living in holiday homes

anngee · 23 August 2008 at 5:45PM

does anyone know of a holiday home park in cornwall that you can live in permanently or if there is any way round the maximum stay rule. I once watched a program where this lady lived in a static caravan on a holiday park and this was her one and only home,i thought that wasn't allowed. I know there are some lovely cottages some even with a garden that are much cheaper than " normal" houses. i would be grateful if anyone knows about this or even lives in a holiday park if you would reply

lincroft1710 · 23 August 2008 at 5:56PM

Not to be recommended. Most have max 11 month occupancy and very, very limited security of tenure. Static caravans have limited life and although they are perfectly serviceable are often required to be replaced when 10/12 yrs old.

baileysbattlebus · 23 August 2008 at 6:18PM

There are parks in Cornwall that you can live in all year round - these are usually in manufactured homes - not static caravans. Most of them are for people who are over 50/ semi retired / retired.

I have a friend who moved to one in Devon, took early retirement at 50, rented out her house and off she went.

This might give you some idea

http://www.countryhomes-parkhomes.co.uk/residential_parks/parks.html

Strapped · 23 August 2008 at 10:41PM

Lots of people do live in holiday accomodation, but you have to vacate it for one or two months of the year (depending on the holiday usage rules for the particular site). One of my relatives does so, as she spends half her time here in the UK and half abroad. You need to do lots of research though, and it's not quite the "home of your own" that you might think, as sites often have lots of quite restrictive rules and regulations. And think carefully about whether you'd REALLY want to live among noisy holiday-makers!

I think PasturesNew used to live on a mobile home site, although I think it was a residential rather than holiday site, so hopefully she might see this thread.

lil_me · 24 August 2008 at 12:32AM

There are many static retirement sites but many have age criteria and strict rules, one I am aware of the people who live there are not allowed their grandchildren to stay over for example.

Another option I know of wardens who work helping run parks who live on site the 10 months of the year they are open (usually it's between 8 and 11) then go elsewhere for the others.

I have met people who live on static parks but there was for example one who'd paid over £60k for his static, which is as much as a small house/flat in some areas.

mum2one · 24 August 2008 at 12:49AM

A basic holiday home is exactly that, to an extent basic, not thinkly lagged, there is not always heating in the bedrooms, no double glazeing, unless you pay 20kv+ to have the extras. The maixmum you can stay is 10 1/2mth season, when I did my ou course last yr, one of the blokes was doing what you are thinking off, he spends the 6 weeks in b+b.

Dont forget to take into account the ground rent etc, this could be anything from 2 1/2k to 8k. Also as it woyld be a holiday park, (assuming it is), its not classed as resenditial so you have probs re credit, as a technicilality you are homeless and not on the electrol role.

Good point from the other poster, e noise, you would need to take into account that the neighbours may well of saved up all yr for that weeks hols,let the children run around, yes for one or 2 weeks, we'd put up with it, bur for longer.

Also the sites have a list of rules and regulations, one example we have come across you are not allowed to hang washing outside the caravan, on a rotary dryer, only on the caravan hanger supplied.

Debt_Free_Chick · 24 August 2008 at 8:27AM

The issue with holiday homes is not that you are not allowed to stay for 365 days of the year - but the owner is not allowed to let it to one person/family for 365 days of the year. And it's a planning condition, applied by the local planning authority/council.

I imagine many HH owners would love to let their place on a long-term basis, but they simply can't.

Another thing to bear in mind is that you have no assured tenancy. Whether you can be given notice to quit and when, depends on the terms of the let, I think. But it could be far less favourable than the 2 months you would get with an AST.

PasturesNew · 25 August 2008 at 4:29AM

As the above posters have pointed out, there are a number of issues.

Holiday homes are subject to special planning permission and are dictated to by the Council as to how long they're allowed to stay open. When not open the services are completely cut off (electricity/water). Often there will be restrictions on how many days/weeks somebody can live in a holiday home consecutively too.

Some sites even insist on you providing them with evidence of your permanent address (e.g. bills). They may want you to provide evidence at regular intervals that you are continuing to maintain a permanent home.

There are many rules/regulations in a site to keep to.

Living alongside tourists can be noisy - they are on holiday and it's new people twice a week.

Holiday homes are cheaper for a reason: because you can't live in them full-time. If you could, they'd be as expensive as houses.

There are many residential parks in Cornwall that you can live in full-time though.

With a full-time home on a residential park, the insulation is better (different building regulations for a holiday home/caravan to a residential one.

Cornwall is a county that is 80 miles long... and you've not said why you'd want to be there, so I won't list residential sites for you as it would be difficult to do that without knowing where/why.

As previous posters have also pointed out, a residential mobile home is not mortgageable. You buy them on a personal loan, usually requiring a much larger deposit and higher rate of interest. Also, repayments over a shorter period. Not all lenders will lend money for a mobile home to be bought.

I hope this helps a bit.

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living in holiday homes

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