Eviction from protected sites

This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. Get advice relating to Scotland

This section explains your rights if you rent a mobile home on a protected site and have been asked to leave by the site owner.

You will have extra protection against eviction from the site you live on if you rent a mobile home that:

falls into the legal definition of a mobile home, and
is stationed on a protected site.

Please see the section on mobile homes and sites if you're not sure whether your mobile home falls into these categories.

When can the site owner ask me to leave?

If you rent a mobile home on a protected site, you should have a residential contract with the site owner. This is an agreement that gives you the right to live in a mobile home on the site. The contract does not need to be in writing - if the site owner has given you permission to occupy the mobile home and accepts rent from you, a contract exists. Few people who rent mobile homes are given written agreements.

The residential contract should state how long you have the right to live on the site, for example six months or a year. Once this time is up, the contract expires and will need to be renewed. If you don't have a written contract, you can argue that you have a right to remain there for a year from the date you moved in or from the date you started to pay rent.

During that time, the site owner can only ask you to leave the site under the following conditions:

There is a clause in your contract stating that the agreement can be ended by either you or the site owner with four weeks' notice, and the site owner gives you the correct notice.
You break any of the terms of your agreement, and the agreement states that this gives the site owner the right to ask you to leave.

However, the site owner can evict you at the end of your contract, as long as they give you at least four weeks' notice to leave. If you don't leave at the end of the four weeks, the site owner must apply to the court for an eviction order. If they have given you the correct notice, the court will grant them an eviction order and you will have to leave.

Suspension of eviction order

The court can decide to postpone your eviction for up to 12 months. When deciding whether to do this, they must take into account all the circumstances of the case, in particular:

whether you have broken any terms or conditions of your residential contract or the site licence, or have broken any of the park rules
whether you have refused an offer by the site owner to renew your contract for a reasonable period on reasonable terms
whether you have tried to obtain suitable accommodation for the mobile home elsewhere.

Restrictions

The court may impose conditions on the suspension, such as payment of rent arrears.
The court can't suspend an eviction order if you are being evicted from a council-run site.
If the site licence is due to expire then the period of the suspension must not go beyond the expiry date of the licence.

What if the site owner evicts me illegally?

If the site owner tries to evict you without giving you the correct notice or without getting a court order, or if they force you to leave by harassing you, they are breaking the law. Harassment and illegal eviction are serious criminal offences.

If you think the site owner is acting unlawfully, get advice from the council, a Shelter advice centre or Citizens Advice. Use our directory to find an adviser in your area.

Can I apply as homeless?

Yes. If you live in a mobile home or houseboat but have nowhere to keep it, you are legally homeless. You can therefore make a homeless application to the council, who will have a duty to offer you:

help and advice to find somewhere else to live or keep your mobile home, and
depending on your circumstances, somewhere to stay, if necessary (temporary accommodation).