Difficulty getting a mortgage after temporarily living in caravan?

freeman3030

Hi all, I hope this is the correct place to post this topic.

My husband and I have had a mortgage for around 12 years and have about 180-200k equity in our home. We want to move closer to my parents (and we will remain in our current jobs). We would like to sell chain free and buy chain free and my parents have offered for us to stay with them inbetween. We’d put our furniture into storage, so it could work quite well.

I love my parents dearly but we do like having our own space. We own a touring caravan that we keep in storage and have thought about alternating biweekly between my parents and staying on a campsite to give us some space of our own as well as offering my parents some freedom from us as I’m sure they may have moments where they find it too much having 2 more adults living with them after years of living alone.

When applying for a mortgage for the new property, would that go against us? I’m just concerned that a lender may consider our spend on campsite fees to be a lot of for instance we spent 6 months living with parents/staying at campsites locally.

We’re keen to sell/buy chain free as my sister had a long sale/purchase and we’d like to take our time to make sure our next house is the right one as we’re planning for this to be our forever long term home.

i understand we can’t legally live in our caravan but quite like the idea of using it as an occasional base as we own one.

Are there any pitfalls we should consider in terms of reducing our eligibility to borrow when we find the right house? We’d hope for around 3-12 months max between properties as we’d be motivated to find our next home.

gwynlas

If you already own your tourer I do not see there being an issue. You put your property up for sale meanwhile are looking to purchase.
It might or not coincide but not wishing to hinder sale you coplete and move into family home.
You proceed with purhase of new home.
Your tourer is never your main home for address purposes so should not prove to be a hindrance

kimwp

Might it significantly affect your affordability?

WIAWSNB

Hi Freeman.
If it'll cost more for you to live 'free' with your parents and in your own caravan on a site than it currently does under your own roof with a mortgage, summat is bonkers!
As said above, to all intents you are moving in with your parents whilst you sell and then buy. That's your temporary address. End of.
You are entitled to stay over in your own 'van as much as you want. Lawdie, you could even take it out on t'road and tour now and then...
I can't see any issues at all. You don't even mention the 'van as a 'home'. You should be better off than currently. A non-issue.

monkey-fingers

WIAWSNB said:

Hi Freeman.
If it'll cost more for you to live 'free' with your parents and in your own caravan on a site than it currently does under your own roof with a mortgage, summat is bonkers!
As said above, to all intents you are moving in with your parents whilst you sell and then buy. That's your temporary address. End of.
You are entitled to stay over in your own 'van as much as you want. Lawdie, you could even take it out on t'road and tour now and then...
I can't see any issues at all. You don't even mention the 'van as a 'home'. You should be better off than currently. A non-issue.

This. Particularly in Winter, long-term stays in a decent park can be £25 a night. That's £175 a week or (if bi-weekly) around £375 a month.

Even if you're both on minimum wage, that's not going to hit affordability.

Albermarle

Although it is useful to have a way of not getting into a long chain, I would not rule out getting in a short chain.
It would have the advantage of not having to move twice, and it could be possible to port your mortgage over ( useful if you have a good deal currently). 

robertandero

Temporarily living in a caravan can make getting a mortgage more challenging because lenders usually prefer applicants with a stable, permanent address. However, it’s not impossible—you can improve your chances by maintaining a good credit score, steady income, and proof of residency, even if temporary. Some lenders specialize in cases with non-traditional living situations, so shopping around and explaining your circumstances clearly can help secure a mortgage.

WIAWSNB

robertandero said:

Temporarily living in a caravan can make getting a mortgage more challenging because lenders usually prefer applicants with a stable, permanent address. However, it’s not impossible—you can improve your chances by maintaining a good credit score, steady income, and proof of residency, even if temporary. Some lenders specialize in cases with non-traditional living situations, so shopping around and explaining your circumstances clearly can help secure a mortgage.

Or by saying you are living with your parents.

The caravan is just for breaks. Sanity breaks. 

monkey-fingers

robertandero said:

Temporarily living in a caravan can make getting a mortgage more challenging because lenders usually prefer applicants with a stable, permanent address. However, it’s not impossible—you can improve your chances by maintaining a good credit score, steady income, and proof of residency, even if temporary. Some lenders specialize in cases with non-traditional living situations, so shopping around and explaining your circumstances clearly can help secure a mortgage.

But they're not really are they.
The parent's address becomes their permanent address (and lenders are very used to people moving into short-term rentals to break a chain).

I'd expect them to move all of their paperwork to point at the parent's place, including electoral roll.

jennifernil

From experience in caravanning, site fees are likely to be considerably more than £25 per night for a full facility site.  Some will do a monthly rate though.

OP, is there space at your  parents house to park your caravan?     A caravan can be used as a temporary/guest room.

freeman3030

Thanks for your replies and glad to hear that the general consensus is that it would be fine. I like the comment “sanity stays” it’s nice to have your own space after years of having our own home.

Campsite fees can really vary, ~£20 per night would get us a CL site with no facilities locally, where as we’d likely be looking at £35-£40/night for a serviced site.

Were not really that fussed on costs as we know it would be cheaper than our current mortgage per month. We have a healthy income, so I’d imagine our affordability would be ok, I’m just more concerned about how a lender would view spending £500/month on pitch fees + £65/month storage costs.

Unfortunately my parents don’t have the driveway space to park our caravan to stay in (they have a caravan themselves along with a heap of project cars that my dad likes to tinker with) which takes up a considerable amount of room and I don’t know anyone else that has the space us to use for storage and stays as I’d rather give the money to friends/family.

Thanks for all the responses, it has helped immensely!