Responsibilities of a residential park owner

Park owner responsibilities and obligations

As a residential park owner, your basic responsibilities are to:

• take reasonable steps to ensure home owners and their tenants have access to their sites and all common areas
• maintain the common areas and communal facilities in a reasonable state of cleanliness and repair so they are fit for use by home owners and their tenants
• be reasonably available to home owners and their tenants to address park issues, such as the supply of utilities
• ensure you provide a continuous supply of utilities to the park and all sites, where possible
• comply with the park owner behavioural standards (outlined below)
• comply with the site agreement and park rules
• display on the park notice board either
  • the current park rules
  • information about how a home owner can get a copy of the current park rules for no cost to the home owner.
• prepare, maintain and implement emergency plans. All residential park owners must have an emergency plan in place.

Fraudulent or misleading conduct

As a park owner, you must not:

• engage in fraudulent or misleading conduct while operating the park or when acting as a home owner's agent to sell or negotiate the sale of a manufactured home
• harassment or unconscionable conduct while operating the park or acting as a home owner's agent to sell, or to negotiate the sale of a manufactured home.

Quiet enjoyment

As a park owner or manager, you must:

• take reasonable steps to ensure home owners have quiet enjoyment of their sites and common areas
• not interfere with the home owners' reasonable peace, comfort and privacy.

Emergency plans

All park owners must have an emergency plan in place for each residential park, as of 1 September 2019.

As a park owner, you must keep the following at the park:

• a written copy of the emergency plan
• a written record of each test conducted for emergency procedures detailed in the emergency plan.

You should also keep another copy of the emergency plan off-site.

Access for emergency vehicles

As a park owner, you must ensure that emergency vehicles (e.g. ambulance, fire and police) have ready access to the park at all times, unless the park owner has a reasonable excuse.

You should also keep other relevant information with the emergency plan, including how to notify emergency services if access to the park has changed (e.g. gates are installed, codes to access gates have changed).

Restricting visitors

Park owners must not:

• restrict a visitor who is visiting the home owner(s) or another resident at the site or in a common area of the park if the visitor is providing, or intending to provide:
  • a health or community service to the home owner or other resident
  • and
  • is suitably qualified to provide the service.
• restrict other visitors from visiting a home owner or other resident(s) at the site or in a common area, without a reasonable excuse.

Maintenance of trees in common areas

Park owners must ensure that trees in common areas of the park are maintained so they do not pose a danger to any person or property.

Home owners who believe the park owner has not maintained a tree(s) can apply to the tribunal for an order requiring them to do so, subject to the dispute resolution procedures in the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003.

Mail facilities

The park owner must establish and maintain reasonable and accessible mail facilities for the home owners.

Separate measurement or metering of utilities

The park owner must:

• pay for the cost of installing measuring devices or meters to measure individual site usage, if you want to separately measure or meter use of a utility at the site
• not charge a home owner an amount (or arrange for a home owner to be charged an amount) for the use of a utility that is more than the relevant supply authority would charge to supply the utility to the site. This applies if a utility is separately measured or metered and charged, or if the utility becomes separately measured or metered and charged.

Change of business hours phone number

The park owner must give the home owners written notice of a change in their business hours contact phone number for the park, within 7 days of the change.

Access to a site by park owner

As a park owner, you may only enter a manufactured home site (in accordance with section 94 of the Act) under the following circumstances:

• when a home owner has consented to the entry
• in an emergency
• to read a utility meter
• to carry out an inspection or maintenance on the site after giving the home owner 2 days' notice
• to show the site to a prospective buyer after giving the home owner 1 days' notice
• when you reasonably believe the manufactured home has been abandoned
• under an order of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) for a stated purpose.

You must also have the written consent of the home owner to enter a site on a Sunday, public holiday or between the hours of 8pm and 8am to carry out the following:

• read a utility meter
• carry out an inspection
• conduct maintenance on the site
• show the site to a prospective buyer.

Park owner behavioural standards

As a park owner, you must:

• respect the reasonable peace, comfort and privacy of a home owner or other resident
• take reasonable steps to ensure a home owner or other resident (or their guests) do not interfere with the reasonable peace, comfort and privacy of another home owner or resident
• use your best endeavours to ensure each home owner or other resident lives in an environment free from harassment and intimidation
• respect the right of a home owner or other resident to have autonomy over their personal, domestic or financial affairs or possessions
• respond to correspondence from a home owner or other resident (or their representative), within 21 days of receipt of correspondence and provide a complete response to the correspondence.

Enforcing these obligations

Both home owners and park owners are required to comply with these obligations and behavioural standards. These obligations are currently enforceable through the dispute resolution procedures in the Act.