Caravan Site Fees during Covid 19

Aylesbury_Duck

JoNoPo said:

Hi we have now had a reply from our caravan site.
Once the government lift the essential travel only ban and stay at home request then we would expect holiday home owners to be able to use their homes. All the parks were instructed to ask their customers to go back to their UK primary residence so that the NHS would not be overloaded in rural areas. Parks are allowed to let anyone who does not have UK home to stay.
Regarding site fees,this is a very grey area. You are essentially paying pitch fees for the caravan to sit on its pitch and the park to ensure all the services are provided in terms of water, sewerage elec etc. In real terms we have not stopped you from coming to the caravan, it is the government who have said stay at home and stipulated that essential travel did not include going to your holiday home. And the parks were asked to ensure people were complying with this request. If your car was in a car park you would have to pay the fee regardless of if you were able to get to it or not. We are still having to maintain the park,cut the grass and watch over everyones holiday home. One idea is that we ask the local authority if we can remain open Jan to Feb to compensate.
This is not the response we had hoped for. We thought we were on a friendly family site but looks like the usual situation where they have our money and are keeping it. They have our money and our caravan and we have nothing. Lets hope the government step in - which they need to do on many aspects of the caravan industry.

Let's hope the government don't step in.  They have more important things to be dealing with and frankly, there isn't even anything to intervene on anyway.  The site's response looks perfectly reasonable to me, and unless there's something in your contract that specifically states you have unfettered access to your caravan at all times, you have no argument.

Life__Goes__On

I totally agree with AD
This requires give and take, they are willing to open longer next year.

Undervalued

Likewise, I feel their response is very reasonable.

JoNoPo

The longer opening next year will be great in Jan - we all want to go to our caravans in the cold snowy winter time! Also I dont think one month is going to make up for lost time in the summer.
Also these business owners have been given masses of financial help from the government, we as individuals should not be penalised when after all these caravan site owners are worth a fortune.

Aylesbury_Duck

You aren't being penalised.  You, along with everyone else, are doing your bit to deal with an international crisis, the likes of which hasn't been seen for decades.  You not being able to go to your holiday home is hardly one of life's great sacrifices.  You're making yourself look daft now. 

How much are you actually out of pocket as a result of not being able to visit your caravan?  Let's hear it in actual pounds and pence. 

JoNoPo

I dont think calling me daft is a very mature response. Im prepared to overlook your churlish reply this once.
We have paid £3,000.00 (fortunately no pence) for site fees and Im sure if you had paid that sum for a holiday you would expect to receive a refund and you would be entitled to that, this is our holiday destination. By inference you are saying all those people who have bought flights/holidays from airlines such as Easyjet,Ryanair etc are not entitled to money back as airlines could keep their money to pay for parking planes, maintenance etc etc. 
Im interested to know which branch of British business your sending your £3,000.00 support contribution

Aylesbury_Duck

JoNoPo said:

I dont think calling me daft is a very mature response. Im prepared to overlook your churlish reply this once.
We have paid £3,000.00 (fortunately no pence) for site fees and Im sure if you had paid that sum for a holiday you would expect to receive a refund and you would be entitled to that, this is our holiday destination. By inference you are saying all those people who have bought flights/holidays from airlines such as Easyjet,Ryanair etc are not entitled to money back as airlines could keep their money to pay for parking planes, maintenance etc etc. 
Im interested to know which branch of British business your sending your £3,000.00 support contribution

Well you'll have to decide whether to overlook a second response you won't like...but I'm really not concerned.  

The "if you were in my situation" argument is a frequently-used one and is useless.  How would me feeling differently change your actual lawful rights in this situation?   And if you really think that someone paying Easyjet for a flight is analogous to your situation, you need to have another go at an analogy.  If the flight doesn't happen, Easyjet haven't fulfilled the contract.  From everything you've told us so far, the caravan site are fulfilling the contract.

I can give you a different answer if that's what you want to hear, but it won't help you.

Undervalued

JoNoPo said:

I dont think calling me daft is a very mature response. Im prepared to overlook your churlish reply this once.
We have paid £3,000.00 (fortunately no pence) for site fees and Im sure if you had paid that sum for a holiday you would expect to receive a refund and you would be entitled to that, this is our holiday destination. By inference you are saying all those people who have bought flights/holidays from airlines such as Easyjet,Ryanair etc are not entitled to money back as airlines could keep their money to pay for parking planes, maintenance etc etc. 
Im interested to know which branch of British business your sending your £3,000.00 support contribution

I gave you what I honestly believe to be the correct answer earlier in the thread. A number of other experienced posters have replied along similar lines, as has your site owner. I know it is not what you want to hear! I really don't think we are all wrong but, in my opinion, I am sorry to say you are wrong.

To save you looking back....

Just at the moment it is irrelevant whether the site is open or closed as you would be breaking the law travelling there!
If what you are paying includes unmetered electricity, gas, water etc then I think it would be reasonable to expect a reduction to allow for the fact you are not using those. However, that said, even in normal times you would be paying for the utilities whether you chose to go or not. Otherwise the site is doing its job in hosting your caravan and it is not their fault you can't go to it.

lincroft1710

You haven't paid £3,000 for a holiday. You have paid £3,000 for somewhere to park (or site) your caravan for 12 months. 

Galloglass

For the uninitiated, a "static" caravan is not static. They are moveable and can move on/off site

The OP is at liberty to remove his unit to another site to store on their ground or his own if local planning allows. Saw one on the roads this week. Statics are subject to local planning rules which is why parks provide spaces which are licenced for them. In effect the park is providing annual [licensed] storage (minus the period of closure) for a fee.