Buying a 'holiday lodge'

lillibet_dripping

I am considering down-sizing and am looking at buying a lodge-park home which can be occupied for 50 weeks of the year.
The park does not have a licence for 100% residential use and I have been told that because of this there is no Royal Mail delivery to the plot.
A PO Box number would solve the problem, but when registering/changing doctors, dentists etc. do I give them my lodge address or my PO box address? And how does that work with the electoral roll/voting?
Any experiences?

kinger101

Do you realize that;

(a) they are depreciating assets, and very difficult to sell on;
(b) they often have very high ground rent costs

Once you realize it's a bad idea, you might find you're priced out of bricks and mortar

Tygermoth

My Mother lives in one, as a home, and stays with family for the three weeks the site is closed.

She cant vote as it has no set address and even though the ground rent is similar to the price of council tax - as the house is her main residence she has to pay council tax too. Her car insurance and other postcode related bills go to my dads, just up the lane.

As you just own the van and not the land things can become difficult with the site owner - as she has found out recently (shes not the easiest person to get along with) He now is making things awkward for her. To be fair she is so intensely passive aggressive it will drive the most reasonable person to the end of their tether quite quickly.

She didn't have a great deal of money and couldn't afford a bricks and mortar house so this was a better deal than renting (poor credit and other issues) - also it was detached, in really good nick, had parking and a large garden - i kid you not inside it looks like something from 'homes and gardens'

davidmcn

Tygermoth wrote: »

She cant vote as it has no set address

I hope it wasn't the council who told her that - even the homeless can register to vote.

carefullycautious

Why would you not buy on a residential site instead of one that you will have to leave for x amount of weeks?

lincroft1710

lillibet_dripping wrote: »

The park does not have a licence for 100% residential use and I have been told that because of this there is no Royal Mail delivery to the plot.

Over 55 years ago my grandparents had a caravan on a holiday site. Mail for holidaymakers was delivered to the site office, where it was sorted into pigeonholes for the holidaymakers to collect.

Is there not a similar system available on this park?

missbiggles1

carefullycautious wrote: »

Why would you not buy on a residential site instead of one that you will have to leave for x amount of weeks?

Because statics on residential sites are frequently at least twice the price of those on holiday sites.

iantojones40

You'll have very little security of tenure and as already mentioned be subject to all sorts of additional fees and charges as well as rules and regulations ie having to replace your dwelling when it reaches a certain age or every x number of years, regardless of how well maintained it is.

lincroft1710

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Because statics on residential sites are frequently at least twice the price of those on holiday sites.

Some lodges on holiday parks cost up to £200,000. You usually have more security of tenure on a designated residential park.

missbiggles1

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Some lodges on holiday parks cost up to £200,000. You usually have more security of tenure on a designated residential park.

Even the most mundane of residential sites tends to cost upwards of £100k whereas it's possible to buy brand new on a holiday site for less than half that.

I doubt the OP is planning to spend £200k on a luxury lodge when she's downsizing. (Although, I do agree about the security angle.)