Media Release – For immediate use

Logan City, Queensland, 18th March 2024  

The financial wellbeing and quality of life of retirees living in manufactured home parks in Queensland is being seriously threatened by the business practices of the large corporations which own and manage parks in the State. QMHOA (Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association), the peak body representing home owners in these parks, is calling upon the Queensland Government to ensure that promised legislation which will strengthen protections against unfair business practices is introduced and fully enacted prior to the state election in October.

Owning a home in a manufactured home park has the potential to be a very good option for comfortable, low-cost, and secure retirement living for people who will live out the rest of their lives on low to modest incomes. In these parks the retiree owns the home but not the land upon which it is situated and the they pay the owners of the park a weekly site fee to cover the leasing of the land on which the home is situated, access to and use of communal facilities and the provision of other services.

According to data provided by the Queensland Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works, there are over 23,000 manufactured homes in Queensland. 91.5% are situated in approximately 100 purpose built parks, the remainder are in multi-use parks where they are co-located in tourist and caravan parks.   

The findings of a survey of residents in parks carried out by the Department showed that the majority of home owners live on low to middle retirement incomes. Over 50% of respondents were on incomes of $40,000 per annum or less; with 53.6% receiving a full aged pension and a further 24.4% receive a part aged pension.

In the past 10 years the ownership of a majority of the purpose built parks in Queensland has passed into the hands of a small number of large, multi-national and Australian corporations.  These companies are adopting aggressive business practices whereby their bottom line is increased at the expense and exploitation of vulnerable retiree home owners. This is achieved by annual site fee increases which are becoming more and more unaffordable and increasingly inequitable. These increases are invariably well in excess of both what is needed to cover any increases in the costs of operating the park and increases in the aged pension and fixed incomes of the home owner. At the same time many park owners are cutting back on the services they offer and on the maintenance of grounds and facilities.

The result is that the wellbeing and quality of life of the older Queenslanders living in these parks is suffering significantly.  Roger Marshall, President of QMHOA states that, “Home owners are having to make difficult choices to cut back on essentials such as medical and pharmaceutical expenses, insurance, recreational costs, and food in order to pay their site fees. Others are seeking to cope by returning to some form of work or by selling valued assets.”  The potential of residential parks as a good option for retirement living for people on low to middle incomes is not being fulfilled.

The Queensland State Government has identified a number of areas in the legislation that requires updating to meet contemporary standards and to provide enhanced consumer protections to home owners. In their Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021-25, the Queensland Government made a commitment to take action to address these areas of concern. Work has been going on for over two and a half years on options to strengthen legislative protections however progress has been exceedingly slow.  “Though the Government are promising changes that will protect home owners from the unfair business practices of park owners, so far there has been no definitive detail, and there has been no discernible action for many months now. With every week and month that passes home owners are being required to absorb ever increasing and unwarranted site fee charges and are seeing a decline in the level and quality of the services they receive,” said Mr Marshall

QMHOA is looking to the Government to act, Mr Marshall continued, “Too many retirees in parks are facing significant and growing financial stress. They need the Queensland Government to ensure as a matter of urgency that promised legislation which will strengthen protections for home owners is introduced and fully enacted before the state election in October.”

# # #

Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association Inc. (QMHOA) is a not for profit, volunteer based, Statewide organisation which fosters fair and equitable treatment of homeowners in manufactured homes parks, through its action areas of Assistance, Education and Advocacy. 

The Association is governed and managed by a Committee of volunteers who are elected annually by our members. We have a contract with the Queensland Government under the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works’ Building Consumer Confidence Program to provide education and assistance services to home owners and prospective home owners manufactured home parks and professional advocacy to government and other stakeholders on their behalf.

Media Contacts

Roger Marshall, President of QMHOA

Mobile phone: 0402 435 993

Email: president@qmhoa.org.au

Source: Queensland Manufactured Home Owners Association Inc. (QMHOA)

Website: https://qmhoa.org.au/

Click on the button below to view or download the full 2 page “Media Release” as a pdf.