Can I get refund on my static caravan?

evouk

Hi,
My parents were staying in a static caravan for a few weeks while work was taking place on the house, and decided they loved it so much they wanted to buy it. The caravan site agreed a price with them but asked while they were organising the money, if they’d mind moving out for a few days as they had a lot of bookings and needed the van for the weekend. They agreed and by Friday, had paid for the van in full which they received invoices for.
They hoped to have access to the van by the weekend but noticed the communication with the park had suddenly become difficult. They have since tried to get the keys for the van several times and have been told stories ranging from ‘you haven’t legally signed for it yet and the accountant isn’t in right now’ to ‘you can’t have access to it yet until checks on the van are complete’. It turns out the the real story is they have been renting the caravan out to holiday makers and are not planning to give my parents the keys until a week on Friday, which will be two weeks after it was purchased. This seems a very sly trick to us. They have taken the money for the van and are purposely delaying signing it over so they can make a bit of money by putting people in it.

We are very unhappy with this as it was not what was agreed when they bought it and feel they are entitled to have access to something they have bought. This is not a small purchase either so it’s quite a lot of money that’s been paid.

Ive told them to forget the whole thing and to ask for a refund. Is this possible? They haven’t legally signed anything as yet so don’t own it and haven’t used the van since they paid for it. They give you free site fees until the start of the year so that’s at least two weeks which has been lost now when they could be enjoying the van. Gas checks and sorting paperwork doesn’t take this long so they are definitely pulling a fast one to make rental money while holding my parents money up in the air and not completing the sale. 

JJ_Egan

For two weeks i would bite the bullet and wait .

Especially as they have the money .

Jenni_D

If they haven't legally signed for it, why on earth have they paid for it?

evouk

JJ_Egan said:

For two weeks i would bite the bullet and wait .

Especially as they have the money .

They might wait of course but I just wondered if they can technically have the money back. 

evouk

Jenni_D said:

If they haven't legally signed for it, why on earth have they paid for it?

Of course they have invoices and that, its just the papers for the ownership of the van that they haven’t signed yet. The site are stalling on that as they want to drag it out and use the van for the time being.

Jenni_D

evouk said:

Jenni_D said:

If they haven't legally signed for it, why on earth have they paid for it?

Of course they have invoices and that, its just the papers for the ownership of the van that they haven’t signed yet. The site are stalling on that as they want to drag it out and use the van for the time being.

So I reiterate - why have they paid if they haven't exchanged contracts? Do your parents have anything in writing (other than invoices for payment) to confirm the purchase, and the completion date?

user1977

They obviously knew they were paying in advance of getting ownership of the caravan (though goodness knows why they did that) - so they question is when did they think they were going to get the keys? What do the invoices say?

Yes, of course they can ask for their money back (have they?) but I can't see that they're going to get it from what you've told us.

evouk

I’ll have to ask them these questions regarding paperwork. They are a legitimate company so they didn’t just had over money without getting some paperwork but I agree they should have got the ownership papers and keys on the day the paid for it in full! Personally I would
prefer they got their money back but I understand it’s not as easy as that!

born_again

evouk said:

Hi,
My parents were staying in a static caravan for a few weeks while work was taking place on the house, and decided they loved it so much they wanted to buy it. The caravan site agreed a price with them but asked while they were organising the money, if they’d mind moving out for a few days as they had a lot of bookings and needed the van for the weekend. They agreed and by Friday, had paid for the van in full which they received invoices for.
They hoped to have access to the van by the weekend but noticed the communication with the park had suddenly become difficult. They have since tried to get the keys for the van several times and have been told stories ranging from ‘you haven’t legally signed for it yet and the accountant isn’t in right now’ to ‘you can’t have access to it yet until checks on the van are complete’. It turns out the the real story is they have been renting the caravan out to holiday makers and are not planning to give my parents the keys until a week on Friday, which will be two weeks after it was purchased. This seems a very sly trick to us. They have taken the money for the van and are purposely delaying signing it over so they can make a bit of money by putting people in it.

We are very unhappy with this as it was not what was agreed when they bought it and feel they are entitled to have access to something they have bought. This is not a small purchase either so it’s quite a lot of money that’s been paid.

Ive told them to forget the whole thing and to ask for a refund. Is this possible? They haven’t legally signed anything as yet so don’t own it and haven’t used the van since they paid for it. They give you free site fees until the start of the year so that’s at least two weeks which has been lost now when they could be enjoying the van. Gas checks and sorting paperwork doesn’t take this long so they are definitely pulling a fast one to make rental money while holding my parents money up in the air and not completing the sale. 

Define a few days? A lot of bookings does not just cover one weekend...
Perhaps your parents misheard what they were saying.

They can ask, but it will depend on the paperwork and what they agreed too.