Fees and charging policy for residential mobile homes sites

1. Introduction
2. The licence fee structure
3. Review of the licence fee structure
4. Publishing the fees policy
5. Payment of fees
6. Other charges  

Appendix A - Fees for licensing residential mobile home sites

Table of fees

Appendix B - Calculation of fees

1. Introduction

1.1 The Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013 has been introduced to supersede those elements of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 relating to the licensing of relevant protected sites. Sites that are for holiday use only or are only allowed to have units stationed on them at certain times of the year and are not relevant protected sites, are exempt from these licensing fees.

1.2 The Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013 (the Act) authorises local authorities to issue licences in respect of 'relevant protected sites' and to require applications for such licences to be accompanied by a fee fixed by the authority. A licence may be granted for up to five years. Fees may also be charged for applications to transfer site licences or to change conditions in site licences.

1.3 The City and County of Swansea is the local authority for the purposes of the act and has agreed to make charges for the licensing of relevant protected sites in accordance with the powers granted under the Act.

1.4 Any fees charged must fairly cover the costs (or part of the costs) incurred by the local authority in performing its functions under the Act, (excluding the costs of enforcement action or any functions relating to prohibiting caravans on commons or provision of sites by the local authority itself).

1.5 In setting its fees policy and the fees to be charged, the council has had regard to the Fees Toolkit Guide for Local Authorities on Setting Site Licensing Fees issued by the Wales Heads of Environmental Health Expert Panels for Licensing and Private Sector Housing.

2. The licence fee structure  

2.1 In calculating its fee structure, the council has calculated its fees in accordance with the provisions of the Act, and the fees determined are set out in Appendix A.

2.2 In determining those fees, the council has taken into account all administrative costs incurred in the licensing process, officer visits to sites, travel costs, consultations, meetings, monitoring of sites/investigation of complaints and the giving of informal advice.

2.3 In accordance with the legislation, the following sites are exempt from licensing:

• Local authority-owned sites.
• Use incidental to a dwelling house within the same curtilage.
• Sites where a single caravan is stationed on land for not more than 28 days in any 12-month period.
• Sites where caravans are stationed on land not less than 20,000 square metres for not more than 28 days and not more than three caravans are stationed at any one time.
• Sites where caravans are solely for workers employed in building or engineering operations on that or adjacent land.
• Sites where caravans are solely for seasonal agricultural/ forestry workers employed on land owned by the site owner.
• Sites used by travelling showmen who are members of a relevant organisation.
• Sites occupied by organisations holding a certificate of exemption.

2.4 The fee structure adopted by the council is based upon:

• a set flat administrative fee for processing the application, and
• to take account of officer time to inspect sites of varying sizes, a fee per pitch component will be added to the flat administration fee because the cost to the council in terms of officer time is proportional to the number of pitches on site.

3. Review of the licence fee structure

3.1 A review of the fee structure will be carried out every other year/ biennially and it will be revised if necessary. The review will consider any surplus or deficit in costs that may have built up. Any adjustments will consider variations in officer and administration time to those used in calculating the fees set out in this policy document, along with any changes to other costs incurred in providing the licensing function.

4. Publishing the fee policy                   

4.1 The fees policy for licensing of residential park homes sites will be published on this page.

4.2 If the council revises its fees policy it will replace the published policy with the revised policy.

5. Payment of fees

5.1 The council requires application fees for a site licence, for amending a site licence of for transferring a site licence, to accompany the application. The council will not commence the application process until such time as the fee is received.

5.2 Application fees are not refundable if the application is not approved.

6. Other charges

6.1 Where appropriate, the council will also seek to recover expenses incurred:

• In taking action following conviction of the site owner for failure to carry out actions required by a compliance notice; or
• In taking emergency action where there is an imminent risk of serious harm to any person on the site as a result of the site owner's failure to comply with licence conditions.

6.2 Interest may be charged on any sums to be recovered as a result of enforcement action.

6.3 The council will also be able to register any of the debts to be recovered for enforcement actions as a local land charge against the site.  

6.4 In accordance with the Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (Wales) Regulations 2014, site owners are required to review existing site rules and consult with residents in respect of proposed site rules. Once agreed with the residents the site owner is required to lodge the site rules with the council. The council needs to approve and register the rules. The council will also be required to publish the list of site rules on the council's website.

6.5 A set fee is made for depositing, varying and deleting site rules. If the park owner has completed an inadequate consultation process, it is proposed that a new fee for depositing of site rules must be paid by the park owner to cover the council's costs.

6.6 This statement about enforcement costs and deposit of site rules is not required by the act to be included in the council's fees policy but is set out in this document in the interests of completeness and transparency as below.

Appendix A - Fees for licensing residential mobile home sites

The following fees will apply:

Initial licence application

• a set administrative fee for processing the application, and
• to take account of officer time to inspect sites of varying sizes, a fee per pitch component will be added to the flat administration fee as the cost to the council in terms of officer time is proportional to the number of pitches on site.

