Community & Business
18 March, 2022
Families threatened with eviction from park
EIGHT families are being evicted from the troubled Lakeside Caravan Park at Yungaburra on the basis they have overstayed their welcome.
Angry temporary tenants of the facility say they have been given their marching orders by the new manager of the park and claim the reason given is that they have stayed the limit of 42 days.
Yungaburra local Gayle Herring, who is a longtime resident of the town and has operated a business there for many years, is waiting for her new house to be built and cannot see the sense in evicting people like herself when the facility is losing money already.
She said eight families currently staying at the park – two of which were waiting on new houses to be built and six who were waiting to get a rental home – had been advised to leave by 14 March.
But according to Ms Herring, they will not be leaving on that deadline.
Given the current rental crisis and the fact they have no intention on staying permanently, Ms Herring cannot understand why it is so important to push them out of the park.
“We are a very quiet bunch of people, and right now, there’s not a lot of demand for the caravan park so why would you throw out the people who are paying rent,” she said.
She said rent of $190 a week from eight groups would add up to more than $1500 a month which was at least some revenue for the caravan park during what was a traditionally quiet period of the year.
The Lakeside Caravan Park has been plagued with issues in the past 18 months, with Tablelands Regional Council evicting permanent tenants last year in readiness to lease it out to a commercial operator.
That move was unsuccessful, with the park urgently needing a new multi-million dollar sewerage system before any operator will take it on.
That is expected to be done over the next two budgets which forced council to take on new managers in the interim, costing ratepayers $120,000 for the first 12 months.
Deputy Mayor Kevin Cardew was damning in his criticism of spending ratepayers’ money for the new managers when the park had very poor occupancy rates, revealing that in only one of the past three years had the park exceeded 50 per cent occupancy.
According to the Queensland Residential Tenancies Authority, anyone staying in a caravan park for over 42 days for a purpose other than as a tourist should have a tenancy agreement in place. If there is no formal paperwork and they have paid their site fee for this period, they have an “implied” agreement which has the same standing in the eyes of the law as an agreement in writing.
At the end of a short-term tenancy, the park can agree to extend it for a second term of 42 days, but only once.
But it does note that local laws of a council can override this rule. In the case of Tablelands Regional Council, Local Law No. 6 states that the maximum length of stay by a person at a caravan park will be 12 weeks.
Council responded late last week to state that: “At the October 2020 Council meeting, it was resolved to end all moveable dwelling tenancy agreements with the intent that all future bookings meet the definition of holiday stays.”
That refers to the 42 days mentioned earlier, but council still has the power to grant the tenants another 42-day stay.
Council says it is seeking advice regarding the status of existing bookings and, once that is available, officers will discuss the outcome directly with the tenants affected.
