chalet holiday home

anskills

Hi guys,

An opportunity has come up to buy a chalet within a couple of hours drive from us in a very very desirable year round location for summer and winter sports. We love the area and are keen to see if we could purchase the chalet. We are not looking to make money, just have a bolt hole for the weekends etc. As long as we can rent it out one week a month it would cover all the costs, however even if it doesnt thats not a big problem as after spending time in a friends cottage in Canada its a long term lifestyle choice for us!

Anyway i've done a bit of reading up on buying chalets, and i am in the process of seeking information on the site fee's, council tax cost, whether there are any council tax exemptions and finally any other generic information. I shall need to find out the length of the lease and the terms of the contract also. Is there anything specific i should also be considering?

With regards to financing, our house is worth £215k in current market, we are currently mortgaged for £130k and have a joint income of £60k per annum. The chalet would cost approx £25-30k, although alledgedly has been valued at £49k by a local estate agent, and the idea was to release some equity from our house to buy. I'm just waiting on my financial advisor getting back to us with rates/figures etc.

Any help, advice or general info that anyone could offer from the above would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Kevin

ukmaggie45

Make sure that you are allowed to rent it out. We have a static caravan on a caravan park in Wales that is closed for 6 weeks of the year (mid Jan to March 1st), it's a small, quiet site, and only close family are allowed to stay - it's in the lease. Absolutely no chance of letting it out, and if we tried it on (not that we would I hasten to add) the other caravan owners would complain.

I do know what you mean about "a lifestyle choice" - we live on a fairly busy road, and it's nice to get away for a weekend. Even better now OH only works 3 days a week - nice long weekends! We do without other things in order to keep up the yearly rental, council tax, electric, calor gas, water, etc etc.

I am fairly disabled, and it's nice to stay somewhere on the flat (IYSWIM) plus the really clean air seems to help too.

Maggie

PasturesNew

Find out how much the site fees are and what you get for that.
Council tax might be included in that, it might not
Find out if you can rent it out, some only allow owners.
Find out when they close down and reopen.
Find out about draining down the systems before it's shut down for the winter (systems in many have to be drained down then recommissioned the next year).
Find out how long the chalet is allowed to stay there, there'll be a limit on it, after which you have to remove it from the site and the only option is to buy another one.
Find out how much you'd have to pay the site owner when you sell.

If you intend to rent it out occasionally, find out if they provide that as a service, or think about how you'd go about marketing it (finding bookings is the hardest part of owning anywhere)

chickmug

You already have two good replies and all I can add is to talk to the local Tourist Information Board, who are usaully very helpfull, about letting prospects & occupancy rates.

anskills

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the helpful replies! I'm currently still working upon this and trying to get more info. I am very keen on the place, however there appears to be a (possible) major issue.......

The current owners have had the chalet since 1991! They bought it from the company that previously owned the site shortly before it went bankrupt, and don't actually have a lease as such! There hasn't been any issues with regards to this in the last 18 years, however i'm worried the change in owner may highlight this fact. I have requested she speak to the site owner, who allegedly she doesn't see eye to eye with, to confirm whether there would be any conditions on the new ownership. A possible upside of this is that she may actually own the chalet and land freehold and therefore would never have any conditions to follow, aside from paying site fee's. I have also suggested she speak to her solicitor who may be able to help.

Again, any input would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Kevin

PasturesNew

I've never ever seen one on a site where the land is owned freehold. I am not sure even a lease was usual, it used to be a license to rent the plot.

At 18 years old, it's already close to the historical rule of thumb that at 20 years old the site owner would ask you to remove your van/chalet ... and they then put a new one on it.

anskills

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've never ever seen one on a site where the land is owned freehold. I am not sure even a lease was usual, it used to be a license to rent the plot.

At 18 years old, it's already close to the historical rule of thumb that at 20 years old the site owner would ask you to remove your van/chalet ... and they then put a new one on it.

hhmm i will definitely get this clarified before we take it any further. surely this should be stated somewhere either on lease or licence, otherwise it can't be enforced?!

anskills

Just received this email back, which sheds a bit more light to the situation:

xxxx has got a copy of the original lease when she first purchased the chalet in 1990 and all the documentation to assist the sale and all correspondence forward.

In 1993 the park was taken over by a new owner and unfortunately he couldn't find the park copy of her lease (or any of the other chalet owners too). xxxx was a little worried about this so has been to two solicitors to see if she can get or needs a lease, but there is no law saying that the park have to give her a lease. So she has letters from the owner to show that currently she has a day by day lease. This is what all the owners have.

xxxx does not own the land and therefore pays a site fee of approx xxxx per year which includes the water rates, for this xxxx receives an invoice and also the electric bill via invoice from xxxx. I don't believe that xxxx can repossess the land, build or buy a new chalet as he would have to buy the chalets from all the owners in order to move it to build a new one. You would need to read through the lease that xxxx has and the documentation and letters to ensure you worries are put at ease.

I hope this makes sense, I am sure it will become clearer once you have seen xxxx documentation.

I think the best option is to meet with xxxx so that she can show you all her documentation from the owner and then if you wish to proceed with the sale then you could meet with the owner.

I believe other owners have sold their chalets without a written lease. The owner name is transferred and the invoices redirected to the new owner.

xxxx has a solicitor in Inverness who she will be contacted to draft the sale documentation for official purposes.

your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Jelliebeen

I think your best advice is to talk to a solicitor. It may be expensive in the short term, but it could save you making a very expensive mistake, or give you the green light to have a great lifestyle and make a bit of money on the side.

ukmaggie45

To be honest this all sounds a bit dodgy to me. Admittedly we are on a caravan site rather than a chalet site, not sure how it's different.

There is a place with chalets fairly close, there's one for sale there now for £350K, lease is for 20 years. At end of that time chalet will have to be replaced.

I agree with Jelliebeen that you need to get a solicitor to look at things.

New chalets are expensive. And it'll prob be your landlord (the site owner) who provides the new one, and takes a cut of cost too.

Good luck anyway!

Maggie