The Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person) (England) Regulations 2020, requires local authorities to be satisfied that the owner of a mobile home site is a fit and proper person to manage the site or that a person appointed by the owner to manage the site is a fit and proper person to do so.
Which sites does this apply to?
The test will apply to all relevant protected sites i.e. a privately owned park/mobile home site where a planning permission or site licence allows the land to be occupied wholly, or in part, for year-round residential use.
These sites require a site licence under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. The 2020 Regulations do not apply to non-commercial family-occupied sites referred to as ‘exempt sites’
What does this mean for site owners?
From October 1, 2021, unless the site is exempt, the site owner must:
- be a fit and proper person to lawfully operate a park home site, or
- have a fit and proper site manager in place
What must the site owner do?
The site owner, or their appointed site manager, is required to apply to us to be included on a register of fit and proper persons. A site owner may only apply if they hold or have applied for a site licence in respect of the site. The requirements to apply to be included on the register also applies where the owner or the site manager is a non-natural person (such as a company).
Site owners/licence holders will have three months from July 1, 2021 up to and including September 30, 2021 to submit completed applications to the Council.
How do we decide whether the applicant is fit and proper?
In assessing an application for inclusion on our register of fit and proper persons, we will consider the following: past compliance with the site licence;
- the long term maintenance of the site;
- whether the relevant person has sufficient level of competence to manage the site;
- the management structure and funding arrangements for the site or proposed management structure and funding arrangement.
and whether the owner/site licence holder or the person appointed to manage the site:
- has the right to work within the UK
- has committed any offence involving fraud or other dishonesty, violence, arson or drugs or listed in Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (offences attracting notification requirements)
- has contravened any provision of the law relating to housing, caravan sites, mobile homes, public health, planning or environmental health or of landlord and tenant law
- has contravened any provision of the Equality Act 2010 in, or in connection with, the carrying on of any business
- has harassed any person in, or in connection with, the carrying on of any business
- has had an application rejected by any other local authority
- is, or has been within the past 10 years, personally insolvent
- is, or has been within the last 10 years, disqualified from acting as a company director
We may consider the conduct of any person associated or formerly associated with the owner/site licence holder or the person appointed to manage the site (whether on a personal, work or other basis), if it appears that associated person’s conduct is relevant.
We may also consider any evidence on any other relevant matters.
For further detailed information see:
The Council’s Fit and Proper Persons Determination Policy
Government guidance Mobile homes: a guide for local authorities on the fit and proper person test
The regulations The Mobile Homes (Requirement for Manager of Site to be Fit and Proper Person) (England) Regulations 2020
An application must include a fully completed application form and supporting information. As soon as reasonably practicable after an application is made, the Council must make a decision on the application.
