Caravan Park Fees and Coronovirus Lockdown

Grumpy_chap

I wonder, if none of the fees were paid, and then the sites went out of business, what comments we'd see then?

Not least, when the Administrator locks access to the site and there is a battle over ownership of the caravans.

John_Philip_Howarth

Aylesbury Duck, unfortunately it is not an ideal situation as to what you are recommending. Remove the caravans to where? Another park that is also closed?. The cost to either sell your  caravan back to the park owners is exorbitant or to take it off the park also costs a lot of money in transport costs 

Aylesbury_Duck

John_Philip_Howarth said:

Aylesbury Duck, unfortunately it is not an ideal situation as to what you are recommending. Remove the caravans to where? Another park that is also closed?. The cost to either sell your  caravan back to the park owners is exorbitant or to take it off the park also costs a lot of money in transport costs 

That was my point.  It's all very well people complaining about being charged fees in this period, but if their alternatives are expensive or not viable, they need to be careful what they wish for.  It comes down to due diligence of the contracts people have entered into.   Pretty much every query on this on these forums has been met with the question: "What does your contract say about guaranteed access to your caravan?", which has always been met with silence.

It's all been fine until these extenuating circumstances, but now the problems with these contracts are evident. 

Nebulous2

Aylesbury_Duck said:

John_Philip_Howarth said:

Aylesbury Duck, unfortunately it is not an ideal situation as to what you are recommending. Remove the caravans to where? Another park that is also closed?. The cost to either sell your  caravan back to the park owners is exorbitant or to take it off the park also costs a lot of money in transport costs 

That was my point.  It's all very well people complaining about being charged fees in this period, but if their alternatives are expensive or not viable, they need to be careful what they wish for.  It comes down to due diligence of the contracts people have entered into.   Pretty much every query on this on these forums has been met with the question: "What does your contract say about guaranteed access to your caravan?", which has always been met with silence.

It's all been fine until these extenuating circumstances, but now the problems with these contracts are evident. 

People in these caravan sites have always been hostage to the whims of the owner. A typical situation is a family run park, with long-term residents, which gets sold to new owners and the conditions change. Then you get lots of unhappy owners who realise they have very few options - none of them palatable. 

One site I know of didn’t only insist each caravan had an annual gas and electric safety certificate, he insisted they had to pay him to do the certificate. Then when people grew completely fed-up and decided to leave he wouldn’t let a lorry on the site to pick up their caravan, but insisted they had to pay him £200 to deliver it to the gate. 

John_Philip_Howarth

Nebulous2, the problem is of course that the caravan owners are allowed to do pretty much whst they want as everything is unregulated and the authorities are not interested in getting regulations set up. The whole system needs looking into by the Government 

John_Philip_Howarth

That last post should of course have read Caravan park owners

Nebulous2

John_Philip_Howarth said:

Nebulous2, the problem is of course that the caravan owners are allowed to do pretty much whst they want as everything is unregulated and the authorities are not interested in getting regulations set up. The whole system needs looking into by the Government 

I think the fact they can do what they want is my point.

What I can't understand however,  is why on earth would an owner invest thousands, or even tens of thousands, where someone else has that level of control?

unholyangel

John_Philip_Howarth said:

Nebulous2, the problem is of course that the caravan owners are allowed to do pretty much whst they want as everything is unregulated and the authorities are not interested in getting regulations set up. The whole system needs looking into by the Government 

There is no specialised body regulating them like FCA for finance, ofgem for energy etc, but they are still regulated by CMA and consumer laws still apply to them like they do any trader.

OFT even released guidance specifically on unfair terms in caravan contracts. While it has been withdrawn, this is because OFT were replaced by CMA, but the law it is based on remains unchanged. 

Aylesbury_Duck

John_Philip_Howarth said:

Nebulous2, the problem is of course that the caravan owners are allowed to do pretty much whst they want as everything is unregulated and the authorities are not interested in getting regulations set up. The whole system needs looking into by the Government 

I disagree.  The whole system needs looking into by the people who are signing contracts they don't fully understand, which are one-sided and unregulated.

John_Philip_Howarth

Aylesbury Duck, so what do you recommend. Thst every caravan owner takes a solicitor with them when they buy a caravan and sign the pitch fee agreement. ? The fact that the contract is unregulated needs looking into. I have written to the Government and the Competions and Marketing Authority but they are not interested.