Under Council's Annual Licence Site Management Policy, private caravans and associated structures on annual licence sites are subject to an annual compliance inspection, which carries an associated fee.
The purpose of this compliance inspection is to assess the installation of the caravan and associated structures against the relevant compliance sections of the Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation 2021, which took effect on 1 September 2021.
On 21 September 2021, an initial compliance inspection was conducted by an external consultant to assess the compliance status of caravans and associated structures on eight annual licence sites that have approval to sell.
As a result of the compliance inspection, compliance issues were placed into groups:
- extreme/high risk, or
- medium/low risk.
A timeframe was allocated to rectify extreme/high risk compliance issues, which have to be completed before sale. (Alternatively, the purchaser may accept the responsibility to fix the compliance issues as part of negotiations with the seller, which must be acknowledged in writing to Council).
The initial timeframe communicated to annual licence holders in the Notice of Compliance Inspection Letter was three months to rectify extreme/high risks. In the Compliance Inspection Outcome Letters sent to these licence holders this was extended to six months. This extension was given because of the time it would take to rectify compliance issues such as structural certificates and compliance plates.
Compliance inspections of each holiday park for all other annual licence sites are proposed to be conducted over the next three to six months.
A Compliance Inspection Fee of $150 is being charged to annual licence holders to offset some but not all of the expert consultant’s cost.
The benefits of these inspections are as follows:
- improvement to public health and safety
- improvement in the protection of holiday park assets (both public and private)
- consistent approach to caravan and associated structure installations
- support for holiday park operations and the peaceful shared enjoyment by all users.
It is acknowledged that many non-compliances issues may have existed for long periods of time. However, the continuation of these risks is no longer acceptable under NSW law, and Council’s approach to the rectification of compliance issues has been based on the following risk assessment methodology.
If the occupant does not rectify the extreme/high risk non-compliance issues within the six month period, Council may issue the occupant with a Notice of Termination under the terms of the Occupancy Agreement.
Where the occupant has Council approval to sell the caravan and associated structure on an annual licence site, all extreme/high risk non-compliance issues must be rectified before any financial transaction of sale. If the purchaser accepts the responsibility to rectify the extreme/high risk non-compliance issues, then this acceptance must be provided to Council, in writing, acknowledging that they have read and understood the requirements of this Compliance Inspection Outcome letter.
Compliance sections of the regulation that have been identified as medium/low risks must be rectified over the short term (three years). Rectification of medium/low risks will be monitored through future annual compliance inspections.
If you have any questions or need clarification of any non-compliance issues, please send an email to ksc@kempsey.nsw.gov.au (attention of the Coordinator Commercial Assets) or phone (02) 6566 3200.