Steps to selling
The information on this page deals with the responsibilities of homeowners in the process of selling their manufactured home in a residential park.
If you are a park owner or park manager, you can find out more about the responsibilities during sales transactions of manufactured homes.
When selling your manufactured home, you should always seek independent legal advice about the terms of the site agreement, the sale agreement, your rights and responsibilities, and the options available to you.
To sell your home, you may:
- appoint the park owner to sell your home (if they offer that service)
- sell it yourself
- engage another party such as a real estate agent to sell your home.
Intent to sell
When you are ready to sell your manufactured home, you need to give the park owner a Form 15 - Notice of your intention to sell (PDF, 274KB).
Within 7 days of receiving this form, the park owner must provide you with a notice stating:
- if they offer services for the sale of manufactured homes in the residential park
- the site rent that will be payable by the new home owner.
If the park owner indicates they offer selling services and you do not appoint them to sell the manufactured home, you will not be eligible to participate in the buyback and site rent reduction scheme if the sale is delayed and would otherwise meet the criteria.
You should also check your site agreement to see if it allows you to display a ‘for sale’ sign, and if any restrictions apply to the display of these signs.
Once you have a buyer
Once you have a prospective buyer, you must notify the park owner of the buyer’s name and contact details (if the park owner was not appointed to sell your home).
Within 7 days of receiving these details, the park owner must give the buyer all required information about the residential park and the required disclosure documents, including:
- a copy of the proposed Form 2 – Site agreement (PDF, 283KB)
- Form 16 - Residential Park Comparison Document (PDF 857KB)
- Form 18 – Home Owners Information Document (PDF, 438KB)
After the buyer has been given the required disclosure documents and entered into a site agreement with the park owner, a sale agreement must be must be completed in Form 19 – Approved Form Sale Agreement (PDF, 329KB).
The approved sale agreement form:
- highlights key information to buyers
- improves standardisation
- helps sellers to meet the regulatory requirements for sales contracts.
This form is not a complete contract and is designed to be used with additional terms added by the parties. The parties to the sale will need to include additional terms relevant to the sale at Part 5 of the form, or in an attached document (for example, a standard contract of sale applying to the sale of the manufactured home).
Buyers and sellers should seek independent legal advice at an early stage and throughout the transaction.
The sale agreement must not be completed (signed and executed) until the park owner gives the buyer the required disclosure documents and enters into a site agreement with them.
Cooling-off period
A cooling-off period applies to the sale of manufactured homes. The cooling-off period is 7 days from the time the last person signs the site agreement. If the park owner does not meet their pre-contractual disclosure obligations, the cooling-off period increases to 28 days.
During this period, the buyer can cancel their site agreement by giving a notice of termination to the park owner and anyone who has a financial interest in the home. This notice must include the date the cancellation takes effect, which must be within 28 days of giving the notice.
If the site agreement is cancelled during the cooling-off period, the sale agreement between the buyer and seller will also automatically end on the same day. Where this happens, ownership of the home reverts back to you (the seller), and you must refund any money already paid under the sale agreement to the buyer or their financier.
If the park owner was appointed as the seller of the home and they did not follow the pre-contractual disclosure process, they may also have to pay any reasonable costs you, as the home owner, had to pay because of or related to the sale agreement.
After the sale is completed
On the date stated in the site agreement and sale agreement, ownership of the home transfers to the buyer.
On this same date, the site agreement between you and park owner ends, and a new site agreement between the buyer and park owner begins.
Buyback and site rent reduction scheme
If you experience difficulties selling your manufactured home, you may qualify for the buyback and site rent reduction scheme.
Under the scheme, the park owner may be required to:
- buy your home under a buyback agreement if it is an eligible home
- reduce the site rent you pay under your site agreement.
A manufactured home is considered an eligible home if:
- it is positioned on a site in a residential park
- it was not brought onto the site, or another site in the residential park, by the home owner or a former home owner.
You can ‘opt in’ to the buyback and rent reduction scheme if your home:
- has been on the market for 6 months and hasn’t sold
- is vacant
and either of the following applies:
- the park owner indicated they offer selling services after receiving a notice of intent to sell, and have been appointed to sell the manufactured home
- the park owner indicated they do not offer selling services after receiving a notice of intent to sell.
If the park owner indicated they do not offer selling services after receiving a notice of intent to sell, and you opt to join the scheme, the park owner may send you a notice requiring you to appoint them to sell the home.
Where this occurs, you must appoint the park owner as the selling authority within 7 days.
Agreeing on a resale value
Once you have joined the scheme, you and the park owner must both agree on a resale value for the home within 14 days.
If you cannot agree on the resale value, you must work together to appoint a valuer to determine the resale value.
If the home doesn’t sell
If the home doesn’t sell, you and the park owner must reconsider and agree on a new resale value, or appoint a valuer to re‑estimate a new resale value at these times:
- 6 months after you have opted into the scheme
- 9 months after you have opted into the scheme.
If you and the park owner can’t agree on a registered valuer, the park owner must notify the chief executive of the Department of Housing and Public Works. The chief executive will nominate a valuer within 14 days of receiving the application.
If the home still doesn’t sell, the following actions must occur:
- 6 months after you join the scheme: the park owner must reduce your site rent by 25%
- 12 months after you join the scheme: the park owner must buy back the home at the agreed resale price.
The park owner may apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for an extension to buy back the manufactured home, including a:
- once-off 6-month extension: if the park owner has made all reasonable attempts to sell the manufactured home and the extension would not be considered unfair to you
- repeatable extension: if buying back the home would cause the park owner undue hardship and the extension would not be considered unfair to you.