Been to a Park Open Day?

We have been to two this month.

1)  Kinderton Park, Middlewich, Cheshire - Lovely quiet park. Met the owners who made us feel at home. Insisted we enjoyed lunch in a marquis. There were two new homes to view. We loved the Stately Albion Chatsworth Crystal!  Granite topped kitchen, bedrooms with en suite, walk in wardrobes etc. We thought good value at £180,000.
The downside was that the site was about a mile from the nearest bus stop. The nearest shops were even further. Ok at the moment as we both drive. But there may come a day when???
A little too quiet for us!

2) The other site was Woodlands Country Park, Pilling, Lancashire. Bit of a change. These were wooden lodges set out around fishing lakes. Many of these lakes are open to the public and were quite busy at the time of our visit. However the lakes near the lodges were private,  There were several pre owned lodges for sale and one new show home. The one we liked was the biggest and most expensive at over £200,000!
Again a little too remote for us!

Anyone else seen anything good?

Hi Rustyfrog

Nice reviews, but I should point out that Woodlands Country Park is a holiday park, not a residential park, even though it has a 12 month license. You can only buy here for a second or holiday home, not as your primary address.

Ed.

Your remarks re. Woodlands are very interesting. Their sales team certainly didnt mention that during our meeting with them.
We met several resident couples who are certainly living there all year round.
Although we both know there are ways of exploiting these rules.

Rusty

No comment! 

No problem if you don't mind taking the risk of losing all the money invested in your home!

We have added some more parks - licensed residential ones! - to the Residential Lodge Park list in the forum recently.

Hi Ed,

Iwrote asking Woodlands to clarify their status, and yes they did reply and stated that they are a "holiday" site but did have residents that lived there all year round, and in fact paid council tax.

If this is the case, do these residents have the same protection and rights as Park Home owners?

Rusty

Absolutely not Rusty. They have no protection under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 at all. This legislation strictly protects park home owners living on a fully licensed residential park.

If the Local Council chose to, they could serve an Enforcement Notice asking them to remove themselves and their lodge from the site. Most Local Councils will give a time delay of say, a couple of years for the lodge owner to find a purchaser who will use the lodge as a holiday and second home. Unfortunately, these Enforcement Notices don't usually go to just one lodge owner, but all who are using their lodges as their primary home at the same time and in this current climate it isn't easy to sell a number of lodges on the same park in this period of time, especially when the park itself has new ones for sale.

There is also another risk as well, which doesn't very often get mentioned.

Parks change hands and if the park is sold to a new park owner who runs their business strictly as it should, he or she will often apply to the Courts for the removal of those lodge owners as they are living on the park in breach of the Site License Conditions for which he/she is responsible. I know this happens and if I purchased a holiday park and found people living on it, I'm afraid I would have no alternative but to contact my solicitor to arrange for them to sell or leave.

It's a tough world out there, but I would have to protect my own interests.

Ed.

Hi  there,  There  is  a park  about  6 miles  from  ours  where  residents  live  there  all  year  round , some  I  must  add  have  lived  there  for  years, is  a  blind  eye  cast  because  the  council  would  have  to  rehome  these  people ?...actually  I  wouldnt  mind  living  there  myself, everyone  is  very friendly, theres  a site manager , rules  are  adhered  too , and  everyone  is  happy.   evergreen...................oh  while  Im  here  im trying  to  find  the  posts  on  the  10% issue  but  I  seem  to  be  doing  it  wrong ....Im  trying  to  find  out  what  exactly  is  the  10%  paid  for.......I  understand  it  being  paid  at the  start  when  a home  is  put  on  a plot , but  after  that  Im  in  the  dark..bit  like  the  site  owners  wallet.........evergreen

I think I would feel a lot better after investing my hard earned, if I had the protection of the Mobile Homes Act behind me.

I must admit, it is easy to get carried away with a nice new shiny home and the sales patter that comes with it.

A good warning to anyone.
Check licenses and do your research!

Hi Rusty but why pay £180,000 for a Park Home when you can buy new from only £100,000 in the North West as most people spend between £100-£150,000 ?

........oh  while  Im  here  im trying  to  find  the  posts  on  the  10% issue  but  I  seem  to  be  doing  it  wrong ....Im  trying  to  find  out  what  exactly  is  the  10%  paid  for.......I  understand  it  being  paid  at the  start  when  a home  is  put  on  a plot , but  after  that  Im  in  the  dark..bit  like  the  site  owners  wallet.........evergreen[image]

-evergreen

Each time a unit is sold "up to 10%" has to be paid the the park owner. It is up to 10% but this depends what is in YOUR agreement. Some buy a home and negotiate with the park owner and have it written into THEIR agreement how much (%) they pay when they sell.

Note - it is the seller that pays the "up to 10%), not the buyer.