Static caravan/park home - over 50s only??

lisyloo

Blimey, I was 22 in 1991 when I bought (no BOMAD and still waiting for inheritance at 50)

gardner1

Biggest downer is after 10-15 yrs your van is to old for most parks and they will charge you a fortune to move it/a fortune for a new one or £500 for the old one

djp64

There are many licensed, residential parks with park / static homes that do not have the requirement to renew the home every so many years. I have friends living on one in Devon where some of the homes (including theirs) are over 40 years old. They have had it modernised with new BS compliant insulation etc but the original structure is still there. If you want to live in an original then that's your choice too



The same caveats apply when buying any home whether it's bricks and mortar or a park home. You need to research the area and the property and have a survey and make sure that you know what you're signing up for. Recent legislation for residential park homes has significantly improved the rights of property owners and reduced the rights of site owners.


There are probably many more buyers of bricks and mortar homes that have been stung with the leasehold / increasing ground rent terms than buyers of residential park homes that are unhappy because they didn't do their research on the site owners licence and business ethics.


There are, I believe, some holiday park home sites where you are required to change the home every so often to keep the site looking new.



Debbie

lincroft1710

jamesperrett wrote: »

Not sure that's a new caravan park if its the same one as I've just seen. I had some friends living there back in the 80's. It was full of youngsters back then though and we had some pretty crazy times.

This is a holiday park very near the sea which the new owners are starting to develop (with much opposition from existing holiday home owners) into a partly or wholly residential park

lookstraightahead

Nasqueron wrote: »

Just like 50s+ owning all the houses, protesting at attempts to build more in case it affects the value of their property and then complaining that their area is dying because nobody young is coming in.

I love the scientific data backing your opinion.

dawyldthing

A Lot of the park home owners have first dibs at buying it back, often at a vastly reduced price (ive had experience of this with a family friend. They bought it at £45k I think it was and after a bit of debate sold it back for a third of the price but they wanted to offer much less than this too.). They are hard to sell on through estate agents, the land owner then can charge for transfer of ownership, there not registered on land registry.

You really really need to think it through as imho there a rip off

PasturesNew

georgiap wrote: »

I am hoping to buy a home and have been looking at static residential caravans / park homes as a much cheaper alternative.

They are unmortgageable....

You have to use a personal loan, or a specialist lender, to buy them.

If you're doing it because you think they're cheaper, it's because they're unmortgageable and because they are non-standard construction and there is no "security" in them.

konark

Park homes;- Run for the Hills.

oystercatcher

I know someone who lives in a park home. She pays (or housing benefit pays!) significant ground rent. Her utility bills are more than mine in a house twice the size. In winter she has to run heating 24 hours a day and in hot weather air conditioning. The rooms are teeny tiny . There are loads of silly rules about not hanging washing outside and keeping the garden tidy and the number of pets you can have.

One family was asked to leave because their homeless son who was under 50 came to live with them (over 50's only park!)

She loves it there though.

Not a cheap option in the long run.

georgiap

Thanks for your help everyone! Definitely some food for thought