Mother retiring, considering static caravan...

Boopop

Greetings all,

My mother and step father are apparently considering selling the house (mortgage is paid off) and moving in to a static caravan. She's worried that she won't have enough money to look after the house and won't have much disposable income to enjoy her retirement. My gut tells me this is a bad idea but I doubt a gut feeling will be enough to convince her against it, so can you good people inform me a bad idea?

The reason she won't have much money once she retires is mainly because she doesn't have a private pension and I don't think she's paid enough in to her national insurance to get the full state pension.

Anyway I'll be making an awkward phone call to her later this evening, so any help with why it's a bad idea and/or who she can talk to about what her best options are would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Tom.

PlymouthMaid

I don't know much but I think another factor to consider is that a static will obviously depreciate rapidly whereas bricks and mortar usually will not. When I have looked at these types of home, they are actually still rather expensive for what they are.

missbiggles1

Boopop wrote: »

Greetings all,

My mother and step father are apparently considering selling the house (mortgage is paid off) and moving in to a static caravan. She's worried that she won't have enough money to look after the house and won't have much disposable income to enjoy her retirement. My gut tells me this is a bad idea but I doubt a gut feeling will be enough to convince her against it, so can you good people inform me a bad idea?

The reason she won't have much money once she retires is mainly because she doesn't have a private pension and I don't think she's paid enough in to her national insurance to get the full state pension.

Anyway I'll be making an awkward phone call to her later this evening, so any help with why it's a bad idea and/or who she can talk to about what her best options are would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Tom.

What's their combined pension situation and when do both of them retire?
Roughly what's the house worth and in what area?

ETA
Not just being nosy but need more information to advise on alternatives.

C_Mababejive

Are we talking about a real static caravan or what is described variously as a bungalow, a lodge, a cabin or whatever but which is still in law a caravan?


A lot of people tread this route and regret it. Caravans are not properties within the meaning of land reg as there is nothing to register. It is no different to a car.

The land on which it stands is rented. You pay a monthly fee. The landowner can exercise all kinds of powers over caravan owners.

Further if the site only has a holiday home licence and not a residential licence then you cannot live in your caravan, you can only visit it.

A lot of park owners are cagey about this and fail to mention it/seek to circumvent planing regs especially at the point where they are trying to sell you the thing and sign you up.

beware..be very beware..!

Boopop

Thanks for the help so far everyone...will ask her for those details this evening missbiggles1 .Not sure what exactly she means by caravan yet, will ask when I speak to her this evening.

monitorsit

Check the fees carefully. We looked at buying a caravan and the annual charges of one sort and another were very high.

And of course the caravan will last - what - 25 years? Then you have to buy another one.

Boopop

patanne wrote: »

You could also remind her that if ANY of the neighbouring caravans are let out or even just loaned to younger relatives, she could end up spending her weekends with anybody next door. At least when you have a house you have some choices. I really don't like suggesting this but it may make more sense to move to rented accommodation and when the money runs out start claiming housing benefit. It isn't what I would have wanted my mother to do but it may be an answer.

What about the stepfather's pension?

It is surprising how much you can save when you aren't working, maybe she can buy herself more pension. Maybe it would be worth popping over to the pension forum to get some info once you have spoken to her.

Is the house owned solely in her name?

House is solely in her name I believe. Not sure how my stepfather helps financially but apparently they don't have a joint account. He'll still be working in the short term at least I think.

PasturesNew

Most of the time, 99% of the time, you will never own the land it stands on - while there are laws in place to prevent easy eviction, it is possible for the landowner to sell the whole site to a developer and have it cleared. So she'd have no home then.

They look nice, but once/if you get a little less mobile they can be a problem with regard to adaptations/access with sticks, buggies, wheelchairs, etc.

The caravan will most likely not last as long as they will. While it's shiny/new now, it will need maintenance and overhaul and it might prove problematical in the future if it becomes nasty.

Most also have gas bottles.... imagine lugging a new 4' high gas bottle into place on a stormy night in your nightie when you're 85.

Her better option would be to buy a small "proper home", a little flat or something. Taking time to look/choose carefully can yield some great places with cheap service charges.

I've lived in a mobile home, on a site, so I do know something about them. Indeed, the site I used to live on was sold off.... I'd sold my caravan by then, but I do wonder what happened to the other owners.

bigadaj

Would be worthwhile sorting out the actual figures from your mother, and getting a statement of pension that is projected. Then post on benefits board. To determine a base figure this might be topped up to, selling the house and living off the proceeds may not last that long compared to life expectancy.

The other option is to look at equity release schemes, though these are likely to be poor for people who aren't that old, which may be the case for a new pensioner.

Owain_Moneysaver

monitorsit wrote: »

And of course the caravan will last - what - 25 years? Then you have to buy another one.

Many sites have a 10 year age policy so you have to sell the caravan after 10 years (the site owner will take a commission ...) or de-site the caravan and find somewhere else to site it.

missbiggles1

Another option to consider, as the mortgage is paid off, would be an equity release mortgage.