A site licence will be granted for up to five years.

The pitch inspection fee will consist of the maximum permitted number of pitches granted in the planning permission for the site (if specified). Where there is no permitted maximum number specified in the planning permission, the fee must be based on the number of pitches on the site at the time the application is made whether the pitches are in use or not.

Variation of existing site licence conditions / replacement licence

The council may also apply a fee to vary an existing site licence. The site licence may be varied upon the request of the licence holder or by the council if there is a change in circumstances.

There is an application fee for the variation of a site licence, where no inspection is needed.

If a variation is being applied for due to a change in site layout i.e. adding more pitches, creating/relocating homes or extending the site, the per pitch fee x number of pitches being created must accompany the 'variation site change' cost.

The cost for a variation of this nature is higher due to the need of a site inspection.

If the council deems it necessary to alter site licence conditions to take account of new Welsh Government Model Standards for Residential Caravan Sites, there will be no fee payable by the licence holder.

There is a charge for a replacement licence.

Fees for lodging site rules

In accordance with the Mobile Homes (Site Rules) (Wales) Regulations 2014, if a site owner wishes to apply site rules to the site they must be deposited with the council.  The council needs to approve and register the rules. The council will also be required to publish the list of site rules on the council's website.

There is a set fee for depositing, varying and deleting site rules. If the park owner has completed an inadequate consultation process, a new fee for depositing of site rules must be paid by the park owner to cover the council's costs.

Enforcement charges

The council is entitled in accordance with section 19 and 22 of the Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013 (the Act) to recover expenses incurred in carrying out enforcement action involved in the service of a compliance/ emergency compliance notice and fixed penalty notices (FPNs) (not exceeding level 1 of the standard scale for summary offences within the Act for the latter).

These expenses include costs incurred in deciding whether to serve a notice, site inspections, preparing the notice and obtaining expert advice.

Where appropriate, the council will seek to recover expenses incurred:

• in taking action following conviction of the site owner for failure to carry out actions required by a compliance notice; or
• in taking emergency action where there is an imminent risk of serious harm to any person on the site as a result of the site owner's failure to comply with licence conditions.

Interest may be charged on any sums to be recovered as a result of enforcement action.

The council will also be able to register any unrecovered enforcement debts as a local land charge against the site.

Fixed penalty notices

Section 6 of the Act allows the council discretion to issue a fixed penalty notice to discharge certain minor breaches of site licence conditions. Fixed penalty notices must not exceed level 1 on the standard scale of fines. A fixed penalty notice could be used by the council to deal with minor infringements.

The council will impose a £75 charge for a mobile home fixed penalty notice, with this reduced to £50 if paid within 10 days.

Compliance notices

Section 17 of the Act allows the council discretion to serve compliance notices on site owners where site licence conditions are breached. Such notices will set out what the site owner needs to do to correct the breaches and the timescales. Failure to comply with the notice would be a criminal offence, punishable by a fine and the site licence could be revoked upon a third or more subsequent prosecutions (section 18). Following a successful prosecution for breaching a compliance notice, the council would be able to serve notice to enter the site and carry out the necessary works (works in default)

In addition to this, Section 21 of the Act allows a notice to be served on site owners enabling the council to enter the site and carry out emergency work where there is an imminent risk of serious harm.

The cost of deciding whether to take action, preparing and serving compliance and/or emergency action notices can be recovered (Section 19 and 22 respectively). The total expenses the local authority seeks to recover (the relevant expenses) can
include, but are not limited to:

• Expert advice (including legal advice)
• Inspection costs
• Administration costs in serving notice.

The costs of issuing a compliance notice would be based on an hourly rate.  Additional officer costs including expert advice and other costs associated specifically with an individual case will also be chargeable on a case-by-case basis.  A detailed breakdown of the relevant expenses will be outlined in the demand, which will accompany the payment slip.

Each compliance notice issued will vary in cost; therefore, it is not possible to set a flat fee for this action. If any works in the compliance notice are not carried out, the licence holder commits an offence, and the council may consider taking legal action. Any costs associated with this process would be awarded at the discretion of the courts.

In accordance with section 25 of the Act, the council reserves the right to charge interest above the Bank of England base rate to all outstanding operative demands in respect of compliance or emergency action notices. The relevant expenses and any accrued interest are, until recovered, a legal land charge.

Appendix B - Calculation of fees

A fees toolkit has also been developed in conjunction with the All-Wales Licensing Technical Panel with the aim of providing a consistent and robust mechanism for the setting of licence fees.

The All-Wales Licensing Technical Panel is a sub group of the Welsh Heads of Environmental Health Group (WHoEHG).

The toolkit has been designed to assist in setting fees that are based on the full cost recovery of the work involved in the licensing of sites in a way that is transparent and robust.