ParkHomes and Equity

triplefin

I am going to buy a Park Home. I was always under the impression that they were leasehold therefore you were unable to take out equity. However, I notice that some are advertised as being freehold. Does this mean one can take out equity in the same way as you would any other freehold property?

Sea_Shell

What equity?    Are they not a depreciating asset?

I doubt any lender would offer equity release on such a property.

How are you buying it?   Cash, or via their own finance package?    Mixture of both (cash deposit etc)

Veteransaver

You mean borrow against it? The only way to "take equity" out of anything is to borrow against it, or sell it. but they are a depreciating asset.
Be very careful with those park homes, you have very few rights, rent can be raised at any time

Are you sure it's a freehold plot?

user1977

If you mean "can I mortgage it", that's not in itself determined by whether a property is freehold or leasehold. I wouldn't expect a freehold plot of land with a glorified caravan on it to be treated as mortgageable. 

GDB2222

Is this a residential park home that you would live in all year round? 

triplefin

GDB2222 said:

Is this a residential park home that you would live in all year round? 

Yes it is.

Sea_Shell

We regularly stay in "park homes" (lodges) for our holidays.   They retail new at anything up to £250k, especially on a nice site.  40'x20'

I wouldn't call them a caravan, but the smaller ones are more caravan like.

What type (size) are you looking at?

lincroft1710

Sea_Shell said:

We regularly stay in "park homes" (lodges) for our holidays.   They retail new at anything up to £250k, especially on a nice site.  40'x20'

I wouldn't call them a caravan, but the smaller ones are more caravan like.

What type (size) are you looking at?

There is a park in Hampshire which has just opened a new development of holiday lodges with prices ranging from £365,000 to £600,000. Annual site fees are £10,200

Albermarle

lincroft1710 said:

Sea_Shell said:

We regularly stay in "park homes" (lodges) for our holidays.   They retail new at anything up to £250k, especially on a nice site.  40'x20'

I wouldn't call them a caravan, but the smaller ones are more caravan like.

What type (size) are you looking at?

There is a park in Hampshire which has just opened a new development of holiday lodges with prices ranging from £365,000 to £600,000. Annual site fees are £10,200

I am  not an expert, but I know there is a difference between holiday parks and residential parks.
Normally with a holiday park, you can not live there 12 months a year, and the park will effectively close for a  period each year. Also I think you can not use the park address, for things like GP registration or the electoral roll.
They are exempt from the Mobile Homes Act 2013, which was written for residential parks. If you live on a fully licensed residential park, you can live there all year round and use it as your main address. The Act also sets higher build standards for homes on a residential park, although there would of course be nothing to stop a high end holiday park to have better built homes.

Jonboy_1984

There were a number of upset people on the energy boards last year as they were staying full time in holiday parks, and were not eligible for the energy rebates etc.

This article https://moneynerd.co.uk/equity-release-park-home/#:~:text=Equity release plans aren’t available on park homes,a member of the Equity Release Council (ERC).  seems to cover the OP's actual question in detail. 

grumbler

The OP's question was specifically about park homes "advertised as being freehold".

The article is about park homes "comparable to a leasehold property" where the  "owner will own the property but they don’t own the land it is situated on."

I don't know if this makes any difference.