Tenants at a Moray holiday park have accused the owners of charging “unaffordable” rates increases in an attempt to create a mass exodus.
Some annual fees at Silver Sands near Lossiemouth are due to rise by nearly a third next year – an increase of more than £1,000.
Holiday home owners claim to have only been made aware of the huge rises after they were applied to their accounts before an invoice was sent to them.
But a spokesman for Silver Sands last night insisted tenants had been made aware in advance – and said the increases were due to “significant investment” in the park over the last three years.
Caravaners dispute this however, and have now banded together in an attempt to “fight back” against owners, Bridge Leisure Parks.
More than 100 objections have been gathered to start formal grievance proceedings involving the National Caravan Council (NCC).
Alasdair MacNeil, a director of an oil services company, believes park management want to free up pitches to sell in an attempt to chase profit.
And the Westhill resident, whose annual bill will rise from £3,500 to £4,500, has accused the park owners of using “divide and conquer tactics” by offering some residents a discounted rate in an attempt to get them to withdraw their objection.
He said: “There aren’t any spare plots at this point in time so the only way they can generate more income is by building more pitches or to have people leave to sell them again but nobody is moving at the moment.
“By charging people extra, what they’re actually doing is encouraging people to move on and what they’ll get is an empty park.
“The problem for them is there used to be a waiting list for the park but that isn’t the case now.”
A total of 170 objections – half those with holiday homes at the park – is needed to lodge a formal grievance with the NCC.
Mr MacNeil is eager for mediators to resolve the dispute due to a lack of legislation governing holiday parks.
He said: “I can accept reasonable increases, over the last three years that would be about 8%, but this has become unsustainable.
“Lots of people can’t afford this. Usually in that situation the park owners would offer to buy back the caravan for a derisory fee – but they haven’t even done that. You make a huge loss on selling them to caravan traders.”
Another resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she felt like park owners were “taking advantage” of those who enjoyed living there.
She added: “The rise in fees is absolutely outrageous and totally unjustified.
“There is no formal reason for it that we have been told of, and very few families can afford it – which has caused understandable anguish.
“We expected a rise of course, but £1,000 is nonsensical and needs to be re-evaluated.
“What’s more is the prices for plots of land of the exact same size seem to vary considerably.”
A spokesman for Silver Sands said tenants at the holiday park had been made aware of the fee increases in advance.
He said: “When we purchased Silver Sands in 2015 the previous owner had frozen pitch fees for three years.
“We honoured this commitment, which meant that holiday home owners saw no increases to their annual site fees between 2015 and 2017.
“Now that offer has ended those owners are moving on to our standard pitch fee, which has increased from 2015 levels to reflect the significant investment we have made across the park over the past three years.”
A NCC spokesman said: “We are aware of the situation and are in correspondence with some owners at the park. We are investigating matters with Bridge Leisure with the aim of achieving a satisfactory resolution.”
THE HISTORY
Silver Sands Holiday Park has had a chequered history while it has changed hands several times in recent years.
Sales consultant Neale Rothera was spared jail in 2012 after duping seven people from the park out of £53,000.
Fraud squad officers launched the investigation in 2009, when the site was run by Green Parcs, after it emerged the scammer was selling caravans without the knowledge of their owners.
Silver Sands was then bought by Lifestyle Living Group in 2011 after Green Parcs collapsed into administration with debts of £14million.
Under their ownership police and trading standards officers were involved in a five-hour standoff when a tenant attempted to remove his caravan in a payment dispute.
And the picturesque site changed hands again in 2013 when Richmond Wright Estates (RWE) moved in.
At the time the firm said Silver Sands had the “worst name in the history of holiday parks”.
RWE invested more than £1million upgrading the park with a new gym and leisure centre.
Milton Keynes-based Bridge Leisure Parks bought the park for an undisclosed fee in January 2015.
