Keeping M/Home, purchasing Static Caravan for winter

[Tony50]

We are buying a private Static caravan, does the Seller have to move out once it's paid for and contracts signed , or do they move out on agreed date. We have never done anything like this before

 

[JohnJan]

Watching this with interest, we're contemplating doing the same. Sell the house, use the van, buy a static and use it until next property appears on the horizon.

 

[maison]

Posted in error, sorry.

 

[Neckender]

Make sure it’s a residential site as you can’t live long term on a holiday site, I’ve bought a lovely static in North Wales with 10-1/2 month term and we have to show a council tax bill with our name and address to prove we have a permanent residence.

John.

 

[Tony50]

Make sure it’s a residential site as you can’t live long term on a holiday site, I’ve bought a lovely static in North Wales with 10-1/2 month term and we have to show a council tax bill with our name and address to prove we have a permanent residence.

John.

The site we will be on is 50 weeks per year closing just 2 weeks, it's the handover we are concerned about then we have to find Insurance before we take ownership.

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[GeoffnDee]

Also be sure that the site owner is aware that you are buying the caravan and the dates involved as you will be liable for the ground rent to them and there may also be a payment due to the site owners regarding the sale of the van.

 

[Minxy]

The site we will be on is 50 weeks per year closing just 2 weeks, it's the handover we are concerned about then we have to find Insurance before we take ownership.

BE CAREFUL! Buying a static is nothing like buying a house, there are no hard and fast 'rules' ... think of it more like buying a vehicle ... as soon as the dosh is handed over it's yours and not theirs so they should be out of it at that point. You should also have insurance in place to protect you on your purchase but also for public liability for the site - you need to check what the minimum cover they require is as some only want £1m, others £2m.

Buying the actual static itself is only half of the 'deal' though ... the other half is the contract with the site itself so you need to sort that out with them and this will detail your site fee and any other expenses you have to pay (eg utilities, wifi etc), along with any other restrictions/rules etc that you must adhere/agree to again this should be looked at before you commit to buy - they often also have final say on whether a new owner is 'acceptable'.

There are a LOT of pitfalls in buying a static so you need to carefully check the terms of any agreement with the site BEFORE you buy otherwise you could make a very big and costly mistake ... they are rarely a good financial investment in that most site will want a 10%-15% 'commission' on the sale (plus VAT) regardless of whether they were involved in the sale or not, usually this is paid by the seller, ie off the price they get for the static, but I have heard where this has actually been the responsibility of the new buyer so needs to be added to the basic cost. Another thing to bear in mind is that statics rarely go up in value, you're lucky if they stay at the same price you paid for them so once you take off the 'commission' you could already be loosing out by quite a bit.

You'll also have to check if the already paid site fees are still applicable to you or whether you have to pay for them again as sometimes they aren't transferrable.

I put some info on this on another thread previous so I'll see if I can find it for you and post it here.

 

[mapman]

When we sold our static it became the buyer's property as soon as they paid, so we had it empty on the day of sale. As Neckender said the type of site is important since some councils are very fussy over "full timing" on a holiday park. Also the site management often have their own rules and in our case our contract involved them getting a percentage of the sale price!

 

[Tony50]

Also be sure that the site owner is aware that you are buying the caravan and the dates involved as you will be liable for the ground rent to them and there may also be a payment due to the site owners regarding the sale of the van.

We have got that far, site does all the money handling, we pay them , they take their commission , they pay Estate agent , all out of selling price , extras we pay for are rip off annual pitch fees, gas and electric checks, the Electric and Gas bottle fees and of course Insurance

 

[Tony50]

BE CAREFUL! Buying a static is nothing like buying a house, there are no hard and fast 'rules' ... think of it more like buying a vehicle ... as soon as the dosh is handed over it's yours and not theirs so they should be out of it at that point. You should also have insurance in place to protect you on your purchase but also for public liability for the site - you need to check what the minimum cover they require is as some only want £1m, others £2m.

Buying the actual static itself is only half of the 'deal' though ... the other half is the contract with the site itself so you need to sort that out with them and this will detail your site fee and any other expenses you have to pay (eg utilities, wifi etc), along with any other restrictions/rules etc that you must adhere/agree to again this should be looked at before you commit to buy - they often also have final say on whether a new owner is 'acceptable'.

