A Bethania resident advocating for those living in residential parks said the Queensland government’s latest reforms are a “major step in the right direction”.
Roger Marshall is a resident of the Regal Waters over 50s residential park and president of the Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association.
He said the government’s latest move to limit site rent-increases to either CPI or 3.5 per cent, and ban rent reviews that have been used to “justify rental hikes”, is largely popular among Logan’s park residents.
“The laws are, generally speaking, very much welcomed by the residents of the park,” Mr Marshall said.
“They’re fairly radical, major political changes; particularly in relation to the regulation of site rents, which is a major concern for homeowners.”
While residential park homeowners own their home, they must rent the land it sits on from a park owner.
Manufactured homes are movable, but according to the government, they cannot be relocated without “significant expense” and many park owners are reluctant to accept a home from another site.
Site rent increases and unsold manufactured homes are common causes of disputes in residential parks.
“The main challenge that we’re facing right now across Queensland is that we’re locked into site agreements with the park owners, which has resulted in the continuous increase in the rents that we’re paying,” Mr Marshall said.
“And the more we pay, the less we get in return – there’s no increase in amenities or park maintenance and in some cases, they are actually cut back.
“It’s to the point where we believe that the park owners are making greater profits on the rents, they charge which are over what’s needed to run the park.
“The majority of people living in the parks are either fully or partly dependent on the age pension and the rents in most of the parks take up well over 30 per cent of the age pension.”
There are almost 4000 manufactured homes across Logan.
Across the entire state, it’s more than 20,000.
“More than 40 per cent of the 39,000 people living say they have been slugged with multiple increases in rent and that’s made things tough,” housing minister Meagan Scanlon said.
Mr Marshall said there were “gaps and concerns” in the government’s proposal.
“What’s there is being welcomed and it will make a positive difference,” he said.
“The major concern is the way disputes are managed.
“People have got great frustrations and it’s not working well.
“That has been recognised, but as of yet there have been no measures put forward for addressing it.”
He said the government needed to introduce a more “user-friendly” approach for residents lodging disputes.
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