Mis-sold Static Caravan

Bluebell1959

Hi, I'm looking for advice please.

I had to hand back my caravan when the park I was on became owners only and I couldn't physically manage private lettings due to my distance from the park. I relied on the lettings to cover most of the site fees which were being raised far in excess of inflation year on year. When I bought the van, the sales team assured me that the park would deal with all lettings and I would receive a percentage on my account which I could use against site fees. When they became owners only, they withdrew these services and said I could still rent privately but would have to arrange cleaning etc. myself. They said they would provide an access fob (secure park gate) for a fee. They also said that any guests would have to buy passes to the swimming pool and they also withdrew all entertainment and kids clubs. I got someone to manage lettings privately but they were virtually giving it away and the damages cost more to repair than the income. Families were no longer interested due to having to pay for the pool and lack of kids clubs and entertainment. I still owed half the finance when I handed back the van which had cost me £72k. It was returned to the park who paid the finance company a mere token and I was left still owing c. £46k. I went bankrupt as my husband got cancer and was unable to work and I had to give up to care for him full time.

Can anyone recommend a firm who could help me with this so I could try and recoup some of my losses please?

eskbanker

A good place to start would be the terms of the contract between you and the park, as this will assist greatly in determining whether there's been any actionable breach, so does this reflect completely what's said above or was some of it only expressed verbally (which can still count but makes it harder)?

There is a specialist bankruptcy board on here which may help with queries about that - it's not a process I'm familiar with, so I don't know to what extent such assets would be factored into it?

twopenny

I agree with Esk, photocopy the terms and conditions and go through with a marker pen on the relevant bits relating to management fees and letting.

Your post explains things clearly. If you find yourself getting emotional go back to that to clear your mind.

There's been a bit of news about the behaviour of the parks recently. If you need to it would be worth reading up over a couple of nights. See if there is anything of use.

Good luck 🙂

ThumbRemote

Sadly yours is a common story. You will have vastly overpaid for the caravan initially, and the contract will allow the site owners to do pretty much what they want. There are thousands of similar stories on the Facebook Holiday Park Action Group.

I suspect their is no chance of you recouping anything, if anything you'll end up paying out even more in legal fees.

elsien

You weren’t miss sold it because at the time you bought it you understood and agreed to the terms and conditions that were in place and considered them to be reason.

What you seem to be querying is not necessarily the original purchase but the fact that they later changed those terms and conditions.

If they were not planning to change to owners only at that point, then you can’t really query the purchase. So how long was the gap between you buying and then changing how they worked?

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909132#Comment_81909132

But contracts codify agreement between two parties so OP may have a case if the Ts & Cs purported to allow unfettered unilateral changes to the detriment of some parties, as these could be deemed as unfair terms?

Not saying that this is likely to be the case though…

LightFlare

as the OP went bankrupt then they have no losses to recoup

Boohoo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909196#Comment_81909196

If they did get anything back would it not have to go towards the bankruptcy unless discharged?

lincroft1710

I apologise in advance as the following is going to seem rather blunt.

It seems some years passed between you buying the caravan and it becoming "owners only"

The park has to be run profitably and if the owners found the lettings service unprofitable then curtailing it is business needs.

If your "lettings manager" was doing a poor job in letting the van too cheaply, then you should have taken it up with them at the time and probably should have ended their contract. Doubtful you could successfully pursue them now for poor performance. Also there are plenty of families who don't need kids' clubs or entertainment. Paying extra for pool passes is not unheard of.

Static caravans depreciate alarmingly. After a few years of letting they can appear tired and/or dated and parks don't want them.

If you sold the van back to the park but did not get a good deal, sorry but that was down to your negotiating skills and you cannot subsequently sue the park. Well you can but you won't get anywhere

I think you were unwise to have bought the caravan with so much finance, but only you can take any responsibility for that.

I am sorry to hear of all the distress in your life, especially your husband's cancer, but I am afraid I cannot see anyway of recouping any of your losses. I would caution against employing any solicitors or legal advisors as that is throwing good money after bad

Finally I would say that I am basing my comments on the contents of your first post as it stands