Teignbridge District Council v Francis Clark
[2024] UKUT 279 (LC)
Wyldecrest Parks (Management) Ltd v Alan Whitley & Ors
27 February 2024
[2024] UKUT 55 (LC)
Upper Tribunal
Landlords can't automatically raise park home fees by inflation if they've reduced amenities (like parking). The courts decided that each home's fee should be fairly adjusted, considering how much that home was affected by the amenity reduction, not a blanket increase or no increase for everyone. Landlords have to explain their reasoning clearly.
Key Facts
- •Two appeals concerning pitch fee reviews on protected park home sites in England and Wales.
- •Tribunals found significant amenity reductions (loss of parking and green space) displaced the statutory presumption of RPI/CPI pitch fee increases.
- •Tribunals ordered no pitch fee increase, despite inflation (6% in England, 11.1% in Wales).
- •Appellant (Wyldecrest) argued occupiers lacked contractual entitlement to the amenities and that the tribunals erred in principle and assessment.
Legal Principles
Pitch fees are reviewed annually; no change without agreement or FTT approval deeming it reasonable.
Mobile Homes Act 1983, Schedule 2, paragraph 16; Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013
The presumption of RPI/CPI increase is rebuttable. Other factors, including amenity decrease, can justify a different increase.
Mobile Homes Act 1983, Schedule 2, paragraph 18(1)(aa), 20(A1); Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013
Amenity decrease can justify a pitch fee adjustment even without contractual entitlement to the amenity.
Mobile Homes Act 1983, Schedule 2, paragraph 18(1)(aa)
Tribunals must consider if individual pitches were affected differently by amenity loss and justify identical treatment of pitches.
Mobile Homes Act 1983, Schedule 2, paragraph 18(1)
Tribunals have discretion to determine a reasonable pitch fee; a binary choice between full inflation or no increase is incorrect.
Mobile Homes Act 1983, Schedule 2, paragraph 16
Amenity decreases since the Acts' enactment (2013 in England, 2014 in Wales) must be considered, unless already accounted for in a prior tribunal determination.
Mobile Homes Act 1983, Schedule 2, paragraph 18(1)(aa); Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013, Schedule 2, paragraph 18(1)(b)
Personal characteristics of occupiers are irrelevant when determining a reasonable pitch fee.
None explicitly stated, derived from principles of reasonable fee determination.
Outcomes
Appeals allowed.
Tribunals erred in principle by failing to consider individual pitch impact from amenity loss and by wrongly limiting options to full inflation or no increase. Also, they failed to adequately explain their reasoning for a nil increase in the face of high inflation.
Cases remitted to tribunals for reconsideration.
The Upper Tribunal lacks the information to substitute its own decision on appropriate new pitch fees.