Residents of a showpiece Angus holiday park have served a writ on their landlord.
Battle lines have been drawn at Seaton Estate in Arbroath in an acrimonious stand-off which started in December when operators Crown Parks wanted to change the method in which site fees were paid from monthly to yearly.
The proposal was eventually scrapped but the Seaton Park Residents’ Association was formed in January to “represent the interests of its members”.
Under the terms of the Mobile Homes Act 1983, at least half of the homeowners on the 80-acre estate must be members in order to form a ‘qualifying’ association.
However, site owner Cresswell Welch said he could not recognise the association because he wasn’t given evidence that it met the 50% qualifying criteria.
Secretary Alistair Cruickshank said an initial writ has now been served giving Mr Welch 21 days to reply before the case proceeds.
The court document asks Mr Welch to recognise the residents’ association and provide information with regards utility bills in relation to charges by the site owner.
Mr Cruickshank said: “There is no chance of us standing down – we’ll take this all the way to court.
“Mr Welch is of the opinion that we want to take over the park but nothing could be further from the truth.”
Mr Welch said a list of ‘members’ submitted with the writ was the first time that this had been provided to him despite “repeated requests”.
“How can I recognise a residents’ association if I don’t know who’s in it?” he said.
Mr Welch said the list of names that he was “eventually” given included people who were no longer members.
He said some of the residents in the proposed association have already been served with legal letters in respect of “ongoing breaches of site rules” including “acting in a way to cause concern and alarm to other residents of the site”.
According to the letters, some were given seven days to remedy the breaches to the satisfaction of Crown Park or their right to occupy the park would be terminated and they would be evicted.
Mr Welch also produced copies of his utility bills to The Courier and said they were readily available to anyone who wanted to see them.
He said: “We have a five-star VisitScotland rating – now would I have that if I wasn’t ticking all the boxes?”
