Several residents at an over 45s village in Serpentine were determined to continue their fight against a recent rent increase until park management agrees to meet with them to explain their reasons why.
The Examiner first broke the story about the $10 per week per site rent increase at Serpentine Falls Park Home and Tourist Village last month which highlighted the discontent and concern residents had in the day-to-day running of the park and its management team.
Residents had banded together to lobby against the increase agreeing not to pay the extra $10 a week and receiving notices of termination to leave the park.
Less than a month on, the group has changed their tune and have chosen to pay the increase but will continue to rally against the near six per cent increase.
Resident Greg Traupmann said it did not mean they were giving up.
“Normally I sit around and accept things like this as you can’t do anything about it but this time I am upset, as the majority of the residents within the village are pensioners and have to rely on the pension,” he said.
“We have lived at the park for last 10 years and each year our rent has increased by almost six per cent, it is unbelievable.”
Mr Traupmann said the group would continue their fight by reaching out to the wider community with petitions and posters.
“There are a number of residents that are falling ill because of this but all the landlords say is ‘if you don’t like it, move’,” he said.
Residents Don and Penny Bradshaw said they had tried to sell their house in the village on and off for the past four years but no one wanted to pay the rent that management wants.
“We have had it on Gumtree, advertised it ourselves in the paper and advertised it for sale with management but nothing has come of it,” he said.
“We tried to move in the past as our daughter built a home in Safety Bay but it killed us financially to live there and continue to pay rent on the place in Serpentine.
“We are scraping through at the moment at $200 and are frightened of what it could possibly be like in the future.”
Park management has previously told The Examiner the annual rent review was a fixed amount in accordance with the site agreements that incoming residents chose to enter into as part of their choice to live in the village.
