Buying for weekend use

Could some kind person help me? My husband and I would like to buy a Park Home for weekend use and for when we retire in a few years time. I have downloaded all the downloads from this site and read them, and in the 'written statement' part IV, 2d (phew) it says 'not to use the mobile home otherwise than as his only or main residence for himself etc etc', does this mean we can only buy the park home as our main residence or that only ourselves can use it? Don't mean to sound dumb but there is no punctuation to make the meaning clear. Many thanks

Hello  psytech   nice  to  see  you.  yes  the  parkhome  would  be  your  main  residence,  it  would  be  very  expensive  to  use  a  parkhome  just  at  weekends...................this  is  to  protect  you  legally , living  there  as  your  main  residence, hope  you  find  what  your  looking  for  evergreen

Many thanks, this is not good news - we shall have to buy a bungalow instead when we quite liked the thought of being part of a community - oh well, never mind. Wish we could retire now, would solve the problem. Thanks again Evergreen. Psytech

Hello  psytech,  Is  it  the  age thing  that  is  holding  you  back ? hope  you  dont  feel  Im  being  nosey,  but  some  parks  do  take  over  55s, there  not  all  for  retired  people.............................but  Im  sure  the  sheds  are  only  8x6  lol...u  take  care  evergreen

Hi evergreen, we are looking at the one in Burnham on sea (Claremont Park) and it is a private seller through an estate agent. All it says is you must be over 50. I rang the estate agent and he is going to look into it, but says he is unaware of any conditions like having to have it as our main residence. We want to buy it now and spend a lot of time in it but can't actually move there for a few years as we are both still working. We take my 80 year old mother away with us and this seemed the most comfortable way to do it - she is beyond caravan living now :-D We planned to buy something that was sufficient for us to move into later in life - without meaning to sound like Lady Bountiful, we have the cash (our retirement fund) and it is proving difficult to find something suitable but this Park Home has it all.

Hello  psytech..I  wish  Ed  was  around  to  advise  you  more  than  I  can ,  what  Im  thinking   on  a  residental  site  theres  contracts  and  the  likes ,  plus  ground  rent  charges , which  can  be  expensive, if  you  are  maintaining   another  home  too..then  theres  council  tax, I  dont  really  know  how  you  would  stand  with  that.................then  theres  legal  wrangles  that  can  happen  and  Im  nearly  sure  some  of  your  rights  depend  on  if  its  your  main  residence,  as  I  say  I  wish  I  could  be  of  more  help  to  you, hopefully  Ed  will  notice  your  post  and  reply....................mum  sounds  a  dear..shes  lucky  to  have  you,  hope  it  gets  sorted  out  to  your  advantage...evergreen

Morning evergreen.   Is there anything to prevent this couple from buying this as their main residence, and then sub-letting it?   I seem to recall having read somewhere that this can be done?    Could be way off base of course - memory not quite what it was!   

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend readers!

Hi everyone - yes, I'm sort of back - family business I'm afraid.

The problem with buying from most estate agents, is that they don't know anything about the park home legislation.

Claremont Park in Berrow, Somerset is a residential park of some 33 homes and you do need to be 50+ to live there and it can only be as your main residence.

If you were prepared to move to Hampshire in the New Forest area, we may be able to help depending on your budget. We have just taken on a new client who has a very unique site licence. It is the only one that I know of that can sell on their park, either residential or holiday on any plot. They are a very professional company and have this confirmed by the Local Council to assure purchasers that this is the case. They currently have three new homes/plots available and they may be able to sell one of these to you initially as a holiday home and then when you want to retire to change you to residential status.

This client was only taken on board this week and so we have nothing up on the website yet. If you would like to private message me with details of your budget and if the New Forest appeals, I will check to see if these new homes will be in your price range.

Regards

Ed.

Hi Meerkat

Sub letting is a no no on a residential park I'm afraid.

Ed

I agree with the editor, estate agents in general dont really know the ins and outs of park home ownership, neither do most solicitors, though some do.
So be very careful who you listen to, what you do, what you sign

Hi Parkinsider

Your quote: "I would also like to let you know that their is many parks that can have either holiday or residential homes on!"

This is a misleading quote, which needs to be justified in order not to cause confusion.

There are several parks throughout the country that have what is called a multi use license. That is to say, that one area is licensed for holiday use and another area for residential use. The majority of these parks keep strictly to their license, but there are some that don't and it is wise to be cautious. If in doubt ask to see the site plan, which would be attached to the site license conditions, or alternatively, check with the environmental officer of the local council.

Ed.

The advice the editor is giving is excellent advice.
Before you pay any money for a park home YOU MUST do your own homework.
You will get lots of advice from many different sources, much of which may well be very misleading - some may even "tickle your ears", saying what you want to hear. Alarm bells may be ringing but you are not hearing them.

On the site I live, theire are residents who, now they have settled in, find that they are on different terms to their next door neighbour, and they not very happy. Some are blaming others on the site for not letting them know BEFORE they bought and moved in.
Fact is, they did not do their homework correctly nor fully, they didnt ask the right questions to the right people. All they saw was a beautifful park home and they wanted it. .

Hi Ed
Thanks for taking the time to read my comments, but Ed you are actually incorrect!
Yes there is parks that have planning permission for certain areas for Residential and certain areas for Holiday!
But there is also parks with open planning permission where the owner can sell them for Residential or for Holiday use throughout the park! Thou normally if the park offers both they will keep them seperate!  
So not sure how its misleading? the key is if you buy residentialy you get a mobile home agreement if you buy holiday you get a holiday license it will clearly say on the paperwork that you sign what you are Buying!  

-parkinsider

I have actually spoken to the British Holiday and Homes Association about this, as we did come across a park selling residential when they had an open 11 months license. Their advice was that it was not a protected site and as such should not be offering the Written Statement under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 as the park was not designated residential. It could sell for residential, but not offer the agreement. You will not find this park on our database.

I have actually bought and developed a site with an undesignated license. These undesginated sites are a by product of incomplete paperwork on the part of the Local Council at a time when all 'caravan parks' were supposed to designate which route they were taking - touring, holiday or residential. If the park owner did not reply to the local council and they in turn did nothing about it, you had an undesignated site license.

The first thing I did to clarify matters for the benefit of our purchasers was to designate the site as residential with the Licensing Authority of our local council.

It is a minefield out there under certain circumstances and I repeat that if in doubt, check with the Environmental Officer of the local council and if the park is a member of the BHHPA, check with them as well.

Ed.

Parksider,
When I said.............."residents who, now they have settled in, find that they are on different terms to their next door neighbour",
I was'nt referring to the purchase price of a unit, I was referring to the monthly pitch fee.
The site I am on had a "not too good park owner" in the recent past. Apparantly he did, at the most, very little to the site such that residents refused to pay the annual increase. This has meant some plots had not had a increase in pitch fee for 10 years. When the site owner put on a new unit, a new pitch fee was set about £25-£30 per month higher then those that stayed at the "old" rate. When the "new" owners moved in and got chatting they are now upset to see they are paying up to £30 per month then their neighbours. They are upset, but dont understand what their neighbours went through over the previous 10 year period.

Hi,
I have been reading these post and I am now confused. Probably my own fault as I've not read all fully!

From what I have read you are saying if people can only live in them for 10-11 months they are not classed as residential and dont have the full legal backup of the 1983 Mobile Home Act?
If this is correct then 1 park home we was interested in will be struck of our list!!

I have been reading loads of posts on here and fond I need to ask more questions to Park Home owners than I have been.

This is such a good site for infomation.

Cheers