buying a caravan on a holiday park

PasturesNew

Every holiday park has its own rules and months of opening. Most holiday parks will insist you have a permanent address. You can't (easily) receive mail at a holiday park.

Apart from that:
- site fees are likely to cost almost as much as your council rent
- holiday park homes are on a license, typically 10 or 12 years. At the end of that time you have to pay to have your van removed from the site and the only option is to buy a brand new one from the owner.
- holiday homes aren't as well insulated as proper residential mobile homes.
- you buy them with a personal loan, not a mortgage, so it's harder to get the money.
- when the site is closed they turn off the electricity and water and there's an on-site security; you are sometimes allowed into your van during daylight hours only during those months.

paddyrg

Holiday parks - there's a reason why Bourne Leisure bought Holimarine, Haven etc - companies make money off those sites, serious money. Typically, firstly you must buy your van from them, then only vans upto 5/10 whatever years old allowed on site, then siting fees, then mandatory club membership, then gas (from the site), then maintenance (probably site guys only), leccy, you get the idea - long and short is it is not a case of a one-off sum seeing you out forever, rather you will still keep on paying out monthly, and the van will fall to bits around you over time (and with salty/sea air), then you have to upgrade every few years anyway (so the site doesn't have old/decrepit vans on it...)

Anddos

how do they fall to peices? are they not strong vans?

picklepick

They're made of metal, they rust to pieces.

LittleVoice

I'm waiting for the next question. Like - how will they know the age of the caravan?

wymondham

LittleVoice wrote: »

I'm waiting for the next question. Like - how will they know the age of the caravan?

how will they know the age of the caravan?

paddyrg

Anddos wrote: »

how do they fall to peices? are they not strong vans?

Vans are flimsier than houses - in fact the furniture is structural quite often, a friend's van collapsed when they thought they'd try making it open plan! They're aluminium cladding on a steel or wooden frame. Wood rots, steel rusts (especially in seaside areas). That's not to say you won't get a decent span out of a good one, just to say bricks last longer in wet, salty, windy conditions. And having overwintered on a holiday park once, I can tell you that vans can get a bit chilly overnight (like ice on the insides of the windows chilly).

Another thing to note, if you do find a residential park/somewhere to nest over the closed period (maybe a local hotel/B&B), seaside resorts as a rule are terribly bleak and depressing over winter. Again, I speak from experience.

That all said, perhaps you can get work at a holiday park, maintenance, painting, etc and see if they'll throw in accommodation - then at least you'll know people/have something to wake up for. They're all crying out for reliable, skilled, and industrious staff.

iloveblackpool

i am trying to move my family onto a site to live full time also there was a report in the sun newspaper saying due to the recession over 200,000 families are now living in static/mobile homes as its cheaper and most people interviwed said they felt safer and it was better for children to play outside the caravan etc but i am struggling myself to find a residential park in blackpool or near that is open 12 months but also accepts you to live so if anyone knows of a site i would be hugely gratefull if you could let me no


kind regards