A tenant advocacy group says long-term caravan park residents in regional Western Australia who are weeks from eviction are largely unaware of their rights and need more support.

Earlier this year, the ABC revealed long-term residents of caravan parks near Geraldton and Albany were being evicted due to shifts in park ownership.

With one park's eviction date fast approaching, the vulnerable residents are at a loss as to what their next step might be.

An advocate says the state government has dropped the ball on oversight of the sector, leaving residents vulnerable to unscrupulous practices.

Lease agreements are meant to outline risks to consumers entering caravan parks, as well as rules and regulations governing their stay.

But as retirees and vulnerable folk are forced out of their homes during a national housing crisis, residents are questioning how they have fallen through the cracks.

Tenants turfed out

For nearly a decade Kevin Logan has lived at Drummond Cove Holiday Park, on the coastline near Geraldton, about 400 kilometres north of Perth.

He paid $230,000 for his seaside cabin and expected it to be his forever home.

"We were told by the caravan park owner [at the time] that we'd be here for the rest of our lives," Mr Logan said.

But in February, about a year after Wajarri Enterprises took over ownership of the park, Mr Logan and a dozen other long-term tenants were given an eviction notice for August.

The company told residents the park would close due to "historical maintenance issues" and they would have to vacate the premises.

Many of the residents have called the site home for more than a decade.

But the ABC understands none of the long-term tenants of Drummond Cove Holiday Park received a written lease agreement.

The Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006 states the park operator must pay compensation for a loss as a result of the termination of a fixed-term, long-stay agreement but does not make mention of periodic leaseholders.

With no legal leg to stand on, Mr Logan said moving would be a challenge.

"Where am I going to shift to? I don't own any other land.

"I've been to caravan parks and asked them [if they have room], but they don't want us."

Confidence in park living 'shaky'

Robin Bollard has lived at Albany's Rose Gardens Beachside Holiday Park on Western Australia's south coast for two decades.

Ms Bollard said park newcomers had received lease agreements, but in her 25-year-long tenancy she had never received one.

That was until early this year, after negotiations for the vacant-possession sale of Rose Gardens to the RAC had come to light.

Once all conditions are met, it will trigger a 180-day eviction notice for long-stay tenants.

Park owner Redwood Corporate said all long-stay tenants were issued with leases, but most of the operator's copies of the signed agreements were destroyed when the offices flooded some years ago.

The operator said tenants who claimed they did not have or had lost their lease agreements were issued replacement agreements under the current format.

Ms Bollard's confidence in the security of park living has been shattered.

"I think it would be quite shaky," she said.

None of the affected tenants have taken up an offer to move to Rose Garden's sister park, Albany Holiday Park, according to Redwood.

While the final condition for the sale is yet to be met, Redwood has informed residents both the seller and buyer would offer ex-gratia payments up to a combined $25,000 to assist with relocation.

"Redwood negotiated hard for more than a year … to get a fair ex-gratia payment for all affected long-stay tenants due to RAC's requirement for vacant possession," the Redwood spokesperson said.

An RAC spokesperson said it would continue to engage with the park owners and the City of Albany in relation to "supporting the transition for long-stay tenants".

Squeeze for housing pushes complacency

Park Home Owners Association of WA spokesperson Simon Watt said, as the struggle for housing intensified, people were becoming more complacent with checking up on park laws.

"You ask somebody what's on their leases and they don't even know, they don't even look at them.

Under the Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006, long-stay agreements must be in writing and since 2022, operators must use the prescribed form.

But Mr Watt said a lack of education had been a shortfall.

"There are enormous safeguards but nobody necessarily knows about them," he said.

Mr Watt said many of WA's approximately 7,000 long-stay caravan park residents were aged, vulnerable and did not have the resources to pursue legal or corrective action.

"We believe that governments should be far more involved in going round parks and checking that the operators are doing the right thing," he said.

WA-government service Consumer Protection said under the Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act 1995, it was a function of the local government where the park was located to undertake regular inspections of facilities.

Too scared to 'buck the system'

Mr Watt said many park operators across the state were still applying the electricity-supply charge, which the state government abolished in a change to regulations in 2022.

He said this amounted to about $400 per tenancy over the past three years.

"One of the problems is that the operators don't know enough about the law some of the time … or they believe what they want to believe.

"If the operator doesn't want to solve the problem, then you've actually got to go to the courts or the State Administrative Tribunal.

Risks involved for tenants

Consumer Protection senior regional officer Natasha Pirrottina said many people were not aware of the risks involved with living in a caravan park.

"Originally when [residents] took on tenancy, they may not have been aware of their rights and obligations living in the park," Ms Pirrottina said.

Ms Pirrottina said both tenant and operator had a responsibility to ensure an adequate agreement was in place when moving into a park, or when ownership changed hands.

"The parks [operators], they're human as well, so they're being educated as to what their responsibilities are to their current tenants and future tenants."

A Consumer Protection spokesperson said it had undertaken preliminary consultation with key stakeholders in preparation for the review of the Residential Parks (Long-stay Tenants) Act 2006 and a discussion paper was being prepared for consideration by the commerce minister.

Caravan & Camping WA chief executive Carol McCracken welcomed the review, and said she hoped it would bring clarity for all parties.

"What we want to do is to ensure that the outcomes of the review deliver full clarity for everyone … our aim is to help establish a regulatory framework that's clear, consistent and fair for everyone involved," she said.

Additionally, Ms McCracken said the association had requested the state government clarify rules on the electricity supply charge.

"We just need government to really step up and make sure there's clarity and stop the confusion."