There are a LOT of pitfalls in buying a static so you need to carefully check the terms of any agreement with the site BEFORE you buy otherwise you could make a very big and costly mistake ... they are rarely a good financial investment in that most site will want a 10% 'commission' on the sale (plus VAT) regardless of whether they were involved in the sale or not, usually this is paid by the seller, ie off the price they get for the static, but I have heard where this has actually been the responsibility of the new buyer so needs to be added to the basic cost. Another thing to bear in mind is that statics rarely go up in value, you're lucky if they stay at the same price you paid for them so once you take off the 'commission' you could already be loosing out by quite a bit.

You'll also have to check if the already paid site fees are still applicable to you or whether you have to pay for them again as sometimes they aren't transferrable.

I put some info on this on another thread previous so I'll see if I can find it for you and post it here.

Thanks for advice, as you say it's not a good investment , it just gives a lot more room and the utilities are fixed .

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[Tony50]

When we sold our static it became the buyer's property as soon as they paid, so we had it empty on the day of sale. As Neckender said the type of site is important since some councils are very fussy over "full timing" on a holiday park. Also the site management often have their own rules and in our case our contract involved them getting a percentage of the sale price!

Thanks the Park Owners are a National Company and as such, take their cut , Licence / Agreement Rule book is half as thick as a good novel, which I have digested from start to finish

 

[Minxy]

These links might be useful to you:

Broken Link Removed

Broken Link Removed

we are defecting

after a year of motorhoming we have decided we are off to statics im afraid. we have outgrown our lovely hymer and feel a statics the way forward so going to give it a try. we have advertised it on classified her and ebay for ten days.we got a bid so we'll see.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[Minxy]

Tony50 which site are you buying on?

 

[Lanerboy]

I have a static caravan on a 5* site in Weymouth our ground rent is £7500 a year plus insurance.

We rent it out through the summer and use it ourselves in the winter as its much nicer than the motorhome in winter months.

We make about 15k a year renting it so plenty left after paying the site fees which helps towards depreciation.

As stated above they loose shed loads of money very quickly so be prepared to loose money before you buy it.

 

[old-mo]

We looked into a static, and found the cost was off putting.... and when and if you wanted to sell later you got ripped off again... so...

Decided to buy a little cottage 100yds from the beach and promenade with sea views from dinning room and one of the bedrooms..

Paid just over 45 k in total... spent just under 20K doing it up as it was in a tired state...

And we have just been offered 105K...

But it`s NOT for sale... there are bargains out there if you shop around and don`t very often lose on bricks and mortar..

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[Minxy]

We looked into a static, and found the cost was off putting.... and when and if you wanted to sell later you got ripped off again... so...

Decided to buy a little cottage 100yds from the beach and promenade with sea views from dinning room and one of the bedrooms..

Paid just over 45 k in total... spent just under 20K doing it up as it was in a tired state...

And we have just been offered 105K...

But it`s NOT for sale... there are bargains out there if you shop around and don`t very often lose on bricks and mortar..

That's the way to do it Mo!

 

[Neckender]

There’s a lot of negatives if you’re unwary, but buying our static has been the best thing we’ve done, we sold our Globecar Campscout bought our 2012 static and bought a brand new Hyundai Nline with the money we got for our van.

John.

 

[Tony50]

Tony50 which site are you buying on?

Park Holidays

 

[Minxy]

Park Holidays

Ah, that explains the 'very professional' way it's all being done, the pitch fees are pricey but I assume it's got loads of facilities so make sure you make good use of them.

One thing they'll likely ask, if they haven't already, is where your 'permanent home' is so you need to have that sorted at a family member's address, or friend etc (ie registered to vote at that address and possibly some utility bills) as it's a holiday site rather than residential and even though you appear to be using it as a stop gap they will have very strict 'non-residency' rules placed on them for the licence by the Council so you don't want to run the risk of not actually being able to stay in it once you own it.

We had a static caravan at Chapel Hill near Conningsby on a privately owned family run site which was 10 months occupancy from 1st April to 31st January although they were looking to change it to 11 months when we sold so not sure if they did that. There were residents there and they registered it as the primary address and paid Council Tax, the site fees were a lot less though and they didn't make any charge whatsoever when you bought/sold your static, a very, very rare thing.