Residental park homes

We were in a similar situation a couple of years ago and found a fantastic resource in ukparklife.com. They helped us find a beautiful park in the Cotswolds and guided us through the entire process. They even negotiated a better deal with the park operator and connected us with a manufacturer to customise our home just how we wanted.

There might be other companies offering similar services, but I highly recommend checking out these park-finding services. They’re usually free of charge and can make the whole journey much smoother and hassle-free.

Not too far from me there is a (rathe tasteless) Dallas Southfork ranch style huge newly built mansion set in some land. I think it might be owned by a footballer. Right behind the mansion there is an area of land crammed with lots of park homes, they are appear to be residential rather than holiday. I think the people who own the mansion own this park home site. When I drive past it always seems a bit feudal, like the lord in the mansion and the peasants or serfs in the little park homes.

If you buy on a holiday park as opposed to residential you must provide proof of a permanent address. You can stay in your holiday home as often and for as long as you wish, but of course wont be able to be there if the park is closed.

The site where we have our lodge is open for 11 months of the year but there many that close for 3 or 4 months a year. Some are open for the full 12 months but you still need a permanent address.

If you buy on a residential site, that becomes your permanent home but if you want a holiday home, I suggest you do some research on the site fees. Residential site fees tend to be quite a bit more so if you want a holiday home, a holiday park may be better financial alternative.

ShropshireMiss - I think the terms are used in quite varying ways by different sites and sales reps.
What I have gathered from friends is 'don't get confused by the different terms, look at each one individually and see what the conditions are'.

This is something I am interested in. Could I buy a park home as a second home, but just use it as a weekend getaway? In effect using it as a holiday home. Or is it a condition that of purchase that you have to use it as your main home? Is there a big price difference between a holiday lodge on a holiday park, and a park home on a park home site?

This is lovely and in a fabulous location but for that price I would rather have bricks and mortar…

@Nannarose it's been inspiring!
Does anyone live on the Orchard Farm park in Elton, Cheshire? It would be even more useful to see some recommendations for parks, as I'm not sure where to go. I'm quite flexible, but would prefer Cheshire or Shropshire - Lancashire at a push - needs to be pet friendly (I have one beloved cat) and within a reasonable distance to doctors surgery, vets etc

I keep toying with the idea of buying a park home just for use at the weekends.
I read people making a distinction between a park home and a holiday park lodge, with greater rights and security for the park home compared to the holiday park lodge.
Could I buy a park home, but just stat at weekends, so treating it in effect as a holiday home.
I’m finding the distinction between park home and holiday park a bit confusing,

JackK - thank you for letting us know that this was a helpful thread. Co-incidentally, I was just talking to a friend who lives in a park home and we covered some of the issues raised here. She is in her 80s and illness is making her frail, but her home is easy to keep nice, well insulated (not all are) and her neighbours friendly & helpful, so she is very glad to be in one.

I'm about to sell up, due to noisy neighbours ... and have set my heart on a residential park home; this thread has really helped me!

I thought it would be just like any other home but I wasn't sure. A relative may have to do this soon but thanks for clarifying ALT57

Thanks for telling us this ALT57. I believed an earlier comment about park homes not being counted if you go into care homes.

As someone who needs care, I was interested.

I clicked on the link and yeh, you`re right. Thankyou x

I am afraid you will have to take into account care home fees
as you can be forced to sell the mobile home towards fees

www.housingcare.org/downloads/kbase/3161.pdf

I live in a quiet, rather out-of-the-way rural area, and they are very popular here - all of the different kinds mentioned. As terms are used fairly freely, I think the important advice is to look very carefully at the terms and conditions of the one you are considering - and around here, many of the sites are 'mixed'.
We have 2 recent developments with the following:
can be main residence, ground rent / maintenance fees capped (but of course, change of ownership sometimes invalidates that),
solar thermal & photovoltaic cells for power (this is owned by the management company, but residents get the benefit during the day)
good insulation
they are very well laid out, access to nature reserves and really lovely.
A covered 'meeting' is usually used for BBQs but has meant folk can gather for 'outdoor' coffee

Mine was cheap. It was second hand. It's worth checking out estate agents for second hand ones.

This is a favourite subject of mine, so I`ve been googling....wow! they are not cheap.....but quite lovely!

