7. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Regeneration: Changes to the Park Homes Commission Rate

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:33 pm on 5 June 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 6:33, 5 June 2018

Thank you. Diolch, Llywydd.

I thank you for your statement. We know that there are about 5,000 people in Wales living in park homes, and that the sector is heavily concentrated in Mid and West Wales, having around half of the country's sites in that particular region. So, for that reason, during the consultation period, I set about visiting and meeting owners and residents and it does need restating that there are considerable divides between the opinions whether you're a resident or whether you're an owner. It's not only a deep divide, but it's a long-running one, and it's been rumbling on for years and years. I remember sitting on the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee and scrutinising the 2013 Act that gave more rights to residents, but of course didn't remove the 10 per cent. I was also a member of the Petitions Committee that Bethan talked about earlier.

I do welcome your phased approach, and I think that most people will do that. But I think the things that perhaps need addressing now—and I'm not going to ask you to reiterate the answer that you've given about the potential for increased rent—the question I'm going to ask, because you've mentioned it several times, is the right to be able to go to a tribunal, and whether that is cost-effective for people who might find themselves in this position, and, if you don't know the answer now, what the price of going down that road might be for a resident who might already be struggling.

I did see sites that were incredibly well run—I have to say that. I didn't visit any that were badly run, but I do know that there are sites that are badly run, and I do know that they have absent owners and poor management usually. So, I suppose my question there is about trying to enforce the rules that we already have. I do remember the fit-and-proper persons within that Act, whether it was an owner or a manager or an agent, that they had to meet that criteria as a fit-and-proper person to run that site. I know that the oversight of this, if I remember it right, rested with the local authority. So, I suppose that, in order for us to say that we've got legislation in place that ought to deal with the issues that people are already concerned about, we also need to know that that is working in the way that we hoped it would at the time of passing that Act. So, whether we've got any update on that would be useful. If we haven't, if we could look forward to having it any time soon.