Residential lodges - anyone done it?

puddy

PasturesNew wrote: »

Generally, the lodges cost a fortune. You are on a limited time lease (10 or 12 years). At the end of that time it's demolished and they put a new shiny one on and sell it to the next punter.

Site fees can be £1500-3000/year. You still have the lodge bills to pay, including maintenance.

Site rules vary from site to site. Some will insist on you providing evidence every year that you have a main home, some will not let you stay more than X nights/weeks in a row.

I specifically went to one local site to settle an argument with facts. I kept getting into the same discussion about some woman at the coop that lives in one and moves out to her mate's when it shuts down (hinting that I should go and buy one). So I went for the facts.

On this particular site, it worked out:
- pay £30k (smallest one)
- 10 year lease
- £3000/year site fees
- you could stay in that one 11 months of the year, but have to move out in the 12th as they turn the electricity/water off.
- you can rent them out to other people

So, it would cost £6k/year to live there for 10 years. Then you own nothing. Might as well rent from somebody else on a whim.

that would be my concern about them,,, but think about this. if you are sure you want to live in that area for the next 10 years, then for the same(ish) price of a house you are renting somewhere with security of tenure for 10 years and if the site is nice, then its secure, quiet, nice neighbours etc. you can also do what you like with the inside as its yours to change. so its a nicer situation than just renting

PasturesNew

puddy wrote: »

that would be my concern about them,,, but think about this. if you are sure you want to live in that area for the next 10 years, then for the same(ish) price of a house you are renting somewhere with security of tenure for 10 years and if the site is nice, then its secure, quiet, nice neighbours etc. you can also do what you like with the inside as its yours to change. so its a nicer situation than just renting

They're not all nice, quiet neighbours. If the others are allowed to rent them out to holidaymakers, then you get a succession of loud/badly behaved people who are on holiday/in a holiday mood.

If you're going to be somewhere 10 years, it's most likely you'd look to buy.

And, you still need to move out for the 1-2 (or more) months they're shut. You have to decommission the whole place and then re-commission it (is that a word?) when you get back in. Water systems all have to be drained down etc.

And - you can't get post. Or many other services... like being able to stick satellite dishes up/etc.

If you like an area, you'd be better off buying an actual residential one, which has longer tenure and you can live in it for 12 months. But then it's not so 'middle class' looking

Pennylane

This place has just been taken over and some people I know went there for a look round.

They said it's lovely. Not far from The Broads and Norwich but beautifully quiet.

http://www.haveringlandhall.co.uk/page/home.html