Pitch Fees

Pitch fees are an amount that is paid to the site owner on a regular basis for the right to keep your park home / lodge on the site, as well as for maintenance of the common parts. The amount will depend upon the agreement that you have with the site owner.

The starting point on a residential site is the Consumer Price Index that is published immediately before the review of the fee. Normally this pitch fee review happens once a year, but it can sometimes be longer.

A site owner can also seek to increase the pitch fees by more than the CPI and if there has been a deterioration in the park since the last review, that should be taken into account as well – this can mean that the increase is less than the CPI.

With residential sites, the amount of change in England and Wales used to be based on the Retail Price Index rather than the Consumer Price Index, so it is worth checking that any pitch fee review has been calculated correctly.

It is possible to challenge the change in the pitch fee by making an application to the First Tier Tribunal, or by refusing to pay any increase. The site owner can also take a case to the Tribunal and our advice is to speak to the site owner before starting any legal action, to see if an agreement can be reached.

We are regularly involved in challenges to pitch fee increases and can advise on the best approach to take. Having dealt with First Tier Tribunal hearings, we can suggest what evidence needs to be provided and the likely prospects for success.

We can offer a fixed fee consultation to help you. Not all challenges are successful and it is generally important to be able to show that there has been some deterioration in the site over the review period. There are other things that can be considered as well, but not factors such as ‘the fee is less elsewhere’ or ‘its just too much’.

If you would like to book a consultation with us, please contact us by phone or use our online chat system.