Is the Park Home 10% Commission Changing? What the Government's 2026 Review Means for Sellers

If you're selling a park home, the site owner is entitled to take up to 10% of the sale price as commission. That rule hasn't changed. But the government is currently reviewing why the charge exists at all, and if you've seen headlines about park homes and commission this year, you might be wondering whether you still owe it. You do. Here's what's actually happening, what the review has found so far, and what it means for anyone selling right now.

How the 10% commission actually works

The commission comes from the Mobile Homes Act 1983. Under Schedule 1, when a resident sells their park home and assigns the pitch agreement to a buyer, the site owner is entitled to a commission "at a rate not exceeding such rate as may be prescribed by regulations." That rate has been set at 10% of the sale price since the rule was introduced, and it still applies to every park home sale on a residential site in England and Wales.

The mechanics are straightforward. You agree a sale price with your buyer, the buyer pays the site owner the commission directly (not you), and you receive the remainder. On a £150,000 sale, that's up to £15,000 going to the site owner before the deal completes. There's no VAT angle to factor in here: a private park home sale isn't a VATable transaction, and there's no statutory basis for quoting the commission as "excluding VAT," so don't let anyone tell you the 10% is calculated on top of a VAT-adjusted figure.

The buyer has to give the site owner documentary proof of the sale price, such as a bank transfer confirmation, before the sale and assignment take effect. Selling a park home you bought before 26 May 2013 involves an extra step (you serve the site owner a Notice of Proposed Sale and they have 21 days to object through a tribunal), while newer agreements let you sell without that approval step. Either way, the 10% commission applies once the sale goes through.

Why the government is reviewing it

The commission has been argued over for years. In 2021, the government commissioned the University of Liverpool and Sheffield Hallam University to research what would happen if the rate changed. Their report, published in June 2022, made four recommendations, including that further work should establish exactly what the commission pays for, since the research found no shared understanding of its rationale among residents, site owners, or officials.

That work is now underway. On 5 March 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government opened a call for evidence asking why the commission exists, what it pays for, and how the rate is calculated. It ran until 29 May 2026. Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook framed it as a response to "longstanding concerns among park home residents about the requirement to pay site owners a commission upon sale," while also acknowledging site owners' side of the argument.

Alongside the call for evidence, the government published a summary of responses to an earlier 2023 discussion paper, and it lays out just how far apart residents and site owners are.

Residents argued the commission isn't justified at all. Their case: site owners already build their running costs and profit margin into the pitch fee, so a second charge on top, taken at the point of sale, amounts to being charged twice. Some said they'd accept a compromise, such as a phased reduction of 2% a year over five years, but the starting position for most residents who responded was that the commission should go.

Site owners pushed back hard. They argue that the commission functions as an advance payment from the buyer that helps operators run a viable business and meet their obligations to every resident on the park, not just the one selling. They also point out that the Mobile Homes Act gives buyers unlimited security of tenure, meaning a site owner can never recover the pitch and re-let it for extra income the way a landlord could. The commission, on this view, compensates for that permanent loss of control over the land. Several site owners also warned that removing or cutting the commission without separate financial support, especially for smaller parks, would push more sites into loss and ultimately hit the pitch fees or maintenance standards residents rely on.

What hasn't changed

As of today, nothing. The call for evidence closed on 29 May 2026, and the government has said it will review the responses before publishing a formal decision, but no timetable has been given, and no formal response has been published yet. The 10% cap in the Mobile Homes Act 1983 is still the law. If you sell your park home this month, the site owner is still entitled to take up to 10% of the price, exactly as before.

That matters if you're mid-sale or planning one soon. Don't budget on the assumption the rate will drop, and don't let anyone (buyer, agent, or site owner) suggest a different figure applies while the review is open. It doesn't. The review is about establishing the rationale for the commission and gathering evidence, not about changing the rate yet.

What to do if you're selling now

Factor the full 10% into what you'll actually receive, not just the headline asking price. If you bought before 26 May 2013, check whether you need to send a Notice of Proposed Sale and build the 21-day objection window into your timeline. If you bought after that date, your buyer can move straight to the Assignment Form once you're both ready. Either way, keep a paper trail of the agreed sale price so your buyer can provide the documentary evidence the site owner is entitled to ask for.

If you're not sure which rules apply to your agreement, your written statement will confirm the date you took ownership and the terms that follow from it. When you're ready to sell, listing with a service that already understands park home sales, rather than a general estate agent unfamiliar with pitch agreements and commission rules, can save you from delays at the point the paperwork gets checked.

Frequently asked questions

Why do park home owners have to pay commission when they sell? 
It comes from the Mobile Homes Act 1983, which entitles the site owner to a commission when a pitch agreement is assigned to a new owner. 
Who pays the commission, me or the buyer? 
The buyer pays it directly to the site owner as part of completing the sale. You receive the remainder of the agreed price.
Is the 10% park home commission being scrapped?
Not yet. The government ran a call for evidence between March and May 2026 to understand why the commission exists, but it hasn't published a decision and hasn't proposed a new rate. The 10% cap under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 still applies.
Do I still have to pay commission if I sell my park home this year?
Yes. Nothing in the current review changes the law. The site owner is still entitled to up to 10% of the sale price on every residential park home sale in England and Wales.
Will the commission rate change retroactively for people who've already sold?
No decision has been made on this, and it isn't relevant to anyone selling now, since the current 10% rate is what applies today regardless of what the government eventually decides. 
Can the site owner block my sale to keep the commission?
No. A site owner can object to a specific buyer through a tribunal in limited circumstances (such as the buyer not meeting park rules), but they can't refuse a sale just to avoid losing the commission, and they have no right of first refusal over your home

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This is general guidance, not legal advice. For your own sake, speak to LEASE or a solicitor who knows park home law.

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