reclaiming site fees for unused caravan plot

Topher

I'm very uncertain as to which forum to ask this question so I've started here. Guidance about my question or another forum to put it in, is welcome.
Hi there,
We have a caravan which for a couple of years has been on a site that my parents used to use and which this year changed ownership. In the past (i.e. under the last ownership) if for any reason an owner no longer required their plot, and removed their caravan, an amount of the annual fee was reclaimable. In due course we've moved our van off the site having found we were not using it enough.
There have been no written contracts, but we do have receipts to say that we have paid for one year's site fees back in April, (£950 for twelve months from April 2012 - April 2013) The new owner is refusing to consider any form of refund. What I'm asking is, where do we stand in terms of getting any of our money back from him? Have we any legal right to this money? So far, in phone calls, I have termed it as an enquiry as to whether, as a good will gesture on his part, he is willing to consider any form of refund. The answer is no. Has anybody any suggestions as to where I go from here, or have we simply lost our money by changing our minds about our need for the plot?
Thank you
Topher

Gothicfairy

I am no expert but I live full time in a caravan and have moved from site to site for a while ( did live in a house for a period ) In my world if the pitch is available for you to use then you pay for it, if it is formally returned then the pitch is no longer yours but the owner might require some rent if you leave without notice or half way through the season when there is no chance that they can fill that pitch quickly.
However without any contract and a new owner it is just your word against his and if that pitch is still empty they could claim that it is still yours.

vanoonoo

tricky one because your verbal contract a receipt is withthe previous owner of the site from what I understand so i dont think there is much hope for a refund in this instance. cold you sell your space on to someone else that is due to renew?

McKneff

vanoonoo wrote: »

tricky one because your verbal contract a receipt is withthe previous owner of the site from what I understand so i dont think there is much hope for a refund in this instance. cold you sell your space on to someone else that is due to renew?

As far as I know when another van is put on the site, the new van owner then has to pay the full year. Hence the site owner gets 2 lots of payments for some months of the year.

Bit of a rip off but its in the terms and conditions of most sites.

vanoonoo

McKneff wrote: »

As far as I know when another van is put on the site, the new van owner then has to pay the full year. Hence the site owner gets 2 lots of payments for some months of the year.

Bit of a rip off but its in the terms and conditions of most sites.

yeah fair enough I see the difficulty - but maybe tell the site owner that its just a different van - the contract is for the pitch not for what's on it I would have thought; so sublet for a few months

zippychick

as this has dropped down the OS board, ive moved it to Consumer rights to see if you get any helpful advice over here

Good luck

Zip

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arcon5

What does your contract state?

Whilst your paying for it, they shouldn't allow any other vans in the spot - if they do then you would have grounds to be asking for a pro-rata refund unless you gave them permission to do so.

rock-on_2

Topher

If you have removed your caravan then yes you do have the right to at least a partial refund. If you go onto the OFT site and download the Guidance on Unfair Terms for Holiday Caravan Agreements have a look at I think it's schedule 2 with the important bit which says
'Section 4.33 of the OFT Guidance states that whilst the OFT do not disagree in principle with refunds of pitch fees on a sliding scale, providing they represent a genuine pre-estimate of a park owners’ losses.' It is also in breach of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 section 5 (1). If the new owner has taken over the site he has also taken over the existing contracts whether verbal or written until such time as he issues a new contract but that has to be done with consent of both parties.

If it was a verbal contract it is still binding. Contact Trading Standards in your local area they may be able to help and if all else fails take the b*****r to court. I did over the same sort of thing with a site not refunding after the sale of my van. I won, the Judge said it was unfair to charge twice for the same pitch so made the site refund my fees pro rata, plus court costs, plus he asked if I wanted anything else refunded.
The more caravan owners who get double charged that notify Trading Standards, the better. They can then bring a super complaint and sort the whole mess out for all caravan owners.

McKneff
No they can't charge twice for the same pitch, you are entitled to a refund if you sell a van, have paid for a full season, leave part way through and the new owner pays a site fee. They may think they can get away with it, many of them do because owners won't challenge them. Double charging is not allowed especially if the site is a member of one of the trade organisations. It's in their code of practice.

Hintza

I would have thought at this time of year the pitch will still be vacant and if the park owner has other pitches he will fill those first.

My thoughts are that assuming pitches are rented on an annual basis and the pitch is still vacant then the OP is still due to pay the rent until the end of the year.

rock-on_2

If the pitch is still vacant but a court doesn't feel that a site has made enough effort to re-let or re-sell the pitch then the site owner is only allowed to retain a reasonable amount to cover his anticipated losses. It all depends on when the pitch is vacated but sites are not allowed to double charge or retain an excessive amount to cover their costs.

The site must show that they have made every effort to re-let or re-sell the pitch.

Hintza

rock-on wrote: »

a court doesn't feel that a site has made enough effort to re-let or re-sell

So how do you define this? If they advertise it in the press would it be deemed reasonable in adding that cost on to the bill?

I don't see why there is much incentive to refill it especially if as I said before there are other vacant pitches, the owner would fill them first.

Sure, if the park was full then it would make commercial sense to get a new long term renter for the pitch and the OP could expect something back.