The state government is considering implementing a rent cap in residential parks as the Queensland peak body for residents says people are experiencing housing stress due to unfair business practices.
The parks are usually marketed as living communities for people over 50 and as an affordable alternative to retirement villages where residents can buy their own home but rent the land from a park owner.
There are more than 200 residential parks across the state which contain more than 23,000 homes.
Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association president Roger Marshall said residents, who are largely older Australians on pensions, were finding it increasingly difficult to afford the yearly rental increases.
"The main challenge that we're facing right now across Queensland is that we're locked into site agreements with the park owners, which has resulted in the continuous increase in the rents that we're paying," he said.
"It's to the point where we believe that the park owners are making greater profits on the rents they charge which are over what's needed to run the park.
"The majority of people living in the parks are either fully or partly dependent on the age pension and the rents in most of the parks take up well over 30 per cent of the age pension."
Mr Marshall, who also lives at a residential park in Bethania, south of Brisbane, said the increases to rents in the park were influenced by two factors — the consumer price index for Brisbane and market rent reviews.
"Both of those generally result in increases which are well above the increases in the age pension and people's income," he said.
The park owners who run the sites usually employ a manager and provide facilities and services like maintenance.
The Queensland government is looking into reforming the residential parks sector and has released the proposed changes for public feedback for the next six weeks.
The proposed reforms include:
- A maximum limit on yearly site rent increases
- Prohibiting market rent reviews
- Requiring park comparisons to be published online
- Cutting red tape for buying a pre-owned manufactured home and entering into a site agreement
- Options for buybacks and site rent reductions for unsold manufactured homes
Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch said the changes were aimed at providing more transparency in the industry and giving residents greater protection.
"If we're seeing some unfair practices with regards to the management and the rent of a site, it's not like you can pick up your manufactured home and go to another site," she said.
"We want to make sure it's a very fair process, that its transparent and that the residents who take up the option to live in these residential parks feel as though they are getting the value that they deserve."
Call of transparency
Mr Marshall said he was also like to see the public reporting of the costs associated with running the parks.
"Transparency brings trust, at the moment there's a lack of transparency as well around what are the costs of running the park not just between the parks," he said.
"I've got no idea what the costs of running this park are and I'm living here, and yet I have to pay for it."
Last year, the state government released an issues paper on changes to the residential parks sector in which park owners highlighted rising operation and insurance costs as an issue.
"Park owners have expressed concern that CPI-based rent increases may be insufficient to cover increases in the cost of maintaining the park," the report said.
"Understanding the different costs associated with running a residential park, and how these change over time, is important when reviewing the legal framework for site rent to ensure residential parks remain viable."
