Watch
the latest show |  | "I'll
have to just let the home go, and just have what pittance he wants to give me
for it. "
Dorothy Pritchard | Park
Homes - haven |
Park Homes swindleFor thousands
of people across the Midlands, prefabricated or mobile homes provide a cheap alternative
to traditional bricks and mortar. They're especially popular with the elderly,
whose children have fled the nest and are looking to downsize. The homes
make economic sense, and living on a site with other mobile homes offers some
security. Or does it? Inside Out has uncovered evidence that residents
of a Wolverhampton mobile home park are being cheated out of thousands of pounds
- by the site's owner. Moving home
Pensioner
Dorothy Pritchard lived at the Oxley Court site, until her health persuaded her
to move out into sheltered accommodation. As her life savings were tied
up in the property, she decided to sell up.  | | Dorothy
Pritchard - life savings under threat |
At first it seemed to
be going well - the home was valued by an estate agent at £90,000 and a
buyer was interested. But Dorothy hadn't reckoned on Christopher Nedic.
As the site owner Mr Nedic has to approve every sale. He refused
on the grounds that Dorothy's home has structural problems - a claim she denies: "I
got a structural engineer, and he went over the premises and he found what was
wrong with it were just cosmetic things. "And he said it should last
another 25 years."
By blocking sales Mr Nedic forces owners
like Dorothy to sell to him instead, at rock-bottom prices. Then he can
put a brand new unit in its place to sell for a large profit. Blocked
sales  | | Solicitor
Alexa Collis says Nedic is breaking the law |
We've heard from
a number of former residents who've lost thousands of pounds as a result of blocked
sales.
One, who wished to remain anonymous, put her home on the market
for £45,000. Eventually she felt she had no choice but to sell to
Mr Nedic - for just £700. "I very quickly had a
buyer who offered me the asking price. "Mr Nedic said I couldn't sell
it because it was six inches too close the one next door. "It went
on for 12 months with me hoping he'd change his mind but he didn't. "I'm
67, and it lost me the rest of my life savings really."
Solicitor
Alexa Collis says Mr Nedic is breaking the law. "The
only grounds a site owner would have for refusing his consent to the sale of a
park home would be the purchaser's credit worthiness. "Say, for example,
they had a string of county court judgements, or were known not to meet their
financial obligations."
Undercover
visit We went undercover to see Mr Nedic's tactics for ourselves.
 | | Nedic
caught on camera by Inside Out on an undercover visit |
Posing
as interested buyers we were shown round a new mobile home at Oxley Court by Mr
Nedic. But when our reporter showed an interest in Dorothy's home instead,
he had this to say: "Don't bother. You're wasting your
time. "The concrete pad that it sits on - it's cracked right down
the middle. You can buy it. "But it's got to be moved off the pad,
and it might fall to pieces."
He also made it clear that
he had no intention of allowing Dorothy, or indeed any of the owners of older
homes on the site, to sell to anyone else. "I always buy them back.
It's just the old ones - because we're developing the park, we wouldn't allow
any of these to sell." For Dorothy, there's no happy ending in sight:
"I'll have to just let the home go, and just have what pittance he wants
to give me for it. "And I don't think it's fair, because I've worked
all my life, and that's my money, it isn't his."
Links
relating to this story:The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the
content of external websites | 
ÌýÌýInside
Out - West Midlands: Friday March 23, 2007
