Buying a seaside static caravan

We purchased a new static caravan nearly four years ago in mid wales about 2hours drive from us. It cost us £28000 which included the decking and enough of the basics pots pans bedding et for 4 people. Our land charge is roughly £3000 per annum insurance £250 and about £300 for gas and electric. The site has a clubhouse and an indoor swimming pool and is next to the beach. It is open for 11months of the year and we do not have to replace the van after 10 years as on some sites as long as it is kept in a reasonable state of repair. We have double glazing and central heating and have made so many new friends on the site. We have not regretted it for one moment and it is truly a home from home we love. Some on the site have owned vans there for over 30 years so it can’t be all bad. I say if you and your family can make use of it go for it you can’t take your money with you so enjoy it. Sometimes we can all be too sensible and forget that life is for enjoying

The thing is, Loulelady, I’m not thinking of it primarily for me and dh - it’d be more for the family, particularly a dd, SiL and 3 little ones, who’d certainly enjoy the on-site facilities for quite a few years to come, given that the eldest is still only 4.

You are very welcome Witzend.
Happy hunting.

Apologies if this is not allowed on Gransnet, but take a look at UK Campsite forum online, they have a Static Caravan section as well as some who site a large Touring caravan on a fully serviced pitch with full utility connections and use a Towing service to move to another area should ever they tire of the location they are sited in. Running costs and site fees would probably work out cheaper than a Static Caravan, and the initial outlay would be much less. They also hold their value better when it comes to selling. A modern caravan has all the facilities a static has, full cooker, Microwave, fridgefreezer, central heating, air con, fixed beds, and a full shower room with hot and cold water and flushing toilet.
They are amazingly luxurious and spacious inside. We have owned one for many years, and love it, we did tow and tour at first, but now use ours on a seasonal pitch up in Yorkshire, as a home from home.

I wouldn’t. I’ve heard too many first hand tales of woe (East Yorkshire woman here, home to many static caravan manufacturers and also many coastal sites).
Also DH, a chartered financial advisor has had clients who have bought them and one who bought a “lodge” in the Lake District, and the constraints and obligations are horrific. You are often actually paying for the privilege of being tied in to high annual charges for the foreseeable and equally committed to funding regular upgrades at above market price. It is engineered so the site, not the unit owner, profits when units change hands. If the site is sold to new ownership, things can deteriorate very quickly.
He always recommends against but of course it is ultimately a decision for the client.
How many days in a rental or luxury B&B could you get a year for the money you’d spend pro-rata every year? You could explore the U.K. too over the years.
If have your own little piece of home is key to the appeal, then I’d see if you could stretch to a small flat or cottage somewhere.

That sounds lovely, timetogo, and the location would be good, but I think we would really need a 3 bed. Many thanks, though - I will def. check that site.

Thanks, all. Yes, I’ve seen info about the need to replace after x years, however the 2 sites I’m looking at say you don’t have to. Obv. would check v carefully on that - luckily dh was used at work to scrutinising contracts with a magnifying glass!

Since I’m thinking of a new or nearly new one, it would probably possible to rent it out for some of the time, which would help to defray running costs, though I dare say the company would take a hefty chunk, fair enough when you factor in cleaning and laundry, etc.

Whether it’d be more than you’d pay for a bricks and mortar holiday let service I don’t know. We did look into this once, at a favourite seaside place in Dorset - it would have been 25-30%. I still often wish we’d done it, instead of which we ended up investing in something more ‘sensible’, but I’m beginning to think ‘sod sensible!’ especially now that we have little Gdcs.

More research needed! A site visit and a lot of very searching questions.

We have a static on Unity farm in Brean Sands Somerset
If you google it you will see they have fantastic facilities indoor/outdoor pool etc.
A few minutes walk to the beach
£5,600 per annum open for 10 months per year.
Were thinking of selling ours it`s 6years old and has 10 years left on site.the van has.double glazing/central heating/d/bed with en-suite/twin bed/family shower room/large lounge/diner/kitchen/pull out d/bed in the lounge.lovely private garden and parking spot.
Approx 2hrs from Birmingham.
If your interested

We have had them since the children were small, and I agree with what others have said. They are very expensive (starting at over £60k to buy new on the site we use) and yes, they have a 'shelf life' that means they depreciate every year and have to be renewed if you want to stay on the site.

