Static caravan / lodge purchase ?

badlywornroy

badlywornroy

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Considering purchasing a static caravan or lodge for holiday or residential use ?

I would urge you to visit the ' Holiday Park Action Group ' on Facebook and read the thoughts & experiences of over 60,000 members.
 
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oh its a nightmare , i am on a FB page for Spanish lodges and stuff for s***s and giggles, I might buy a house in Spain in a few years
the ground rent alone in about 4000 euros a year.

a good friend of mine has one in Perthshire and for what he has it was very expensive.
 
I've read some horror stories about this, it sounds like it can be very similar to the timeshare scandals of the past, unless you are very lucky. Considering the cost, it must surely be more cost-effective to buy a really good touring caravan, or a big camper van with a little car to tow behind for getting around when parked up.
 
badlywornroy said:
Considering purchasing a static caravan or lodge for holiday or residential use ?

I would urge you to visit the ' Holiday Park Action Group ' on Facebook and read the thoughts & experiences of over 60,000 members.
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I "live" on a holiday park and wish I had known a lot more about it before moving here!
 
Tigger.ufo said:
I "live" on a holiday park and wish I had known a lot more about it before moving here!
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HI Heather,

The terrible stories I have read on that ' Action Group ' I mentioned have to make anyone ' sit up ' and take notice. I'm sure there must be good sites ' out there ' but I understand they are rapidly diminishing. We owned a static between 2005 - 2010. It was a small family run site, No amenities at all, it was lovely. The elderly lady who ran it with the aid of her sons (previously her and her husband) would walk around regularly and visit us. We sold up in 2010 after we moved house. I understand Covid caused a boom in buying these holiday homes and the ' big boys' moved in and have bought up many of the family runs sites. subsequently ' Got rid ' of many of the long term older caravans and owners, hiked up prices etc etc.

I became aware of this now ' toxic ' (word freely used by others) industry when we nearly purchased another static caravan in the Durham dales. This was a 2007 van and it was in beautiful condition. We were assured that the site had no age limit (many do) mostly 15 years but have heard of some with 10 years. This means for those who are not aware ? that your van has to be removed from site ? This is justified by the owners claiming it removes unsightly caravans. Manufacturers claim that a well cared for modern day static van should last 30 years. It of course generates new sales to owners who want to stay on site. Draw your own conclusions. Returning to my ' nearly ' purchase. the day before I was due to hand over £16,000 I discovered that caravans of 20 years and over were not allowed to be sold on site ! So our potential purchase had 2.5 years left before it had zero sale value on site.. Of course we may live to be 100 and blissfully happy on that site however I am 77 and my wife 74 and should we . . . get fed up, or have failing health and not want to travel the 40 odd miles to it there would be no other option than to ' walk away ' We have no family who would be interested in the gift of this van on this site so potentially this is a £16,000 financial black hole. Add on the £3,000 + site fees annually, gas, electric, insurance and so we decided to walk away. Incidentally I read that it is very expensive to disconnect a sited van and transport it elswhere and then pay again to resite it.

There is absolutely no protection in law for the owners of holiday homes. Yes ! If it is a residential park, with 12 months occupancy owners do have certain ' rights ' in law. However, most are ' just ' holiday homes. This ' Action Group ' is trying to raise awareness of the mistreatment of many caravan owners by the sites and accorded some protection in law.

You, Heather, of course probably know all this but I hope my post is seen by any potential buyer who visits the Holiday Park Action Group Facebook page and is made fully aware of the potential pitfalls before entering what will likely be a huge financial commitment.
 
Even the touring caravan industry is suffering it’s a double whammy this year lousy weather and ever increasing site fee’s still cheap compared to a hotel but good fully serviced pitches on nice sites are around £50 a night during school hols .. cheaper out of season if like us retirees you can go anytime .. I believe that quite a few caravan dealers have gone into liquidation this year so far . So if taking the tourer route it’s @ buyers market
 
the black fox said:
Even the touring caravan industry is suffering it’s a double whammy this year lousy weather and ever increasing site fee’s still cheap compared to a hotel but good fully serviced pitches on nice sites are around £50 a night during school hols .. cheaper out of season if like us retirees you can go anytime .. I believe that quite a few caravan dealers have gone into liquidation this year so far . So if taking the tourer route it’s @ buyers market
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We considered buying a touring van as we used to have one when we were younger. The cost alone put me off. We now have at least two foreign holidays away per year and just love the luxury of sitting down to a wonderful 3 course meal, watching the entertainment or have a stroll, then retire to ur king size double bed for the night. The cost worked out at about half what we would pay for a caravan alone in depreciation, maintenance and site fees alone! We have found that if we book early or very late, we can get great bargains. Last years "bargains" allowed us to have an extra week away.
 
campervans are the thing now with solar and gas you just dont need hookups and you can get into way more places
 
Pixbarmy said:
We considered buying a touring van as we used to have one when we were younger. The cost alone put me off. We now have at least two foreign holidays away per year and just love the luxury of sitting down to a wonderful 3 course meal, watching the entertainment or have a stroll, then retire to ur king size double bed for the night. The cost worked out at about half what we would pay for a caravan alone in depreciation, maintenance and site fees alone! We have found that if we book early or very late, we can get great bargains. Last years "bargains" allowed us to have an extra week away.
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All very well when your young and fit enough to do it , but it gets prohibitive when your touching 80 and have heart problems insurance isn’t cheap . It also mounts up when you factor in a taxi return to the airport etc . . And have you factored in pets ?

We are now looking at our third holiday this year in the tourer and as with foreign hols the prices drop out of school term time . Plus if the price is right we can still hop on a plane for a foreign cheapie if we want ..


Had more than our fair share of exotics hols in the past anyway
 
Mr Bump said:
Mr Bump said:
campervans are the thing now with solar and gas you just dont need hookups and you can get into way more places
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And as is the case with the 500 in Scotland totally p*** off the locals .. .. been in a few and unless your paying 50K plus for one there cramped compared to a tourer . .
 
the black fox said:
And as is the case with the 500 in Scotland totally p*** off the locals .. .. been in a few and unless your paying 50K plus for one there cramped compared to a tourer . .
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yeah but I wouldn't buy a camper van to tour the UK its all about europe
 
When I was at school, those who couldn't afford Butlins went to Spain.

We don't want a place with nightclubs, bars, restaurants etc. just a nice quiet base.
Hard to find now, we had a nice place in Devon, then the people who ran it handed it on to their kids, and that was the end of it.

Several static van hires we looked at on family sites have now been taken over by big names and are not worth looking at.

We looked at buying, but quiet family run sites almost don't exist any more.

Same goes for touring sites. Looked at folding campers, but again, most of the small family sites don't exist any more.

One idea that worked for us was to look for chalets/static vans that were for sale, then try and find them on booking sites, the prices are often low to get high occupancy to attract potential buyers.

Everybody is on the bandwagon and milking for what they can !
 
Got to dispute that Steve there are plenty of quiet family run sites still , and a lot of the big company ones I.e haven and park dean are well run to with security ,and restaurants plus swimming pools .. . And again folding campers can be a cheaper way into things that elevate you from tents and are often six berth with fridges ,toilets and heating .. and of course these days a lot of accessories such as tents and awnings are air .our own awning takes around 3 minutes to blow up and stands up to very strong winds .i.e if it blows down it springs back up again
 
the black fox said:
Got to dispute that Steve there are plenty of quiet family run sites still , and a lot of the big company ones I.e haven and park dean are well run to with security ,and restaurants plus swimming pools .. . And again folding campers can be a cheaper way into things that elevate you from tents and are often six berth with fridges ,toilets and heating .. and of course these days a lot of accessories such as tents and awnings are air .our own awning takes around 3 minutes to blow up and stands up to very strong winds .i.e if it blows down it springs back up again
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Fair enough, maybe I just don't know how to find them. :)

Previously we found some nice ones, then due to some fairly major changes, we had about a 5 year gap, and after that found a big change in what was around

Never had any interest in the big name sites.
 
As an ex static owner my thoughts are "money pit"! There's always another charge for something and the value just depreciates quickly. It's very difficult to sell to anyone but the site so you lose more money.
 
On some Caravan Club sites there are seasonal pitches available so you can leave for van in one place for a longer period than normal.
 
Latest post on the HPAG ( Holiday Park Action Group )

" So just had our increase this year, we're now having to pay £840 a month. Absolutley pointless keeping it now. Over £10k site fees.what a joke. "

This is me.
10,080 per annum site fees. Then most people will have monthly loan paybacks of £100's a month + gas + electric + insurance.

Now the caravan owner(s) will probably take a massive 'hit' on the price they paid and will have to pay a minimum of 15% of the sale fee to the park owner.

The 'dream' truly becomes a nightmare.
 
Over several years, I've met a (very) few people who have bought an odd piece of land and gradually aquired the permissions to set up a single, permanent caravan on their bit of ground.

From what they've said it takes a lot of good will with the neighbours and even more patience with the local councils but, apparently, it can be done. Not my style I must admit.
 
I looked at a cheap one in southern spain last year , site fee's are about 4k euro's a year and vans go from 20k + but the cheap ones are knackered there the sort of vans that would be scrap in the UK
 
We had the use of a Mercedes marco campervan for a few days in May, about 60k on the road. Quite nice to drive apart from the cruise control stalk which is in the same position as indicator stalk on my own car- that was interesting for first mile or two. I was amazed how little storage there was, definitely need a porch awning imo to avoid having to move stuff around.
 
Another horror story from HPAG (Holiday Park Action Group) on Facebook.

" Wish we had known about the page before we purchased a lodge in January of this year for £85000 through Property Vault Estate Agents on Brickyard Lakes Country Park owned by Prestige Country Parks. We cancelled within the required period and Property Vault is not registered at Companies House, do not have a CRN and still trading amd still selling lodges for Prestige Country Parks. So now pursuing through High Court as we are still awaiting a full refund. "

10 months and 85,000 out of pocket.

Join the group, (not for the fainthearted) and be amazed what rogues can get away with in our ' civilised society ' :headbang:
 
We looked at getting a campervan/caravan, but by the time we had brought the van and then looked at pitch fees, we decided it wasn't for us. Some of the places we looked at the bitch fees where more expensive than a nearby B&B.

Would never get static caravan or lodge, know to many people who have been shafted by the park companies.
 
Another ' snippit ' from the HPAG (Holiday Park Action Group )

This references the take over of a Holiday park by the Hill Bros (usually very bad news)

They have issued a new annual licence and I include a few lines from this licence. (Join the group to read the full statement from HPAG.

i-KNmQTNQ.jpg
 
big case going through the courts at the moment i do hope the caravan park mafia get a good f*****g over
 
I've never seen the appeal of a static van or timeshare property, but I have sat through the sales pitch and can understand how people become persuaded.
We decided to buy a small camper van last year - a VW Transporter T6.1 conversion to a high spec, costing about £60k. However the plan was never to use it for more than the odd night, it's more for comfortable days away with the option of staying over if I couldn't face the drive home. We considered another Discovery or similar - we've had 3 - but wanted more flexibility and wanted more reliability too. The camper is nice to drive, has less driver aids admittedly but I managed without any for 40 odd years, and as we've already found, we can park, go for a walk, come back and knock up/eat some lunch, in seats facing each other over a table, plenty of room for the dog, room for a portapotty (I'm knocking on a bit now), I can run some electrical stuff if required, we have a diesel heater if parked up, etc. We wouldn't plan to overnight in it unless in the wilds, as we prefer a hotel, but we can if we want to. Ideal really.
 
We have a lovely 2 berth touring van which has everything in it we need for a week or two away . But pitch prices are making it hard . The other day the Mrs found a few days break on a haven site in Yorkshire ..in one of there top range of statics and it worked out at under half the price we would pay to pitch up our tourer without the hassle of towing a round trip of 400 miles .. makes you wonder
 
the black fox said:
We have a lovely 2 berth touring van which has everything in it we need for a week or two away . But pitch prices are making it hard . The other day the Mrs found a few days break on a haven site in Yorkshire ..in one of there top range of statics and it worked out at under half the price we would pay to pitch up our tourer without the hassle of towing a round trip of 400 miles .. makes you wonder
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i suspect quite a few sites will just fold soon if they lose this court case as the amount of claims against them will go through the roof.

www.bbc.co.uk

'Ripped off' caravan owners start compensation fight

Parks involved in the legal action have defended their sales practices and pitch fee rises.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Mr Bump said:
i suspect quite a few sites will just fold soon if they lose this court case as the amount of claims against them will go through the roof.

www.bbc.co.uk

'Ripped off' caravan owners start compensation fight

Parks involved in the legal action have defended their sales practices and pitch fee rises.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
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I surmise that such a wide spread collapse of "the businesses" will in part be a pyhric victory for some of the owners i.e. still a significant loss of values of resales.

Having said that, if it means the business model becomes more client centred that surely would be a good thing wouldn't it???
 
Box Brownie said:
I surmise that such a wide spread collapse of "the businesses" will in part be a pyhric victory for some of the owners i.e. still a significant loss of values of resales.

Having said that, if it means the business model becomes more client centred that surely would be a good thing wouldn't it???
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well there hasn't been a business model its literally all been run family mafia style
some stories tell of sites selling vans for £30k and after 2 years when the client gets fed up of rising site fees offering them 5K and less just basically saying tough s***.
 
I can’t say I’ve ever seen the appeal of owning a lodge or park home. I’ve stayed in a few over the years - they’re ok for a few days away but no more than that. Too cold in the winter, too hot in the summer, and just not very big. The thing that gets me is how they are sold as an “investment” when they are clearly no such thing- and some of them are priced as much as a house, yet are depreciating assets.

Take a look here; https://tingdene-parks.net/parks/12-months-residential-homes-plots-for-sale/in-norfolk/oak-tree/

So that’s £250K for a park home in Attleborough - yet you can buy an actual proper brick bungalow for less in the same town - I can’t understand the mentality of people who throw that kind of money at what is not much more than a glorified summerhouse. (https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/154518041#/?channel=RES_BUY)
 
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A family member of mine went into a caravan park on Canvey Island , The owners promised everything , A short time later it all started changing making
them feel concerned , They sold the house in Ilford and paid cash for the residential van on site , Bottled gas only supplied by the site at inflated prices , Then they were told the van will be moved from the appealing site to one not liked and also jammed in like sardines , They had no say in what happened , They ended up trapped on the site as they could only sell via the site owners , This would not leave them enough money to get out , All very sad , Both are no longer with us , So much for a happy retirement together.
 
badlywornroy said:
At last the word is spreading about his toxic industry.

www.bbc.co.uk

Caravan buyers say they have been misled, ripped off and even threatened by holiday parks

Caravan owners share allegations of unfair contracts and sharp practices by holiday parks.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
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Just read the whole thing and basically.. it carries on.. Nobody is going to do anythign about it... It ends with "It advises buyers to research their purchase and carefully read contracts before signing."

We eventually went for a boat on the Lancaster canal. Much more fun :) dodged a bullet by the look of it ..
 
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We have had touring caravans, folding campers, trailer tents, camper van, small coachbuilt and a cabin cruiser.
It used to be great fun when our daughter was young, we mainly stayed at the Camping and Caravanning Club certified sites.
Basically a tap and chemical toiler disposal point with a maximum of five units allowed.
Their larger sites were good too, particularly liked the one at Folkestone Warren which had no caravans allowed.
Another favourite was Crowborough in Sussex, watched the total eclipse there.
Then we sited our tourer seasonally on a farm near Lowestoft, spent loads of time there.
Bit of a drag 122 miles each way from East London especially the last 50 on the single lane A12.

Packed it all in now and for the last ten years we have holidayed in Northern Europe by rail and the occasional flight.
Eurostar to Paris or Brussels then onwards by rail to our destination, the journey is all part of the holiday.
Sometimes a flight from London City, just depends whatever suits best and whose amassed loyalty points need using
Usually find a nice self catering place for longer stays or hotel for the Monday to Friday trips.

By the sound of it I'm glad we jacked it in, doesn't seem much fun at all these days.
Rip off Britain is a lousy place to spend ones holiday time and cash.
 
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tijuana taxi said:
Packed it all in now and for the last ten years we have holidayed in Northern Europe by rail and the occasional flight.
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Yep thats what we are doing this Sep with interail passes. Switzerland and italy :) First time on train for many years let alone abroad :)

tijuana taxi said:
Rip off Britain is a lousy place to spend ones holiday time and cash.
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Bit unfair... Scotland is wonderful to holiday... shame we have done it to death.. nowhere new to go :)
 
KIPAX said:
Yep thats what we are doing this Sep with interail passes. Switzerland and italy :) First time on train for many years let alone abroad :)



Bit unfair... Scotland is wonderful to holiday... shame we have done it to death.. nowhere new to go :)
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We find those Interail passes too limiting and for us its often better to book direct via the rail companies

Actually had a really nice week in Linlithgow last year, Scotrail was reliable and good value
Ok, perhaps i should have said mainly England with the crazy prices for even the smallest museums.
Then when you get there the catering is even more of a rip off, just everyone taking the pee.
Visited the Mercedes Benz museum last year in Stuttgart, fabulous place and dread to think what it would cost here.
Had a really nice sit down meal with beer at under fifty euro for two, just one of many similar experiences.
 
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tijuana taxi said:
We find those Interail passes too limiting and for us its often better to book direct via the rail companies
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because of the amount of traveling (and first time) we are going first class... the interail pays for itself before we get off eurostar :) 7 days in one month... Preston, London Paris, Zurich, Lugano, Milan, Verona, Rome, Milan, Zurich, Paris, London, Preston :) £400 each 1st Class :)
 
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