Pitch Fee Increases Explained: What the RPI to CPI Change Means for Park Home Owners
Your pitch fee is the rent you pay the site owner for the plot your park home sits on. It gets reviewed once a year, and the amount it can rise by is set by law. In July 2023, that law changed in your favour. Here is how pitch fee reviews work now, and what to check before you agree to an increase.
What changed in 2023
The Mobile Homes (Pitch Fees) Act 2023 came into force in England on 2 July 2023. Before that date, site owners increased pitch fees in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI). Now they use the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), which usually runs lower.
The gap is real money. In April 2023, RPI stood at 11.4% while CPI was 8.7%. The government estimated the switch saves residents around £74 a year each on average over ten years. Wales already used CPI, so this brought England into line.
One protection sits alongside the change. Your site owner cannot claw back the difference between RPI and CPI by adding it elsewhere in the fee.
How the annual review works.
How the annual review works
A pitch fee review happens once a year on your review date. The site owner has to follow a set process, and if they skip a step, the increase is not valid.
They must give you at least 28 days' written notice using the official pitch fee review form. The form shows exactly how the new fee was worked out. The CPI figure they apply is the one published immediately before that 28-day notice goes out, not a number they pick.
The increase only takes effect from your review date, and only once the process is followed correctly.
What to check on the form
Read the review form before you agree to anything. Three things matter most.
Check it uses CPI, not RPI. A review notice served on or after 2 July 2023 that still uses RPI is invalid, and you do not have to pay the proposed increase.
Check what the site owner has included. The fee can reflect the cost of running and maintaining the park. It cannot include their legal fees, the cost of site licence applications, local authority enforcement action, or the cost of expanding the site.
Check the CPI figure against the Office for National Statistics number for the right month. The form should make the calculation clear enough to follow.
If you disagree with the increase
You do not have to accept a rise you think is wrong. Keep paying your current pitch fee and withhold the increase while you sort it out.
Either you or the site owner can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the correct fee. Do this within three months of the review date. The tribunal looks at the form, the calculation, and the state of the park, then rules on the right figure.
Does this apply to your park?
The CPI rule covers protected residential sites under the Mobile Homes Act 1983. A protected site has a licence and planning permission for people to live there all year. You own the home and rent the pitch.
Holiday parks work differently. If your caravan sits on a holiday licence, these pitch fee rules do not apply, and your site fees follow the terms in your own agreement instead.
Frequently asked questions
There is a presumption that the rise matches CPI. The site owner can argue for more if their park running costs have gone up, but they have to show it on the review form, and you can challenge it at the tribunal.
On 2 July 2023 in England, under the Mobile Homes (Pitch Fees) Act 2023. Any review notice served on or after that date must use CPI.
You can withhold the increase and keep paying the current fee while the matter goes to the First-tier Tribunal. Apply within three months of your review date.
The review is invalid, and you do not have to pay the proposed increase until it is done correctly.
LEASE runs a free service for park home residents. Call 020 7832 2525 or use the park homes section of their website.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. For your own situation, speak to LEASE or a solicitor who knows park home law.