We had to sell one fairly recently as it had reached its age limit. We'd paid £37k second hand, and could choose £10k trade-in against a new one, or £1200 to get rid of it. It was in perfect condition, and we'd had it for five or six years. The site fees are £4500 a year, plus gas and electricity. Then there are the costs of coming and going. When the children got to teenage they didn't want to go so much, and yes, there was the fact that we rarely had holidays elsewhere, as when we had time off work we wanted to get use out of the caravan (plus the financial considerations).

On the other hand, we can go as often as we like, and we do use it a lot in the summer (it is open most of the year). We don't have to pack much, as we have kitted it out, and this time we bought a 'lodge' which is a glorified caravan, but doesn't have fitted furniture, so you buy what suits your taste and requirements. Things like bedding and towels, cosmetics and some clothes live there, as well as books and DVDs, so we can basically just leave home and go, which is useful. When the children were young, I used to go with them and take their friends, as I always had more time off work than my husband, so they gave us flexibility in that way. Later on, I started to go with friends, and have had some good breaks in that way, too.

They are not like caravans of old. Ours is centrally heated and double glazed, has a bath, a shower (and loo, obviously!) and the kitchens come with mod cons like freezers and microwaves. You can get washing machines and dishwashers too, but they take up space at the expense of cupboards.

We probably could have bought a property for the cost of rent, bills and renewing the caravans over the years, but neither of us likes the idea of beauty spots becoming ghost villages, and prices rising beyond the reach of the locals. This way, there is minimal impact on the area, and the basic maintenance of the site is done by the owners in return for the rent.

So overall, like most things it is swings and roundabouts. My advice FWIW is to look for a site that has as long a lifespan for the caravans as you can get. Lodges usually have longer than caravans, but are more expensive. Also, decide whether you want family activities or peace and quiet before choosing, as moving or selling up is expensive. Think about proximity to a station, in case driving becomes an issue down the line. It might make it accessible to other family members, too. Factor in rent costs and depreciation against the number of times you will use it, and remember that if you love being there (we do) it's not a simple quid pro quo.

Why did autocorrect do that?

Park Homes or similar!

What about a Patprk Home?
Some are on permanent sites, however, some others are more holiday homes which have to vacate for just two weeks a year.

Some people buy those and spend most of their time there after retirement.

Be very careful of the small print in the contract when buying a static caravan. Most sites have a restriction of a caravan being under 10 years old before being removed from site. They then stipulate that the site owners have the first refusal to buy it off the owner, and at a price they fix themselves which is very low, often around 2k no matter what you paid for it or what condition it's in. If you do not agree, then your only option is to remove it from site at your own expense. There is also a kind of Gentilmens agreement between site owners that they do not resite second hand caravans of this age. Take a look on Ebay and it's full of unwanted unsiteable static caravans going for a song for this reason, some of them still immaculate inside.

We had a static on the edge of the Yorkshire Dale's for three years. The site was owned by a family who lived on site the first year but over the winter they sold out to a company with numerous sites and it went down hill fast. The site fees doubled people were told they had to sell old statics and repurchase newer ones. The maintenance was non existent at our end of the site and the shop prices skyrocketed. We stuck it out for two more years before we decided to sell and we had no choice but to sell to the new owners. The worst financial decision we've ever made when we calculated usage, gas electric etc. over the three years. We would never buy another.

On the plus side we did some lovely walks and our daughter still goes back to the Dales on occasions to walk around the Malham cove area. So some positives from it but financially a very bad investment.

I can see your point Witzend about how a caravan on a site would suit you with the required pools for the little ones.

You wouldn’t get that with a flat of course, plus even a relatively cheap one would undoubtedly be more expensive.

Oh yes the dreaded tax ! Your husband is absolutely right isn’t he?!

Capital Gains tax, Inheritance tax, they get us every which way don’t they?!

i read this thread with interest until the bit about £7k annual fees!! Crikey, that would pay for a lot of holidays........

Why not experiment with booking a week at a few different places first. Invite grandchildren for a weekend visit and get the whole family view. As they get higger they want different facilities.

@JenniferEccles, yes, having looked into it thoroughly before, I know that proper bricks and mortar would be a much better investment from a financial POV, but buying anything we’d want in an area we’d want, would cost probably at least 5 times more than the sort of new, 3 bed static I’ve been looking at online. Plus I’m thinking of all the on-site activities for Gdcs, currently 4, 3 and 3 weeks! - so a lot of future school holidays to think of. The elder 2 are already good little swimmers, so indoor/outdoor pools would be brilliant.

