VULNERABLE people living on mobile home sites are being exploited by unscrupulous landlords, claim MPs and council bosses.

The Government has been urged to update legislation that is “more suited to the 1960s”

and is failing to protect park home-owners from “rogue”

landlords.

Eastleigh Borough Council said it did not have the power to crack down on the problem, saying elderly residents were being let down by a “long-winded” legal process.

In a report released last week, a local government committee said it had been told of landlords harassing home-owners, increasing their charges and making it impossible for them to sell up.

The issues surrounding sites for park homes, which are low cost, mobile bungalow-style residential properties, have been highlighted as a major issue in Hampshire.

Government officials have highlighted a number of locations in the county as “hot spots”.

Tory MP Caroline Nokes has campaigned for tougher laws, calling for a “fit and proper person test” for owners, while Winchester MP Steve Brine is vice chairman of Parliament’s All-Party Park Homes Group.

They have stressed that not all site managers treated homeowners badly, but said those that did gave the rest a bad name.

About 160,000 people live in 84,000 park homes in England.

There are around 1,950 sites, which are concentrated in rural and seaside locations.