EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order)
Article 2 of this Order brings into force section 318 (protected mobile home sites to include sites for gypsies and travellers) of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 and related repeals in Schedule 16 to that Act. The provisions commenced result in the application of the Mobile Homes Act 1983 to local authority gypsy and traveller sites in England.
Articles 3 to 7 are transitional, transitory and saving provisions in relation to agreements for pitches on local authority gypsy and traveller sites.
Article 3 saves the disapplication of certain provisions in relation to agreements for transit pitches. Broadly these disapplications mean that the 28 day time limit for providing a written statement, the right to seek a court or tribunal order in relation to the giving of a written statement, and the right to apply to the court or tribunal to amend the terms of such an agreement, do not apply to these agreements.
Article 4 provides that on or after the commencement date the 1983 Act, as amended by section 318 of the 2008 Act and the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1 and Consequential Amendments) (England) Order 2011, applies to existing agreements in the same way it applies to a new agreement entered into on that date.
Article 5 disapplies, in relation to existing agreement, certain provisions of section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the 1983 Act (inserted into that Act by the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1 and Consequential Amendments) (England) Order 2011).
Article 6 is a transitory provision which requires local authorities to give a written statement to the occupiers of permanent pitches within 28 days of the commencement date and it (and the Schedule to the Order) sets out what such a statement must include.
Article 7 is a general saving provision to ensure that rights and liabilities under existing agreements are not affected by the application of the 1983 Act to these agreements.
An impact assessment has been prepared in respect of this Order. It has been deposited in the Library of each House of Parliament and is available from the Department for Communities and Local Government, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E 5DU or email gypsies@communities.gsi.gov.uk