Housing (Scotland) Bill 2013
New Mobile/Park Home Site Licensing Proposed
A Housing Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament inlate November 2013 which will have a profound effect on the way park homes sites in Scotland are run in the future.
Hard on the heels of the strengthened legislation giving greater protection to residents and enabling them to buy and sell park homes without interference from site owners the Bill aims to introduce legislation to give local authorities in Scotland much greater powers to regulate park home sites and park home site owners. Within two years of the Bill becoming law, all site owners in Scotland will require to reapply for their licences and thereafter renew the licence every three years.
Local authorities will be able to charge a fee for the licence — thought to be probably around£600 per application. When applying for a licence, where the applicant is a company,the Main director will require to undergo a Fit and proper Person test as will his managers and particularly the local site manager. Where an applicant is refused a licence, or an existing licence is revoked, authorities will have thepower to appoint an interim manager. In this regard, Willow Wood representatives have asked the officials concerned in the Bill to look at linking such powers to Community Ownershipunder Land Reform legislation currently being consideredby the Parliament.
This Bill has teeth; site ownersflouting the proposed laws will be liable to fines of up to £50000 and losing their licences.
The Bill is expected to come into effect in 2016
