After successfully passing through both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, a Bill that will change the metric by which park home owners’ annual pitch fees rates are set was given Royal Assent and became an Act of Parliament. On 2 May, King Charles III rubber stamped the Mobile Homes (Pitch Fees) Bill, which dictates that park home owners’ pitch fee levels will now be calculated by the lower Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflationary figure rather than the higher Retail Price Index (RPI) number.

The Mobile Homes (Pitch Fees) Act 2023 will come into force in England on 2 July 2023. From that day onwards, any park home owner with a pitch fee review date looming should expect it to be set by the lower CPI figure and not RPI.

The most recent inflation figures for April 2023 saw CPI running at 8.7 per cent and RPI at 11.4 per cent.

The change represents a significant alteration to the legislation surrounding residential mobile homes in England as the RPI number has been used for pitch fee reviews for a number of decades.

In Wales, the CPI figure has been used for several years already.

As well as being an important moment for park home owners, the Act must also go down as a stunning success for the Park Home Owners’ Justice Campaign (PHOJC).

PHOJC founder Sonia McColl OBE said: ‘Congratulations must go to every resident of the PHOJC. These amazing and steadfast people have rallied, sent letters and attended meetings in London to bring about this change that will help all park home residents.
‘It has been a long and daunting task, but together we have done it.

‘However, no one is an island and nothing can be achieved without help and assistance from those at Westminster. Our sincere thanks must go to Sir Christopher Chope OBE MP, who accompanied us to Downing Street and successfully steered his Private Members Bill through the House of Commons and to Lord Udny-Lister who steered the Bill successfully through the House of Lords – not forgetting our President Sir Peter Bottomley MP and Father of the House of Commons, who has been a staunch ally. Together, we have all brought about a much-needed change for the park home residents in England.’

A copy of the Act is available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/11/pdfs/ukpga_20230011_en.pdf