Selling a Holiday Lodge

lowtidesurf

OK Guys here's a difficult one

Currently own a Holiday Lodge at a caravan park. We own the lodge out right and have a 99 year lease we pay ground rent on. Originally we use to rent it out to holidayers . However for the last year we have been living in the lodge instead of renting it out to save money.

Now certain circumstances means we have to sell the lodge. Oh Nooooooo
We have found a buyer and they want the lodge. Good news, YES

However the owner of the park took our client round the park and said that he can have 50k knocked off the price of any new lodge he wanted so the price was nearer to our price .

Still wanting our lodge we were glad we werent under cut.

However the lodge owner turned round today and said that if they purchase our lodge, they will not be allowed to rent it out to holiday makers at all. They could only live in it.

Sorry for the rant. Does anyone know if he can put this covenant on property that we own.

DVardysShadow

Not a pleasant character! Still he will do himself in the eye, if people see that what he is doing to you he will do to them - eg frustrating their attempts to sell. AFAICS, he cannot impose new conditions on a lease, provided the lease is transferable and you do have the right to start with, but you probably need specialist advice

PasturesNew

It all comes down to the actual agreement that you signed. I was surprised when first you called it a holiday lodge, then said you were living in it - the two are often mutually exclusive, or if allowed on any one site would normally be under one agreement or another.

You need to check your actual agreement. Is it residential, or holiday? Does it allow you to rent out to holidaymakers, or not?

The planning permission originally granted would dictate what he was allowed to put in the agreement, it might be that "as he knew you", he'd let you get away with it while things were going fine and you were OK, but now you're moving on and moving out, he wants to revert to the letter of the agreement.

Site owners are known for using your advertising to attract buyers of their own vans. This happened on a site I lived on in the late 80s, a lovely retired lady with a double unit kept finding potential buyers - and when interviewed by the site owner she'd entice them with a sale from her own stock or an offer to rent one of hers.

There are some specialist solicitors that deal with mobile homes and holiday homes, but you need to dig out your agreement and find out exactly what it says.

You own the structure of the building, not the land, and you must adhere to the contract you signed when you bought it... whatever that said.

ManAtHome

Sorry, but seems like they can do almost what they want - radio 4 prog a couple of weeks back http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8222356.stm (as DVS said, needs specialist advice as caravan parks appear to be well outside normal leasehold laws).

lowtidesurf

PasturesNew wrote: »

You need to check your actual agreement. Is it residential, or holiday? Does it allow you to rent out to holidaymakers, or not?

Thank you for your replys.

The lease agreement is for holiday as we let it out when we purchased it. We let it out for about a year before we decided to live in it.

RLH33

If the lease is for holiday then I assume the site is a holiday park - i.e. a camp/caravan site but with mobile homes/holiday lodges. If this is right then there are probably also planning restrictions on the site meaning that you would be in breach if you 'lived' in the lodge and could be at risk of enforcement action. However as you have only 'lived' in the lodge for a year then you haven't established a residential use and it retains its holiday use status.

With regards to the lease, although you say it is a holiday lease - does it actually say anything about whether you can let it out or not? Or is it purely for the use of the owner's holiday use?

lowtidesurf

Yes you are correct. It is on a holiday campsite.

We don't technically live there. We have just "Holiday'ed" here for the last 11 months. It is not my main address and cannot have post delivered. So the property is mainly for holiday lets.

I pretty sure the lease agreement is letting as a holiday lodge.

When/if we sell the lodge is he allowed to change the tenency agreement with the new owners stating it is for residential use only.