RESIDENTS at risk of being evicted of their homes advertised to them as as residential park homes have filed applications with Christchurch Borough Council to change the land's use.

Tall Trees Park, at Matchams Lane at Hurn, only has planning permission for use as holiday accommodation, according to the council, which as previously reported issued enforcement letters to residents at the end of last year.

David Barnes, strategic director for Christchurch and East Dorset Councils, said: “We have received three applications so far and have been advised to expect two further applications. The applications are for Lawful Development Certificates, where the applicant claims use of the plot as a residence for over 10 years. These should take between four and eight weeks to decide.

“It is for the applicant to demonstrate clearly that the use has been residential and consistent throughout the 10 years. They are required to submit documents as evidence to illustrate residential occupancy to the address they claim sole or main residence, all of which we will consider when deciding the application.”

In a statement written to the Daily Echo, members of the Tall Trees Home Owner's Association claimed they had been mis-sold their homes by Tall Trees Park - a trading division of South Coast Parks Ltd.

The Daily Echo has, on several occasions, sought comment from South Coast Parks Ltd on the matter to no avail.

Ivan Hancock, Dorset County Council's trading services manager, said: “Dorset County Council’s Trading Standards Service has been investigating several allegations of misleading claims made to some consumers when they were sold properties at Tall Trees Park. These are continuing. Some changes have already been made to websites selling these properties as a result.

“If there are consumers who believe that they have been misled by claims made when they brought a property on this or other parks, and they are not already in contact with Trading Standards, they can call the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06. This is the first point of contact for consumer advice or to report a matter to Trading Standards.”

One resident, who asked not to be named, said: "The council is ultimately responsible. It's been a complete and utter shambles."

He said: "If we don't get this change of use what will happen is we will have to sell up and be forced to rent somewhere else as we won't be able to afford to buy. This hasn't been handled by the council well at all."

The majority of the park's homeowners are retirees in their 60s, 70s and 80s - some of whom claim have suffered severe bouts of ill health as a result of stress as the residents' battle to stay at their homes.

Describing Tall Trees as "like a tiny village", they say their lives have been turned upside down since they received the letters. One man suffered a heart attack while a woman had a stroke, according to members of the Tall Trees Home Owners’ Association.

The Daily Echo understands that the council first became aware that units had been sold as residential plots back in 2009 but had failed to act. Since then more and more homes have been sold - by Tall Trees Park, a trading division of South Coast Parks Ltd.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "The people here are all good, hard-working honest people. The community is fabulous. There is always somebody you can rely on. For us, this is absolutely major. We can't begin to think what would happen to us if we had to go somewhere else."

She said she feels that the retirees who make up those affected are being preyed upon and not one of them would be able to sell their homes as they would incur a huge loss.

"We love the homes and the community," she said. "The whole ambience is what we make of it. Every bit of this is going to cost huge amounts of money and people here are living on their pensions.

"We were gullible and we were naive but we were suckered in. But these are our homes."