Buying a park home

bbarroso

Hi!

Im looking to live in a quiet area of the country, close to the countriside and away from the city. My job requires me to travel, but I can do the office work remotely at home.

I have failed to find a brick and mortar option that is either affordable or in such a location, being generally given the options to have a nice small house but in the middle of a town with noise/traffic/etc. Larger houses can normally be found on better locations, but as a single professional I'm not able to afford a 4 bed house.

So I have been pondering ownership of a park home. These are just the right size for me, I can pay for a used model upfront and generally the locations are quite good, with neighbors being on their late age rather than party animals.

Im somehow confused about the pitch fees and other aspects like cost of utilities and process of re-sale, should I need it and was looking to get some advice here. What shall I look for? Most mobile homes I've seen have pitch fees included for the year, after purchase but it is really hard to find out what these are afterwords!

Any other hidden costs i should plan for?

00ec25

you question has been answered loads of times, use the search function: park home, mobile home, static caravan

- difference between a holiday park and a residential park
- site owner first refusal on resale
- site owner controls utility prices
- site owners controls when you must replace your caravan (eg nothing over 10 years old)
- ummortgageable, wasting asset (they are like cars, they go down, not up, in value)

Savvy_Sue

One thing which might be an issue is that in some cases you have to vacate the property for ? 2 weeks each year, and that clause can be buried with the very small print.

[Deleted User]

Unless you have your own land on which to site it, then don't do it.

G_M

Use google. Or Bing. Or DuckDuckGo. Or your preferred search engine.

There are hundreds of horror stories about the potential legal issues around park home ownership. Make sure you fully understand.

I believe the government was looking into the whole area with a view to leglislating but I don't know what happened.

I suspect nothing as the government has stopped governing the country for the time being whilst it grapples with this hugely complex, expensive, divisive, damaging and (dare I say it?) pointless side-track called..........


I suspect 5 years will have passed before any semblance of proper government returns, and by then it's anyone's guess what form that government will take.

bbarroso

Thanks guys. I understand this and I did my research. The actual question here is I cant seem to be able to find a guide on average UK pitch fees by park. Also are these any different from those in a mobile home? I seen the average appears to be around 3K but unsure what these actually cover (Some cover water rates, others just the utility standing charge?)

Im also guessing it would be preferable to buy directly from the park owner/previous tenant rather than arranging transport, is this correct?
What exactly happens when the caravan is older than 10 years (assuming the park doesn't accept it). Can I just have it removed and terminate my tenancy? Am I forced to get another one? Any other site fees?

Is there any advantage in owning the caravan, rather than simply renting it from the park owners?

sal_III

Everyone is advising you against such move and points out to search functions and piles of horror stories. And that you have to do a lot of research. Instead you are coming back with another set of park home/caravan related questions. You are better off taking them to a caravan owners forum.

I don't see how did you make the jump from small town centre noisy house (that you can afford) to large 4bed out of the way quiet home (that you can't afford), without passing through small out of the way quiet 2bed house or flat (that you presumably can afford) and went directly to park homes and caravans...

lincroft1710

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

One thing which might be an issue is that in some cases you have to vacate the property for ? 2 weeks each year, and that clause can be buried with the very small print.

That would tend to happen on a holiday park rather than a proper licensed residential park

quantumlobster

Surely the answer to OP's question is "smaller nicer house on the edge of town"?

OP, it would be helpful if you gave an indication of area/budget. Any kind of caravan/parkhome/etc. is just a way of spending a lot of money on a regular basis to have a worse quality of life, IMHO.

LadyDee

I live in a park home on one of the best parks in the South of England. If you want to PM me I will answer any questions I can.

Park Homes today in many respects rival bungalows. On well-managed, long established sites (like the one I live on) the homes are steadily increasing in value, and new homes can cost more than a traditional brick built house.

You are perfectly free to sell to who you like.

The site owner does not necessarily control utility prices, and in fact in our case, bulk billing means our water/sewerage and electricity is very cheap, and is metered to all homes, so you pay for what you use. Gas is individually metered. Even the very expensive homes (the newest has just been sited at a price approaching half a million) are only Council Tax Band A. So outgoings are low. Site fees cover maintenance of all of the infrastructure, all the roads, common gardens, the trees are protected, and there are just enough rules to ensure that it is a quiet and peaceful place to live, with all neighbours looking out for each other.

New homes are built to a very high standard of insulation and energy conservation. There is a community centre with a huge variety of clubs, groups, activities, etc. etc. generally organised by the residents committee.

My home is currently on the market and I am looking to move (after 18 years) to an identical set-up nearer my daughter. I wouldn't consider any other way of life now.

bbarroso

But as far as I understand on a flat I have to Pay council tax and ground rent on top of service charges, which pretty much makes them just as bad as site fees.

Even if I get a cheap flat, paying 200 a month for service charges on top of ground rent and council tax will probably cost me more than my mortgage and the flats are normally considerably more expensive that a used caravan (even tough they last considerably more), which means I would take at least 10 more years to recoup the investment, especially if I were to let at some point...

Again, just like caravan park pitch fees, it is very hard to get this information from estate agents, so I'm unsure how to take all the variables together to make an informed decision.