Member News
By Caroline Nokes MP - 29th November 2011
Caroline Nokes MP calls for action against unscrupulous landlords.
As a new MP in 2010, I will confess I did not expect the issue of park homes to feature very large on my radar. I was aware there were several mobile home parks in Romsey and Southampton North, but not that there were significant and long-running concerns about how some unscrupulous site operators exploited their residents.
Within my constituency there are seven licensed park home sites, with over 200 park homes in total. Many of these residents are quite elderly, and vulnerable to a number of practices which would simply be illegal in any other circumstance.
Whether it is restrictions placed upon the selling-on of homes, administrative charges for the supply of services such as electricity, water and sewerage, or site operators taking advantage of a monopolistic situation in the supply of canisters of LPG for heating and cooking, there seems to be no end to the way some of the most vulnerable in our communities can be exploited by unscrupulous landlords. The experiences of some residents have been absolutely horrendous, and they have been victim to the most dreadful intimidation and harassment.
I vividly recall the mass lobby of Parliament last year, when several of my constituents came to Westminster and outlined in detail their concerns that they simply could not sell their homes without the consent of the park owner. There was an excellent meeting organised by the APPG for Mobile Homes, who are doing excellent work to highlight the issue and the problems. In the intervening 12 months there has been some progress and I welcome the assurances of the PM last week that the government is committed to providing a better deal for park home residents by increasing their rights and improving protection from bad site owners.
Caroline Nokes has been the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North since 2010.
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