Static Caravans - Costs

Night_KD

My boyfriend and I were looking at buying a static caravan to live in, a reasonably sized one. We've been looking around and we can either get one that is similar inside to a large, posh house for around £50k... Or a slightly smaller more basic one for around £5-10k.. Or any inbetween obviously.

We're just wondering if this is false economy or if it could really work.

Does anyone have any idea of how much rent is for a plot in Hampshire, somewhere we can set up our lovely caravan? Also bills etc.

Just some idea of the costs would be great. Also any experiences, anything we should worry about?

It's difficult to find out about local plots, costs etc, so if anyone knows a good website for info..

PasturesNew

Mostly, you won't find a plot for a mobile home.
Mostly, you have to either buy a piece of land yourself with full planning permission on it and get all the services into the plot yourself.
Mostly, you would have to buy a new or second hand mobile home already on a mobile home site.

They need full planning permission. This makes the land they are on valuable.

If a site exists, and there is an empty plot, the site owner can make more money by putting a mobile home on the plot and selling it than allowing people to site their mobile home there.

To buy a mobile home you will usually need 20% deposit. You can't get a mortgage on them, it's a personal loan you take out.

Sites tend to have quite a lot of rules/regulations too. And when you sell the mobile home your buyer often has to be interviewed by the site owner and "approved" to move on. Also, when you sell, the site owner will want 10% of the selling price from you just to allow you to sell it.

LillyJ

Also they have a limited life and so whilst house prices may be going down, the price of a mobile home won't go up again and will eventually be £0.

emmy05

another thing, my mate lives in one of these and for one month of the year, she has to vacate the premises, even tho they own the mobile home, something that youll have to make sure you can do as well ......

Night_KD

LillyJ wrote: »

Also they have a limited life and so whilst house prices may be going down, the price of a mobile home won't go up again and will eventually be £0.

So does a car, but you still buy them..

I think it's better to spend a few thousand on somewhere you can live for a few years, rather than rent out on something that's not yours and will cost more overall in those few years.

We're never going to be able to afford our own house at this very moment in time, rent is extortionate anyway, and we're sick of having to depend on other people to live. Eg living with my mum right now, and it's a bit uncomfortable because she'll happily throw us out if she feels like it.

I can see your point, but we simply can't afford to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house right now and we need somewhere to live, somewhere of our own.. Even though we won't get all that money back. Same as a car.

Night_KD

emmy05 wrote: »

another thing, my mate lives in one of these and for one month of the year, she has to vacate the premises, even tho they own the mobile home, something that youll have to make sure you can do as well ......

Why? For what reason?

PasturesNew

emmy05 wrote: »

another thing, my mate lives in one of these and for one month of the year, she has to vacate the premises, even tho they own the mobile home, something that youll have to make sure you can do as well ......

That will be a holiday site one then.

There are two types of homes and two types of sites:

1] Holiday homes/sites: these have planning permission that do not allow them to be lived in, so the site completely closes down (water/electrics off) for 1-3 months of the year. The homes themselves don't have winter insulation in them

2] Permanent home/sites: these have full planning permission so they can be lived in all year round. The insulation in these mobile homes is more robust.

With the holiday home sites there are varying rules about how long you can live in them. Some will limit you to a number of days per year; most will close completely for some months; some will require evidence you have a permanent home elsewhere. They are strict about the rules because they have to be because the site could be closed down.

One example of where a site turned a blind eye to people quietly living in them is St Merryn in Cornwall. A lot of holiday homes there were being used by people to live in. Then the planning rules were applied and they were all evicted.

Night_KD

PasturesNew wrote: »

Mostly, you won't find a plot for a mobile home.
Mostly, you have to either buy a piece of land yourself with full planning permission on it and get all the services into the plot yourself.
Mostly, you would have to buy a new or second hand mobile home already on a mobile home site.

They need full planning permission. This makes the land they are on valuable.

If a site exists, and there is an empty plot, the site owner can make more money by putting a mobile home on the plot and selling it than allowing people to site their mobile home there.

To buy a mobile home you will usually need 20% deposit. You can't get a mortgage on them, it's a personal loan you take out.

Sites tend to have quite a lot of rules/regulations too. And when you sell the mobile home your buyer often has to be interviewed by the site owner and "approved" to move on. Also, when you sell, the site owner will want 10% of the selling price from you just to allow you to sell it.

We were kinda looking at a home already on a site nearby. And we were planning 0% purchase credit cards for some of the 'loan', pay off as much in a year as possible (or however long the 0% lasts) then move it onto another card, or if we can find a reasonable loan, pay of the credit cards and start paying off that loan. Hopefully with a majority already paid off from the credit cards.

Does anyone know if you have to pay council tax on these types of mobile homes?

Night_KD

PasturesNew wrote: »

That will be a holiday site one then.

There are two types of homes and two types of sites:

1] Holiday homes/sites: these have planning permission that do not allow them to be lived in, so the site completely closes down (water/electrics off) for 1-3 months of the year. The homes themselves don't have winter insulation in them

2] Permanent home/sites: these have full planning permission so they can be lived in all year round. The insulation in these mobile homes is more robust.

We're looking at the permanent ones anyway. I'm not sure there are a great many holiday sites around here, but I have been fooled before...

LillyJ

Night_KD wrote: »

So does a car, but you still buy them..

I think it's better to spend a few thousand on somewhere you can live for a few years, rather than rent out on something that's not yours and will cost more overall in those few years.

We're never going to be able to afford our own house at this very moment in time, rent is extortionate anyway, and we're sick of having to depend on other people to live. Eg living with my mum right now, and it's a bit uncomfortable because she'll happily throw us out if she feels like it.

I can see your point, but we simply can't afford to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a house right now and we need somewhere to live, somewhere of our own.. Even though we won't get all that money back. Same as a car.

Maybe so, but I don't tend to spend £50k on a car! (mine cost just over £1000).
If you have £50k handy to buy one of these, then why don't you carry on saving and then you will be able to afford a house? If you don't have the £50k handy then you will have to have a loan for the amount and make repayments on these (assuming you can get a loan for that amount - if you can't get a mortgage then you may not be able to get a loan). Lenders lend on bricks and mortar as they can sell the house if you don't pay up and hopefully get their money back (or not lose too much) but a mobile home is basically like asking for a loan for a £50k car or a holiday. Risky for the lender.

Also the maintenance costs are very large and like PasturesNew said there are many pitfalls to consider.

Do you have the £10k deposit needed? You will also have to make sure that the site fees are worth it. You may be cheaper monthly just renting.

I think you have made up your mind though so there isn't much point in telling you our opinions as your posts come across as very defensive.

EDIT just read that you are planning to use credit cards. I have just easily got a mortgage with a 10% deposit and the halifax offered us £240k. However I know for a fact I couldn't get a £50k credit card limit on my earnings!

PasturesNew

Night_KD wrote: »

Does anyone know if you have to pay council tax on these types of mobile homes?

Yes you have to pay council tax.

All bills are the same as any other home.

Heating is most likely to be in the form of large gas bottles (orange and about 4' high). In about 1990 in the winter, I kept the gas fire on low most of the time (to stop it freezing up) and I'd get through one bottle per fortnight and they were costing me £32 each.

Watch out for site rules such as buying gas bottles and other services (e.g. newspapers, milk, coal). Some sites insist you buy these things only from the site owner.