However, if you know of any southern England seaside resort where good size flats are going very cheap, I’d love to hear about it!

As dh said yesterday re depreciation, ‘Well, at least it’d ultimately be less for the taxman.’ Which is something, since I’d thought he’d be reluctant to consider it at all.

I had a caravan at a quiet site in Cornwall, about an hour's drive away, for several years. I used to go down frquently with my GS, his friends and my dog. The site was just across the road from the beach. I upgraded the caravan to one with double glazing and central heating which was very comfortable.

We had some great times down there but when GS got to be a teenager there wasn't much on the site for them to do.
They would be on their x-box in the caravan while I was out walking the dog.

The site fees went up every year and in the end I decided it was time to sell up. I had to sell it back to the site owners at a fraction of what I'd paid for it.

I would suggest you take a holiday at the site you are interested to get a better idea of what there is to do on the site and around the area.

If you think you and your family will get enough use out of it, I would say go for it. It's great to be able to just get away for the weekend whenever you fancy.

Folks have made some very valuable contributions to this thread. Just to be clear a seasonal pitch means you leave yr towing van on site ALL year round. We rang/visited several Cornish sites before settling for ours. We also spoke to current site residents for opinions/advice. Yes, we do have to refill out water barrels but they roll along quite easily from van to tap and back. We do use our van toilet and shower too. It's no trouble to empty loo canister and grey water canister. (No No 2's though. Loo block for that). Modern towing vans are comfy and cosy and on our site at present, some static owners with fabulous statics have been told their 15years are up so buy new, move elsewhere or pay exorbitant fees to remain. Not a happy bunch. For us, with business hat on, a static was a none starter. If I was starting over I'd still advise research, research, research & read the small print! Think of the future too as many on here have advised. One site owner told me that divorce and demise was how he had 2nd hand statics to get rid of at knock down prices! Caveat emptor. Good luck.

We've done the touring caravan on a seasonal pitch and now own a static on an adults-only site. We've no regrets whatsover at the changeover. With a tourer you have all the hassle of filling water tanks, organising the toilet container, etc, and crossing to the site toilets in bad weather when that's necessary. We're in our early 70s and had had enough of all that. The only downside we've experienced is that the static has to be winterised against freezing weather. We used a professional company this year which cost £50 but you can do it yourself. Also, not all sites demand the static be replaced after a set time. Where we are (and the owners are very particular), as long as it's kept in a good condition it can be reviewed after the "sell by" date.

You also need to factor in the fact that these sites will ask you to remove the caravan once it gets older.

They all want new, smart looking ones so if you bought a secondhand one initially , even one in good condition, you could well have to get rid of it after a few years, and you may find it difficult to sell .

Is there any way you could pay a bit more and buy a seaside flat instead which, over the years would be very likely to increase in value?

I know you said you weren’t worried about the depreciation, but a nice flat at a coastal resort down here in the south could prove to be a very good investment for the family in the future.

We used a fully serviced (water plumbed in and grey waste out) seasonal pitch for a few years. We paid for a pitch from Easter. People chose a range of arrangements for the winter. Some left their vans on the pitch all year round, some towed or the site owners towed their vans into a secure yard for the Winter, we chose to tow our van back home

It worked well for us, a seasonal pitch is cheaper than static pitch fees and you really don’t need to tow the van yourself if you don’t want to.

We’ve had a static for 2 years. The site is open for 11 months and has indoor and outdoor pools plus a showbar. It’s a 5 minute walk to the beach. It’s a two hour drive and we go almost every weekend. We takeDGC quite often, school holidays DD(s) and DGC spend two or three weeks a year usually with me. Our dogs love going there.
Site fees are £4700 pa plus there is gas and electricity to pay for and about £100 for alarm system.
We love it and haven’t regretted it for one moment.

We were perhaps fortunate that we bought ours after my H took very early retirement.
We were able to go when we wanted until our GD started school.
Until then we took her with us, then we were restricted as we still minded her for 3 days.
However weekends were our own and we went most Friday evening's until Monday.
I would also say the site we were on didn't allow subletting or rentals. Since we left it does, I don't know if that has changed the atmosphere.

Sorry that should read 2 caravans not 2 years that we owned them.