[2024] UKUT 197 (LC)

This appeal raises three short points about the review of pitch fees under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (the 1983 Act).

The appellant (Wyldecrest) is the owner of Berrnarbor Park, near Ilfracombe in Devon (the Park), which is a protected site for the purposes of the 1983 Act. The respondents are the owners of mobile homes situated on 12 separate pitches on the Park.

Pitch fees on the Park are reviewable with effect from 1 January each year. By a decision issued on 25 September 2023 the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (the FTT) reduced the pitch fees payable by the respondents with effect from 1 January 2023 to the level at which they had been set on 1 January 2021. The reason for that reduction was that the FTT was satisfied that following the appellant’s acquisition from a previous owner in 2020 the condition and amenity of the Park had deteriorated significantly from its former condition, which it described as having been “pristine”.

The FTT granted the appellant permission to appeal on three grounds, to which I will come shortly. At the hearing of the appeal the appellant was represented by Mr Payne. The respondents were represented by Mr Richard Gordon-Wilson, one of the residents of the Park and himself a respondent.