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Caravan parks and villages

I moved into a caravan. Now that is accommodation which does not require references, can be a week-to-week arrangement rather than a 3-month, 6-month or 12-month lease. A lot of us find ourselves in accommodation which is less than favourable. The kind of accommodation which you wouldn’t even consider as a dog kennel. In my caravan, the walls seeped water. But that’s where we find ourselves, because we can’t rent through the mainstream rental market.¹⁰⁹

Caravan parks vary in type of clientele and standard. Some caravan parks cater only to tourists or elderly people while other parks may provide general accommodation in addition to holiday accommodation. Parks also vary in the amenities, services and standard of accommodation they offer. Our interviews indicate that the legal issues facing marginal residents of caravan parks¹¹⁰ and villages are similar to the legal issues facing people living in (inner-city) boarding houses. According to a solicitor working with park residents, like boarding houses, marginal residents may experience arbitrary eviction and in some residential parks conditions are unsanitary and unsafe.¹¹¹ Another solicitor commented that there were often restrictions on the length of time people could stay in a park, since many parks evict people at the beginning of holiday seasons.¹¹²

Residential park residents who sign an agreement to rent are governed immediately by the following NSW legislation: Residential Parks Act 1998, Residential Parks Regulation 1999, Landlord and Tenant (Rental Bonds) Act 1977 and Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001. Under these Acts they are assigned certain rights and can bring matters before the CTTT.¹¹³ However, park residents who have not entered into formal agreements with park owners have less protection from arbitrary eviction, and limited redress when conditions are unsanitary or they are treated unfairly. Consultations with tenancy workers suggest that many marginal residents of caravan parks fail to enter into formal agreements with park owners.¹¹⁴ Tenancy workers also report that like residents of boarding houses, people are often afraid to complain about conditions, for fear of being evicted.¹¹⁵ The story of one male caravan park resident illustrates this well.

He has been living in the park for 17 months. He has no written agreement. The tenant’s home is a van with a framed vinyl annex and wooden door with an inadequate lock. The van itself has no door. The annex’s door can be easily forced open, even when locked. The tenant has been burgled twice. He has been complaining to the park owner for the past 12 months about this and other problems but is fearful of eviction because he doesn’t have a written agreement.

There are urgent repairs needed: attached to van is a gas bottle which is leaking—the valve is faulty. The hot-water system sits adjacent to this bottle and has an open flame and only a thin piece of metal separates the flame from the gas bottle. Additionally, the electrical outlet in the kitchenette is buzzing and shorting out. Appliances continuously cut out and only through wiggling plugs can the tenant make them work.

Further, the van is infested with fleas (he has no pet), cockroaches, and rats; there is rat faeces all through his belongings. Vermin enter through a hole in the floor and, presumably because there is no door to the van.

Despite numerous requests by the tenant the park owner does not respond. Rather, he has told the tenant that he is planning to redevelop the park for under 55 year olds, the implication being that the tenant will be evicted at the owner’s whim. The tenant has therefore felt unable to take his complaints further for fear of eviction. He was raised in this area and has nowhere else to go.¹¹⁶

Thus, fear of eviction further limits the capacity of park residents to take action if they face arbitrary eviction or unsafe or unsanitary living conditions. This fear is compounded by the increase in the number of park closures due to development¹¹⁷ across NSW which has limited the availability of alternative accommodation once people are evicted.