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Park Home ground rent
Unusual situation. Single woman aged 75. Moved to a park home (owner no mortgage) to be near family following death of husband.
In receipt of state pension only. Pension credit application pending.
Query - this is a 12 month stay holiday home. However, it does not have residential status. Does not pay council tax.
Does she qualify for ground rent to be paid towards?
Thanks
There might be licensing and planning issues, but those do not detract from the fact that for the time being (1) she is liable to make payments in respect of a site on which a caravan or mobile home stands, which is eligible for HB; and (2) it is the dwelling which she occupies as her home. Doesn’t matter whether it shouldn’t be from the licensing/planning point of view - it is her home.
There are some UT cases where ignoring planning and other regulatory matters has led to questions about commerciality, but those tend to be agreements between relatives. Assuming this site is run as a commercial operation by someone not related, I don’t think commerciality is an issue. The lead cases on living where you are not supposed to are R(H) 9/08 and CH/318/2005 - both concerned with houseboats moored where they didn’t ought to be moored: conclusion was it’s not an HB problem.
By the way it is HB that will cover this, not Pension Credit.
Thanks for this - previously, her ground rent was paid via pension credit so will look into that. Just for clarity what is a a UT case?
Thanks again
Upper Tribunal
Pension Credit should only pay housing costs where the lease is longer than 21 years - that means the plot, not the unit standing on it. Using “ground rent” to describe these payments can cause confusion, because ground rent is the term normally used to refer to rent under a lease for more than 21 years. That might have led to Pension Credit incorrectly covering it in the past.
Not to disagree with HB Anorak on the ground rent aspect but that might not have been a wise move to intend to live full-time in a holiday let mobile home. Lots of the legal protections that would otherwise apply to her won’t so she might be well advised to seek some housing advice as well.
In our Park homes factsheet we note:
You are not in a strong position if you live full time on an unprotected site, for example, a site licensed for holiday use only, or if you live full time in a park home that is not supposed to be your only or main residence.
Seek advice immediately if you are threatened with eviction. It is also important to check the terms of your agreement and the site licence. The agreement is a contract which binds you and the site owner - unless you
are in breach of the terms, you should be able to stay on the park until the agreement terminates.
If you own a holiday caravan, you can get advice on your security of tenure from the National Association of Caravan Owners, although you have to become a member first, paying their membership fee.
If you were sold your home for year-round use but the agreement or site licence prevents this, seek legal advice.
We’ve seen some really horrendous cases where people thought they’d basically be able to keep their heads down and play fast and loose and some have lost out on literally thousands of pounds. Good luck.