Cuppaful...that`s a very interesting point you made re the council don't take the home for funding if you go into a care home.....mmmm thanks.

Saggi the one my relative owns has a reasonably sized garden and her grandchildren play out, weather permitting; in fact they brought joy to the neighbour too who had dementia. Her park home is as large as many local bungalows.

My aunt lived I. A mobile home and it suited her. It was small warm and cosy she could get about on her motorised scooter and had neighbours around all the time.

I live almost next to a park that is both holiday and residential.
The caravans and lodges are , in the main, separately located. A few are freehold but the vast majority are not, these residents just pay council tax, band A and have to cut their own grass. The park fees currently for a three bed roomed lodge are £3500 per year which most people pay monthly, this fee increases every year with inflation. It covers site maintenance, security and use of the leisure facilities all year round. All parks vary so it is important to check out the details. Good luck.

Glammak. Why not considering just buying a smaller ‘bricks-and-mortar’ home... have you looked into that. My friend bought a park home about three years ago....she has 9 grandchildren...who when they visit , can’t play out , and so the parents can’t stay very long, as one of her daughters is responsible for 5 of the 9! 5 kids in on two bed groomed park home is a recipe for chaos. She can no longer ‘do’ Xmas for them like she used to either ,(although that’s maybe a blessing). Think hard about your real circumstances , and about your future needs. I wouldnt do it! But thankfully we’re not all the same. By the way nor would my friend have brought it only her husbands job provided a ‘tied’ cottage , and after 25 years he was made redundant . Their savings would buy a static home outright but at 55+ in age they couldn’t get a mortgage for a even small house. All very sad for them.

When I worked for Age Concern (as was), I visited older people living in a number of park home estates. The newest park homes are almist indistinguishiable from traditionally built bungalows and are built with a high level of insulation. I never met anyone not happy with their decision. Most parks take over 55s only and most are long established.

4allweknow. It is only if you buy onto a park, officially classed as a holiday park, that you have to move out for several weeks a year - and many do choose to live on these parks as if they were residential and accept that they have to move out for a couple of weeks a year. If you buy onto a residential development, which most are away from holiday destinations, you live there 52 weeks a year, just like any other home owner.

We went to buy a prestigious make, second owner residential Home 2 years ago which cost more than the original owner paid for it 8 years ago.
Granted they likely don't appreciate as much in value as bricks and mortar but there is a benefit in that it is classed as a chattel (like a car), so should the eventuality arise, that you need to go into a care home, your Park Home is not used for funding and your beneficiaries inherit the full value.
Just be sure to do as much research as possible to ensure Park Owner has a Residential Licence so you have protections under Law.

B9exchange definitely not always the case that they depreciate. When my friend and her husband said they were thinking of buying one, that was what I thought too. But in fact, their park home went up and up in value quite significantly right up until the time she died and her husband moved.

Lewie

My mother and my sister both lived in a Park Home. You get ripped off buying and selling because the owners demand a large percentage for themselves. Plus, when you come to sell, they insist on okaying the incoming prospective purchasers! Would never recommend it to anybody, sorry.

This is NOT true!
Permanent Residential Park Homes are governed by the 1983 Mobile Homes Act which gives permanent/12 months residents lawful protection. But you must check with the council that the Park has a "Residential licence" not just a "Holiday Licence."
Key things to bear in mind when considering buying a park home....
1/You will be buying the home, but not the pitch (plot). The pitch remains in the ownership of the site owner who is responsible for maintaining and managing the site. (Like leasehold property)
2/You will pay a pitch fee for the occupation of the pitch and you may be charged separately for water, gas and electricity which the site owner may supply directly to your home.
3/You will pay Band A council tax to the local authority.
4/Your pitch agreement will be protected by the Mobile Homes Act 1983, which regulates the contract between you and the site owner and sets out the parties respective rights and obligations.
4/If the site has rules you must comply with them.
5/If you are buying the home from an existing resident, the site owner will be entitled to 10% commission of the sale price(PAID BY THE SELLER)..... Likewise should you sell in the future the site owner will be entitled to 10% commission from you.
6/If you are buying the home from a resident you do not need to contact the site owner. You do not have to give any personal details to the site owner.
7/ Use a conveyancing solicitor specialising in purchase of Residential Park Homes...(.its worth it)
8/ Do your research and choose your site carefully, but they can be wonderful, supportive communities.