that site rules now form part of the express terms of an agreement made under the Mobile Homes Act 1983.

Regulation 19 makes a consequential amendment to the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013 to revoke regulation 11, which prescribes the period when any rules made by the site owner prior to the commencement of the Mobile Homes Act 2013 shall cease to have effect. This provision has now been replaced by regulation 15 of these Regulations. Regulation 19 also makes a further amendment to the Mobile Homes (Selling and Gifting) (England) Regulations 2013, to add in an additional ground upon which a site owner may apply for a refusal order under regulation 7 of the Selling and Gifting Regulations.

(1)

1983 c.34. Subsection 1(2)(e) amended in relation to Wales by the Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013, section 58(1), Schedule 4, paragraph 4(1), 2(a). Sections 2C and 2D were inserted into the 1983 Act by section 9 of the Mobile Homes Act 2013 and paragraphs 7B(7), 7C, 8B(7) and 8C of Chapter 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 were inserted into the 1983 Act by section 10 of the Mobile Homes Act 2013.

(2)

2013 c.14.

(3)

Site rules are the rules as referred to in section 2C(2) of the 1983 Act, made by the owner in accordance with the procedure prescribed by these regulations, which relate to the management and conduct of the site, or such other matters as may be prescribed (see regulation 4).

(4)

As defined by section 5 of the 1983 Act.

(5)

S.I. 2011/1006.

(6)

S.I. 2013/981.

(7)

2008 c.17.