In Brightlingsea Haven v Morris [2008] EWHC 1928 (QB), the High Court considered whether Haven Village in Brightlingsea was a “protected site” within the meaning of the Caravan Sites Act 1968.
This is an important question because the Mobile Homes Act 1983 grants a degree of security of tenure to residential occupiers of mobile homes who are entitled to station their homes on a protected site.
Have Village was operated by licence under the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 which licence required that the mobile homes be occupied only between 1st March and 30 November, at weekends and for 10 days over Christmas.
The court found that the restriction on occupation in the licence meant that the site was excluded from protection by s1(2) of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 which excludes a site where the licence:
is otherwise so expressed or subject to such conditions that there are times of the year when no caravan may be stationed on the land for human habitation.
According to Garden Court’s Housing Law Bulletin that part of the decision has been given permission to appeal by the Court of Appeal.
The High Court decision covered some interesting ground, including the meaning of the word “caravan” and the application of proprietary estoppel and is an interesting read, but those parts of the decision appear not to be the subject of the permission.
I look forward to the Court of Appeal decision with interest.