Welsh mobile home owners being 'ripped off' by site owners

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Finance

Hundreds of Welsh mobile home tenants believe they are being ripped off by site owners charging excessive admin fees for gas and electricity.

Welsh Assembly member Peter Black has highlighted the problem after researching mobile homes for a Proposed Members' Bill.

Mr Black discovered that on most sites mobile homes are not separately metered and site operators apportion bills and pass on charges to residents, with admin charges being added in some cases.

On one site, residents were charged 20% VAT despite the correct rate being 5%.

In a recent survey conducted by Mr Black, nearly a third (242) of the 811 residents who replied said they did not think they were charged fairly for utilities.

Mr Black said: "In preparing my draft bill on mobile homes it has become evident that some of the practices of site operators with regards to utility bills are questionable and need to be challenged by the proper authorities.

It was found that some site operators charge mobile home residents £15 extra a month on top of their actual electricity usage, £5 to read the electricity meter and a £10 standing charge. A lot of residents felt they could not judge if they were being charged fairly because they had never received the detail of their bill or an invoice.

Mr Black continued: “In some cases we have advised residents to take these issues to trading standards but clearly there is a general problem on mobile home sites where residents are being exploited. I am hopeful that the new licensing regime that will be introduced by my Mobile Homes (Wales) Bill will give local councils additional tools to tackle these abuses."