Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:16 pm on 5 June 2018.
Thank you very much for those questions. During the consultation process, there were various issues that did come to light that were not directly related, necessarily, to the commission rates, but they were issues that local authorities need to be very much aware of in considering, as we move forward with this issue. Lack of information and understanding, even, about the mobile homes Act was a clear issue amongst people who were living in mobile homes, and also, confusion about who should be paying the fee to the site owner, confusion about where to get information, uncertainty about what local authorities can and can't do, uncertainty about where the level of responsibilities lie, and also confusion amongst some park home owners about what their own responsibilities were as well. So, I think there are several issues there, and several avenues for us to be pursuing.
In terms of what we would expect local authorities to do, I'll be working with local authorities to understand better their experience of the implementation of the mobile homes Act, to explore again: is it better guidance that is needed, or is it a more co-ordinated approach? I would hope that local authorities would have the discussion with officials about the idea for a lead authority. I think that would be helpful in terms of applying some kind of consistency across Wales. It's not something I would seek legal powers to do, but I think that it is something that can be agreed through local authorities. We do, as you say, have the example of Rent Smart Wales, which I think has been successful in terms of changing the landscape of the private rented sector, changing people's understanding of roles and responsibilities, changing people's understanding of who can be held to account and how, and so on. So, there's lots that we can learn there from the Rent Smart Wales experience, in terms of how we move forward with the issues about park homes.
Something that's become clear to me, actually, is that commission rates are only a small part of the issue, but they have become very much a focus for people's discontent in the sense that people who are, particularly, living on park sites where they don't have a good relationship with the park site owner feel extremely resentful that 10 per cent of their asset will be going to that individual or the individuals whom they don’t have a good relationship with, should they need to sell.
Something as well that we've been very mindful of is that many people who live in park homes are older. They see it as a great retirement option. Many people—not all—on park home sites are also vulnerable people. So, there needs to be an improved level, I think, of understanding about how we can better protect people who are living on park homes sites and work with them. I would encourage them to consider setting up residents' associations, where they are not already there, in order to pool their collective bargaining power and their influence power. That's something, again, that we can provide information on.
It surprised me, when I first became aware, that when you buy a park home there's no conveyancing involved in the way that there is when you buy a house. People can buy a park home with almost less information than if they were buying a second-hand car, which is a big worry in terms of the kind of commitment that people are taking on when they do buy park homes and don't necessarily have the information that they need in order to make that purchase.
So, I think that there's lots to do in terms of making park home living attractive, and it's important that we do that, because park home living actually can provide relatively affordable homes within some of the very high-cost areas of Wales, and they can also provide wonderful communities in which to live as well. We’ve had some fantastic examples in our consultation and our engagement of park home sites that are genuine communities, which people are very evangelical about living in. So, again, we balance that with the bad stories that we hear of poorly managed sites as well. So, there’s plenty to do in terms of working with those local authorities and in terms of ensuring that people have the kind of information and advice and support that they need when entering into these kinds of engagements, or agreements, I should say.