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A notice without the right paperwork has no effect

A notice proposing to raise your pitch fee has to clear a hurdle before anyone even looks at the figure. In England, paragraph 17(2A) of Schedule 1 Chapter 2 to the Mobile Homes Act 1983 states that a notice proposing an increase has no effect unless it is accompanied by a document that complies with paragraph 25A.

What "no effect" means

This is not a technicality that leaves the notice open to argument. It means the notice is treated as if it had never been served. The pitch fee you were paying before it arrived is the pitch fee you still owe, whatever the notice proposed.

Why the form is fixed in advance

The document that has to go with the notice is not something the site owner drafts to their own standard. Its contents are prescribed by regulations under paragraph 25A, so a notice either meets that standard or it does not, separately from whether the proposed increase itself is reasonable.

If you have a notice in front of you and are not sure whether it clears this test, the next question is what you do if you disagree with it. That is covered on If You Disagree, What Actually Happens.

What the form must contain

What a valid pitch fee notice must include

Paragraph 25A(1) sets out what the accompanying document must contain. A notice without these has no effect under paragraph 17(2A).

  • The CPI percentage change

    The specific figure used to calculate the proposed increase, referenced to its Office for National Statistics series.

  • An explanation of paragraph 17's effect

    The notice must set out what paragraph 17 does.

  • The matters the proposed amount is attributable to

    Each element making up the new figure, stated separately.

  • Owner details

    Where these are missing, as in the Beechfield Park determination, the tribunal has treated the notice as void.

  • A signature

    An unsigned form was one of the defects the tribunal relied on in holding a notice and form void and of no effect.

This list follows paragraph 25A(1) itself. It is not a substitute for reading the notice you have been given, and where you are unsure whether yours meets the requirement, the Leasehold Advisory Service (parkhomes.lease-advice.org) gives free, independent advice on the point.

A determination where the form was the issue

A pitch fee review notice is not valid just because it arrives on time. At Beechfield Park near Chichester, a second review notice and its accompanying form were challenged by the residents and taken to the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber.

What the tribunal found

In case reference CHI/45UC/PHI/2023/0039 and related cases, decided 20 October 2023, the tribunal held the notice and the form that came with it void and of no effect. The form set out no proposals for the new pitch fee, gave no details of the site owner, and was not signed.

Because the notice was void, the residents were not liable to pay the proposed increase. The owner was entitled to serve another notice, but the one in front of the residents that year carried no force.

What this shows

This is one determination on one set of facts, not a general rule about how often notices go wrong. It shows that a tribunal will look at whether the form actually contains what it is required to contain. The full determination is published on GOV.UK and can be retrieved and read against the facts of your own notice. For the provision that sets out what a notice and form must contain, see The Written Statement and the 28 Days and How to Read a Tribunal Decision. If you disagree with a notice you have received, If You Disagree, What Actually Happens sets out what follows.

What happens once a notice is void

A notice that fails the test set out in paragraph 17(2A) does not simply vanish and leave the question unanswered. Paragraph 17(6A) of Schedule 1 Chapter 2 to the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (England) states the consequence in the same provision. An occupier is not liable to pay the pitch fee at the rate the void notice proposed. You keep paying the pitch fee you were paying before that notice arrived, and that continues until a valid notice is served and the new figure is either agreed or decided by the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber.

The site owner is not shut out by the defect. The same provision leaves them free to serve another notice proposing an increase, including the same figure as before, provided this time the notice and its form meet what paragraph 25A requires. A void notice buys time.

If a corrected notice arrives and you still think the proposed figure is wrong, If You Disagree, What Actually Happens sets out what paying only the current fee and referring the dispute actually involves.