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Transportable home rules in Queensland

From Modular Living Australia — the independent knowledge base Last updated: 8 Oct 2026

In Queensland a transportable home in a residential park is a manufactured home under the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003 if it has the character of a dwelling house, is designed to be moved, and is not permanently attached to land.^[1][2] The home owner does not own the site, ordinary tenancy law does not apply to the site agreement, and site rent increases are capped at the greater of CPI or 3.5%.^[2][3][4]

Queensland is the state where the legal category is defined most precisely, and where getting it wrong has the clearest consequences. A three-part statutory test decides whether a dwelling is a manufactured home — and with it, whether an entire consumer protection regime applies or an entirely different one does. This guide sets out that test, what follows from each side of it, and what the 2024 reforms changed for people already living in residential parks.

The statutory test §

Section 10 of the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003 defines a manufactured home as a structure, other than a caravan or tent, that has the character of a dwelling house, is designed to be able to be moved from one position to another, and is not permanently attached to land. A manufactured home does not include a converted caravan^[2][1].

The Act builds a complete vocabulary around that definition: who is a home owner, what is a converted caravan, who is a park owner, what is a residential park, what is a site, what is a site agreement, and what is a residential park dispute^[5]. A site is land available for rent under a site agreement, and a person who owns a residential park is a park owner^[1].

All three limbs of the test must be satisfied. A structure that has the character of a dwelling house and is movable but has been permanently attached to land is not a manufactured home for these purposes.

"Not permanently attached to land" cuts both ways §

This limb is the most consequential and the least understood.

Where a transportable dwelling is permanently attached to land — bolted to footings, connected as a fixture, treated as part of the realty — it falls outside the manufactured home definition and outside the Act's protections. It becomes ordinary residential building work, assessed under Queensland's building legislation and administered through the usual building approval and licensing system.

That is not necessarily a worse outcome. It generally means the dwelling is real property on a title the owner may hold, rather than a chattel on rented land. But the two regimes protect different things and cannot be mixed.

One boundary is worth carrying into either pathway. The QBCC states that the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme may apply to prefabricated or flatpack homes but only for on-site residential construction work including installation, and does not cover off-site manufacturing or defective products^[6]. Neither classification puts the factory portion of the work inside the warranty scheme — see Warranties, defects and maintenance for modular homes.

Site agreements sit outside ordinary tenancy law §

People often assume a manufactured home in a park is covered by Queensland's residential tenancy laws. It is not.

Section 37 of the Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act provides that that Act does not apply to a residential tenancy agreement if the agreement is a site agreement^[2].

The protections come instead from the Manufactured Homes Act. This matters practically: a home owner researching their rights using tenancy resources will be reading the wrong law, and the timeframes, notices and dispute pathways differ. Free legal information is available through the Queensland Retirement Village and Park Advice Service^[7].

What must be provided before signing §

The Act front-loads disclosure. Before a person enters into a site agreement with a park owner, they must be given the Home owners information document (Form 1), the park rules including any proposed changes, and two copies of the proposed site agreement — and the same applies where a person proposes to accept the assignment of a site agreement from an existing home owner. Prospective home owners are encouraged to seek legal advice before entering a site agreement or agreeing to purchase a manufactured home in a park^[8].

The government's own disclosure form states the position plainly: the home owner will not own the land the manufactured home is positioned on; site rent will increase in accordance with the terms of the site agreement; and in some circumstances the site agreement may be terminated, in which case the home owner may be required to remove the home from the park or transfer ownership of it to the park owner^[4].

That last sentence is the risk of this tenure in one line, published by the regulator rather than by a critic. A Comparison Document (Form 16) is also part of the disclosure package^[4].

The 2024 reforms §

Queensland Parliament passed amendments to the Act on 23 May 2024 to improve consumer protection and address concerns about site rent increases and sales in residential parks. The amending Act received assent on 6 June 2024 and the changes commenced in stages through 2024, 2025 and 2026^[7].

The substantive changes, as described in legal analysis of the Bill^[3] and by the department^[7]:

• Site rent increases capped at no more than the greater of CPI and 3.5 per cent, applying to all increases for current and future home owners. The limit operates as a ceiling rather than replacing existing bases of increase^[7][3].
• Market rent reviews abolished. Park owners can no longer use them, and market review clauses in existing site agreements are voided and of no effect^[7][3].
• Park registration. New residential parks must apply to be registered; parks already on the register are taken to be registered^[3].
• Transparency. Park owners must maintain a website and a comparison document^[3].
• Payment methods. A site agreement must offer at least three approved ways to pay site rent, at least one of which does not require the home owner to incur an additional cost^[3].

The buyback scheme introduced by the same reforms, under which a park owner must purchase an eligible home that remains unsold, is covered in Valuation and resale of modular homes.

What is not covered here §

This guide does not cover the approval pathway for a transportable dwelling on ordinary private land in Queensland, which is building work rather than a manufactured home question and follows the building approval process — see Granny flat rules in Queensland where the dwelling is a secondary dwelling.

Also not covered by the sources compiled here: park rules and their variation; termination grounds and notice periods; dispute resolution through QCAT; the position of converted caravans, which the Act deals with separately; and the interaction between the Act and body corporate or retirement village legislation.

References §