Manufactured Homes
Buying a manufactured home is different from buying ordinary residential property
A manufactured home in a residential park can offer an attractive lifestyle, but the legal arrangement is different from purchasing a house or unit with the land beneath it.
The homeowner generally owns the manufactured home but occupies the site within the residential park under a separate site agreement with the park owner.
That distinction is important.
The purchase of the home and the right to occupy the site need to work together, and the site agreement can have a significant effect on the homeowner's ongoing costs, rights and obligations.
At Watt & Severin, we advise people buying, selling and living in manufactured homes in Queensland residential parks and help them understand the legal arrangements involved.
How can we help?
Buying a Manufactured Home
Understanding the purchase and site arrangements before you commit.
Selling a Manufactured Home
Advice about the legal arrangements when it is time to sell.
Site Agreements
Understanding the agreement governing your occupation of the site.
Park Issues & Disputes
Advice when a disagreement arises between a homeowner and park owner.
Park Issues & Disputes ↓
Buying a Manufactured Home
Understand both parts of the arrangement
When buying a manufactured home located in a residential park, it is important to consider more than the home itself.
You also need to understand the legal arrangements that allow the home to remain on the site within the park.
This means considering the purchase documentation and the proposed site agreement together.
Before you commit, we can review the documents, explain how the arrangement works and help you identify issues that need clarification or further consideration.
The site agreement matters
The site agreement governs important aspects of the ongoing relationship between the homeowner and park owner.
Depending upon the particular arrangement, issues to understand may include:
the site being occupied;
site rent;
how site rent may change;
services and utilities;
responsibilities for maintenance;
use of communal facilities;
park rules;
rights and responsibilities of the homeowner;
rights and responsibilities of the park owner;
circumstances in which the home may be sold;
assignment or other arrangements affecting the site agreement; and
circumstances in which the agreement may end.
The purchase price of the home is therefore only one part of the financial and legal commitment.
Understanding the ongoing site arrangements is equally important.
Considering buying a manufactured home? Talk to Watt & Severin before you commit.
Selling a Manufactured Home
The sale involves more than finding a buyer
Selling a manufactured home within a residential park involves the sale of the home together with legal and practical issues concerning its location within the park.
The existing site agreement, the arrangements for the incoming homeowner and the requirements applying to the sale all need to be considered.
We can help sellers understand the process, review or prepare the relevant documentation and address legal issues associated with the transaction.
Deal with the legal arrangements early
If you are considering selling, it can be useful to obtain advice before a buyer is ready to proceed.
That provides an opportunity to review the existing documents, understand the process and identify anything that may need to be addressed before the transaction progresses.
Thinking about selling your manufactured home? Talk to us early.
Site Agreements
Your home may be yours, but the site arrangement continues
A site agreement is fundamental to living in a manufactured home park.
It establishes the legal relationship concerning the homeowner's occupation of the site and operates within the framework of Queensland's manufactured home legislation.
The agreement may affect matters such as site rent, services, use of the site and facilities, the respective responsibilities of the parties and what happens when circumstances change.
Before entering into a site agreement, it is important to understand both the document itself and the statutory framework surrounding it.
We can review a proposed site agreement, explain its practical effect and advise about matters that require attention.
Site rent
For many homeowners, site rent is one of the most important ongoing financial aspects of the arrangement.
The site agreement and applicable legislation can affect how site rent is determined and how changes to it are dealt with.
If you are entering a park, understanding the proposed site rent arrangements should form part of your decision before committing.
If you already live in a park and have concerns about a proposed change to site rent, we can review the relevant documents and circumstances and advise about your position.
Park Issues & Disputes
When questions or disagreements arise
A homeowner may live in a residential park for many years.
During that time, questions or disagreements can arise about the site agreement, site rent, park rules, services, maintenance, sale arrangements or the respective rights and responsibilities of the homeowner and park owner.
Queensland's manufactured home legislation also provides processes for dealing with certain disputes.
If an issue arises, we can review the site agreement and relevant correspondence, explain the legal position and help you consider the available options.
Where a practical resolution can be reached, that may be preferable to allowing a disagreement to escalate.
Where a formal dispute process is required, we can advise about the steps involved.
Manufactured home park or retirement village?
Similar lifestyle does not mean the same legal arrangement
Manufactured home parks and retirement villages can offer similar lifestyle features, particularly for older residents, but the legal arrangements are different.
A manufactured home arrangement generally involves ownership of the home together with a separate right to occupy a site within a residential park.
A retirement village operates under a different legal and regulatory framework.
Understanding which arrangement you are entering is important because it affects the documents, financial arrangements and legal rights involved.
For advice about retirement village arrangements, see our Retirement Villages page.
Retirement Villages →
When someone else needs to deal with the home
Circumstances can change after a person moves into a residential park.
An attorney may become responsible for the homeowner's financial affairs. A homeowner may move into aged care. Following a homeowner's death, an executor or administrator may need to deal with the home and the site arrangements as part of the estate.
Those circumstances can bring together manufactured home law, powers of attorney and estate administration.
We can help identify the legal issues and the authority required to deal with the home and associated arrangements.
Start with the documents
If you are considering buying a manufactured home, send us the proposed purchase documents, site agreement and the information you have received from the park.
If you are selling or already live in a park and an issue has arisen, bring us the existing documents and tell us what has happened.
We can explain how the arrangement works, identify the legal issues and help you understand what to do next.
Talk to Watt & Severin about your manufactured home.