A Yorkshire estate agent who marketed homes on a park with a holiday licence as being fully residential receives a £7,500 fine

An estate agent has been ordered to pay more than £7,500 after admitting advertising holiday homes as permanent residential properties.

The action was taken by a local council trading standards department, which says the agent ignored a number of warnings and advice given to him.

Magistrates heard that Paul Staniford, who runs Staniford’s estate agency in Beverley, Yorkshire, was one of many local agents who had received advisory notes in 2012 and 2013 from officers of East Riding council’s trading standards department warning against the advertising of holiday homes, as permanent residential properties.

In March 2016, trading standards discovered that Staniford’s was advertising as residential homes on sites that only had holiday licences.

The adverts “gave the impression that holiday homes could be used as permanent residences”. Staniford was fined £5,000, ordered to pay costs of £2,466 and a victim surcharge of £120.

Colin Briggs, trading standards manager at the council, said: ‘This sends out a clear message that we will take firm action against anybody who attempts to mislead the public.’

In 2016, for the sixth consecutive year, Shillingford achieved the accolade of receiving the David Bellamy Conservation Gold Award, and similarly for several years has attained first prize within the Kilgetty Village in Bloom competition for the best Business Premises.

The park has been developed on the site of a disused coal yard, which the Evans purchased in 1999. It benefits from full residential consent for 38 park homes (32 currently occupied) and lies on the edge of the village of Kilgetty, with the shops literally 200 metres away. The village is host to a variety of differing shops including post office, supermarket, chemist, garage, doctor’s surgery, together with a local and National Express bus stop. A mainline railway station is also close to the park.

The park is situated in the heart of south Pembrokeshire, within close proximity to the popular seaside resorts of Saundersfoot (2 miles) and Tenby (5 miles). The popular Pembrokeshire coastal footpath is also easily accessible from Shillingford.

The major Welsh tourist attraction know as Folly Farm, at Begelly, with its ever expanding zoo and funfair lies within 11 miles of the park – an obvious attraction for any grandchildren visiting overnight on the park!

Shillingford Park is at: Carmarthen Road, Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire, SA68 0YU. For more information on this home, or to arrange a visit to Shillingford Park, please call 01834 811151 01834 813147 (evenings).