Selling or giving away a park home

Many park home owners sell their home at some point, or pass it on to someone in the family. In England, the law sets out how a sale or a gift works and which forms the seller and the buyer use. Some of the steps depend on when the seller became the owner.

Choosing your buyer

You can sell your home on the site to anyone you choose. If the site has rules, your buyer will need to confirm that they can keep to them. The government's factsheet says, "You do not need the site owner's permission to sell the home or tell the site owner you are planning to sell."

Some site owners offer a sales service. The factsheet asks sellers to think very carefully before using one, "because you will be charged for it and your buyer's details will be available to the site owner".

The Buyer's Information Form

Once you have an interested buyer, you give them a Buyer's Information Form with the documents it lists. You sign the form to confirm the information is up to date and accurate. You must provide the form and documents at least 28 days before the proposed completion date. If the buyer agrees to an earlier completion date, they must confirm that date to you in writing.

If you became the owner before 26 May 2013

When the buyer confirms they want to go ahead, you tell the site owner on a Notice of Proposed Sale form. The site owner then has 21 days to decide whether to object. If they object, they must apply to the tribunal for a refusal order and tell you in writing, both within those 21 days.

A site owner can ask for a refusal order on three grounds only. Each one is an existing site rule the buyer, or someone moving in with them, would not meet. The rules can be about age, keeping prohibited animals, or parking prohibited vehicles or more vehicles than the rules allow.

If the site owner does not apply in time, or the tribunal decides in your favour, the sale can go ahead. If you became the owner on or after 26 May 2013, you do not need to send the site owner a Notice of Proposed Sale.

Completing the sale

You and the buyer fill in an Assignment form, which passes the pitch agreement to the buyer. Their consent is not needed to assign the agreement.

The buyer must hold back the site owner's commission from the price and pay it to the site owner later. Within 7 days of the assignment, the buyer must send the site owner a Notice of Assignment form, together with a number of documents.

Giving the home to a relative

If you own and live in your home, the law lets you give it away and assign the agreement to a member of your family. Section 5(3) of the Mobile Homes Act 1983 says who counts as family. The list includes a spouse or civil partner, parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and nephews and nieces.

Before the gift, you must give the site owner evidence of the relationship, such as a birth or marriage certificate. Neither you nor the site owner may receive any payment for a gift, and the site owner is not entitled to commission on it. If you became the owner before 26 May 2013, you also send the site owner a Notice of Proposed Gift form. The site owner then has 21 days to decide whether to object, as with a sale.

Advice before you sell

The government strongly advises sellers to use "a solicitor or someone with expertise in selling homes independent from the site owner". Its factsheet also says that a site owner, or anyone acting for them, commits a criminal offence by doing or saying things designed to stop a sale. The factsheet says the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) can give free initial advice on the requirements.

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