On 23 May 2024 the Queensland Parliament passed the Manufactured Home (Residential Parks) Amendment Bill 2024 introducing various amendments to the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003 (Qld) which will significantly impact the operation of manufactured home residential parks.
According to the explanatory note, the Bill is introduced for the purpose of ensuring:
- residential parks are fair and transparent;
- the legislative framework for residential parks is contemporary and meets community expectations; and
- the residential park business model is sustainable for homeowners and park owners.
The following are the key changes to the Act:
CPI as alternative to market rent review
The Bill provides that a default CPI increase will be applied to rent under all site agreements, where no other form of rent increase has been included. This means that where a (now prohibited) market rent review has been removed from a site agreement, and the site agreement includes no other basis for increasing site rent, that particular site's rent will be increased based on the greater of CPI or 3.5%.
Furthermore, the Bill makes clear that the default CPI increase cannot occur more than once a year.
Extended timeframes for buybacks
The Bill increases the timeframes from 7 to 14 days, for the homeowner and park owner to agree on the resale value of the home, where the homeowner is part of the buyback scheme. If the parties cannot agree the resale value in that time, the period by which a valuer is to determine the resale value is also increased from 7 to 14 days.
No offence for failing to buyback
A park owner is now explicitly exempt from committing an offence for failing to buy back a home when there is an unresolved dispute relating to removal of the home from the buyback and rent reduction scheme.
In addition, applications by park owners to QCAT for an extension of time concerning the buyback scheme are now exempt from the alternative dispute resolution process.
Changes to new site agreements
Section 31E of the Bill requires park owners to ensure that the terms of a site agreement between the buyer and the park owner match those of the seller's site agreement before the sale of the manufactured home. This includes for utilities, communal facilities, services, and other prescribed matters. Amendments to the Bill clarify that the requirements of section 31E are subject to any changes made in accordance with the Act, for example any utility charge changes under section 73.
Clarification on cooling-off period
A buyer of a manufactured home has a cooling-off period under section 33 of the Act, allowing them to terminate their site agreement. Section 34 states that if the site agreement is terminated during this period, the sale agreement for the home is also terminated. Previously, this provision is interpreted as applying only when the park owner sells the home, which can cause issues for pre-owned homes sold by others. The Bill updates section 34 to ensure that the automatic termination of the sale agreement applies regardless of whether the home is sold by the park owner or another party, replacing references to the park owner with “the seller”.
Here, the cooling-off period means the following periods commencing the day after the last person signed the site agreement:
- if the park owner has not given the prospective home owner the disclosure documents for the site as required under section 29 — 28 days;
- otherwise — 7 days.
Direct debit for paying site rent
Direct debit is now explicitly recognised as an approved method for paying site rent. This includes payments made to a financial institution account nominated by the park owner. The Bill also adds a new park owner power to allow it to prescribe approved ways of paying site rent.
Review of the changes
The Bill includes provisions for a review of its impact within three years of its commencement. The review aims to assess:
- the impact of the reforms;
- the effectiveness of the reforms; and
- any further adjustment needed to the Act.