Improvements for residential (manufactured home) parks

We are making improvements to residential (manufactured home) parks to address consumer concerns about:

  • site rent increases
  • unsold manufactured homes.

This is part of our commitment in Homes for Queenslanders to modernise the housing legislative framework to improve consumer protections in residential parks, while making sure it’s still viable for investors and operators to provide this housing option.

It also delivers on Action 18 of the Queensland Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021–2025.

After consulting with manufactured home owners, residential park owners and other stakeholders, we have developed reforms to the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003 that will:

  • provide greater certainty and predictability about site rent increases for owners of manufactured homes
  • improve consumer confidence in residential parks, making parks a more attractive option for retirees and supporting the ongoing viability of the industry.

The reforms are outlined in the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Amendment Bill 2024, introduced in Parliament by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Planning and Minister for Public Works on 21 March 2024.

Read about the reasons for these changes in the Decision impact analysis statement (DIAS): Residential parks – addressing concerns about site rent increases and sale of homes (PDF, 2574.34 KB).

The DIAS outlines the costs and benefits of each reform for manufactured home owners, park owners and the community.

Proposed reforms

The proposed reforms to the Act include:

  • limiting annual site rent increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or 3.5%, whichever is higher
  • prohibiting park owners from using market rent reviews to increase site rent
  • setting approved methods for site rent increases to make them more standardised, consistent and transparent
  • requiring parks to publish comparison documents to support consumer choice, improve transparency and promote competition
  • improving residential parks’ communication, transparency and consultation about their maintenance and capital replacement plans
  • streamlining the sales process for manufactured homes by limiting assignment of site agreements to transfers between relatives, so most purchasers will receive new updated site agreements
  • requiring park owners to carry over some beneficial terms from old agreements
  • implementing a site rent reduction and buyback scheme to encourage the timely sale of pre-owned manufactured homes.

We are also proposing legislation changes to improve security for home owners, including:

  • stronger registration requirements for residential parks
  • more methods for home owners to pay site rent
  • improved protection for home owners who’ve had their site agreement terminated
  • a standard definition of CPI to be used for site rent increases in residential parks.

A review will begin within 3 years of the changes to ensure that the reforms balance consumer protection with industry viability.

What happens next?

The Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Amendment Bill 2024 has been referred to the Housing, Big Build and Manufacturing Committee for detailed consideration. We encourage all Queenslanders to follow discussion on this topic through the committee’s website.

Read more about how laws are made.

The reforms will be implemented in stages. Some provisions are proposed to commence on Assent and others 6 months later or by proclamation after further consultation with stakeholders about regulations to support implementation.

  • Issues paper consultation

  • Options to address issues developed

  • Consultation regulatory impact statement released

  • Consultation with industry and home owners

  • Reform proposals refined

  • Decision impact analysis statement released

  • Legislation in Parliament

  • Legislation passed

  • Reforms implemented

How did we get here?

In 2022, we prepared an issues paper (PDF, 752.76 KB) outlining stakeholder concerns about site rent increases and unsold manufactured homes. We then:

  1. checked with home owners, park owners and other interested parties that the issues paper was accurate and addressed all the issues
  2. asked for submissions to the issues paper and surveyed home owners about living in a Queensland residential park
  3. analysed the 2,200+ survey responses and 52 submissions from home owners, park owners and other interested parties (see key results from the home owner survey (PDF, 126.06 KB))
  4. proposed reform options in a consultation regulatory impact statement (C-RIS) (PDF, 2959 KB), which we released with a summary document (PDF, 1110.28 KB) on 15 May 2023
  5. requested feedback about the reform options to change the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003 and identify their impacts. Public consultation closed on 26 June 2023.

Submissions

We received more than 2,700 submissions in response to the C-RIS, including more than 2,600 from home owners, 18 from park owners and 21 from consumer and industry groups.

The feedback from all groups was diverse, but generally:

  • most home owners supported rent increase restrictions of some form
  • consumer advocacy organisations supported the 7 preferred reform options in the C-RIS
  • park owners and industry advocates opposed the options, except the option requiring park owners to publish a comparison document.

We considered this feedback carefully in the finalisation of the proposed reforms.

More information

Through the Queensland Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021–2025, we're also improving Queenslanders’ access to:

  • pre-contractual advice about residential (manufactured home) parks and retirement villages
  • timely and consistent decision-making to help them resolve housing issues and disputes.

We are currently analysing the results of our consultation and research to find options for: