Not paying rates on residential lodge homes

I am interested in buying a lodge and have been told that I will not pay local council rates but that I need another address where I can demonstrate that I  am living there. That would mean that I would have to ask a relative to have me as a bill payer at their address and therefore have a utility bill in my name at their address

Why would I need to do this and what is the legislation regarding residential sites?

Many thanks for your help

Hey Smoggy! Welcome to the forum and thank goodness you came to us before you could have made the biggest mistake of your life!

I would love to know why you are not choosing to live on a proper fully licensed residential park, which must be your primary address and where you would have the full protection of the law behind you in the shape of the Mobile Homes Act 1983. By buying a lodge to live in on a holiday park, you have no protection under law and by being asked to ask a relative to, what is basically fibbing for you on one of their utility bills, must pose questions in your mind.

By choosing to buy a lodge to use as your permanent address, exposes what for most of us would be our main asset, to great risk. Please read our article of the misuse of holiday homes by clicking here

With regards to not paying Council Tax; well, not totally true. The holiday park owner will be paying business rates on all the plots and these are reflected in the ground rent a lodge owner pays, which is why a holiday lodge rent (as high as £6,500 per annum on some parks) is higher than on a residential park. Swings and roundabouts, I think the expression is!

Ther are some residential parks now selling lodges for legal permanent use. Please find the list of the ones we have found in the 'Residential Lodge Parks' category in this forum.

If you have any other questions on the subject, do please feel free to come back again.

Ed.

Many thanks for your reply and the warnings given

I did have reservations already but not knowing the law regarding this I did decide to do some research.

As usual my wife is very keen to move to this site as it is close to where we live

Do you think that consulting a solicitor would be best at this stage .The site has not officially opened yet but some plots are already reserved
For info the developement is Lakeside Eco Lodges just outside of Neasham Co Durham and David Bellamy is prominent in the sales propaganda.

I will be speaking to the repesentative this weekend and will keep you informed

Many thanks

Smoggy

Good Luck Smoggy.

We are at the stage of reading everything we can, looking at all the manufacturers brochures,  and following all the topics on this site.

Any info. you can pass on would be appreciated.

Terry

Hi Smoggy

I have news for you! This is a cut and paste of their planning consent:-

QUOTE.

Variation of condition 20 (none of the static caravans - other than the caravan designated for the site
manager - shall be occupied as a person's sole or main place of residence or be occupied
between 1 December in any one year and 31 January in the succeeding year) of planning
permission 07/01064/FUL granted on appeal APP/N1350/A/08/2071080 dated 18 July 2008
(leisure park for the stationing of static caravans and associated facilities) to permit the leisure park
to be open all year round
Applicant: Lakeside Eco Lodge Park Limited Agent: Humberts Leisure Limited
37-38 Market Street, FERRYHILL, DL17 8JH

END QUOTE.

I have highlighted the text which tells you that only the manager may live there as their sole or main place of residence all the year around.

If you buy to live there permanently now that you have seen a copy of the planning consent and someone locally complains to the council, they will issue an enforcement notice to ask for the removal of yourself and your lodge from the park. Believe me, there is no market for an unsited lodge.

Ask to see the Site License, which by law has to be on display in the office on their notice board. If it says residential use on there, I have it all wrong, but I have just done quite a bit of research!

Its your decision, but a no brainer for me!

Ed.

Many thanks again,

I have spoken to the councils planning dept and they have confirmed that the permission is only for 10 months opening and that an application is in to extend this to 12 months. This was not relayed to us by the site.

The planning officer did say that they are aware of the application for 12 month opening and that would imply that residents would be on the park pemanently.

Apparently the Park owners would have to keep a register of all residents official residence ( ie ficticious) and this could be inspected by the council. The planning officer did say that they expected this information to be given accurately and in good faith however he did admit that residents could be removed as you have said

Another concern for me would be renewal of car insurance , applications for credit, car registrations etc

Sadly we would have loved to move to this developement but not on the current satus as a Holiday Park.

As you say it is a no brainer

Thanks

Smoggy

Hi Smoggy

Well done! Park owners who deceive have no business to be in business.

It may interest you to know that I have a piece of land with planning permission for holiday lodges, which I have yet to start and my permission is already for 12 months, but it is still a holiday park and it is more than I dare to allow anyone to live there.

There are many of the wrong people getting into the holiday park business and once the park is full, this sort of person will sell it on to someone else who would have to bear the problems if it was ever found that someone was living there!

Ed.