By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
RESIDENTS at Doon Reserve Caravan Park in Yarra Junction have requested the assistance of Consumer Affairs Victoria after a proposed rent increase at the park.
The residents feel the $15 a week rent increase is not balanced with the upkeep of the park and facilities.
Caravan Park owner and operator Ken Bell said the proposed rental increase from $115 per week to $130 per week is to cover the ongoing costs of keeping the park running.
“The increase will be used straight back into the park and cover increased cost building up over 12 years since I took over the running of it,” he said.
“Rental increase has gone up 300 per cent over five years and rubbish services have increased the same over the 12 years.”
“Other costs have gone up over previous rental increases as well and if I don’t keep ahead of costs it puts the park in a position where it may have to close.”
Consumer Affairs have started a review into the rent increase after a representative attended meetings with Mr Bell and with residents.
Chris Bolt of Consumer Affairs said the review process had begun and so could not comment at this stage on what that might mean for the residents.
“Consumer Affairs will look at the demand and vacancy rate of other sites for a comparison,” he said.
“It is a big jump from the last increase but as far as parks go, this is currently one of the lowest rates in the state.”
Caravan park resident Anthony Bennett said the park has “a whole pile of issues” that does not justify the increase in rent.
“From street lighting to emergency vehicle signage, no lighting, and I’ve had to fix a non-backfilled hole myself to stop my motor home leaning,” he said.
“A woman just had stroke and is out of hospital in motorised scooter and was refused permission to put in a ramp and there is no gravel on the ground to stop her from slipping.”
Mr Bennett said in the five years he had lived in the park the conditions had steadily declined while the rent for the residents’ plots had continued to increase.
“It’s just unfair if rent goes up $15 per week when we get nothing in return,” he said.
“There is a rotunda that was built for tenants to have social occasions that has been closed in and is not for use,” he said.
An advocate for Housing for the Aged, Shanny Gordon, was also in attendance to assist residents with the paperwork said residents have had issues with management for a number of years.
“The residents don’t feel like they are getting what they are paying for anyway so regular rent increases really concern them,” she said.
“There is an imbalance; rent increases are happening but nothing is being fed back into the park.”
Ms Gordon said issues such as not having access to the disabled toilets and shower and not having a common space to meet needed to be resolved, but residents didn’t know how.
“Communication isn’t very good and management isn’t very good at communicating what is and isn’t happening,” she said.
“A lot of residents are intimidated to go into the office and you can forget about trying to negotiate outcomes if people don’t feel like they can approach management.”
Ms Gordon is hoping the rental review process will bring about some change to the way the park in managed.
“It’ll be interesting to see what happens,” she said.
“The residents see this as an opportunity to have someone in authority they can voice their concerns to – it’ll be interesting to see if they are able to do anything about it.”
Mr Bell said he was not aware the rental review was taking place until Consumer Affairs representatives arrived on Friday 18 September.
“I wasn’t told and I was ambushed with this on Friday,” he said.
“I was told Consumer Affairs were coming down for a compliance check they do on all caravan parks but I wasn’t told any of the other processes were taking place.”
He also said he had not been approached by the residents of the park with any of the grievances they had raised with Consumer Affairs.
“There are always ongoing issues with potholes and the like but that goes as part of the course of running a caravan park,” he said.
“We try to address them as fast as possible and we are in the process of looking at major upgrades top the roads.”
Mr Bell said he had always been available to listen to residents and did all he can to help them when needed.
“I’m more than approachable and my door is open to residents and I’ve helped many of them in the last 12 years with many issues.”
Mr Bell said he will wait and see what the outcome is from the Consumer Affairs rental review.
“The process in quite involved and they will make decision and we will go from there,” he said.
