When a motorhome is a caravan

[motorhomer]

Thought I'd post this to alert others!

We were about to buy a new house, we had made it clear that we needed to park a motorhome there. We were assured that whilst caravans and boats were not allowed, motorhomes were OK.

When our solicitor saw the contract she said not so. The contract did just refer to caravans, but it appears that the caravan act 1960 (amended 1968) section 29 is the key definition. It defines a caravan as :


“caravan” means any structure designed or adapted for human habitation which is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer) and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted, but does not include—
(a)any railway rolling stock which is for the time being on rails forming part of a railway system, or
(b)any tent;


So be warned. Any legal things that refer to caravans also include motorhomes. Thought this might alert others not to fall into the trap I nearly fell into!

 

[Bulletguy]

Easy answer to this is don't buy it!

For a privately owned property i'm surprised to see something like this written into a 'contract'. With property prices tumbling they won't get many buyers.

 

[Castaway]

It's not a problem! All you have to do is park it on the road outside the house. As long as it is taxed and insured it is perfectly legal!

 

[xyz]

So when I see signs saying no caravans allowed in city centre car parks, I assume I'm not allowed then?
Seems a weird definition as a caravan should come under a trailer type vehicle whereas a motorhome is self powered.
But then ... when has British law made sense.
Afterthought: I wonder if horse drawn vehicles are controlled by similar laws?

 

[Bugsy]

This is a subject we were discussing today with Barry's Mum. She asked if anyone had complained about the RV being parked on our drive and we said 'no' and why should they, because it is parked on private ground. She explained that there is a clause in the deeds of her bungalow stating that motorhomes cannot be parked on the drive. Luckily no such clause in our deeds.:thumb:

Toni

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[GJH]

I think I should get a second opinion from another solicitor.

S29 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 - see Here - is a supplemental provision defining the interpretation of "Caravan" for the purposes of Part 1 of that Act. It actually starts off "In this Part of this Act" (my emphasis).

I'm not a solicitor but I've worked with enough legislation to be sceptical as to whether the definition applies to any circumstance other than caravan sites.

It certainly appears, from the many parking TROs I've seen, that council solicitors see the need to treat towed caravans the same as other trailers and different from (self powered) motorhomes and draft the legislation accordingly (as mentioned by boristhemoggy).

Graham

 

[Caztur]

In most cases, this restriction is due to a covenant placed in the property deeds by the builders, to prevent their nice new estate being made to look like a gypsy camp whilst they are still selling the houses off.
The covenant can only be enforced by the party who placed it. and can be removed with their permission.
I doubt that the original builders of the house would be interested in enforcing it once they've sold all the houses.
If they are still in business!

 

[daveyboy]

out of curiosity does it say " motorhome " on the log book. ???

funny if you are self building your own house you need planning permission to put a static caravan on your own property but can freely put the biggest rv there instead.

a "motorhome" could mean anything fron a small van with a sink and cooker up to the biggest rv,s and fifth wheel trailers.

 

[Rose Royce]

It's not a problem! All you have to do is park it on the road outside the house. As long as it is taxed and insured it is perfectly legal!

I think you'll find that this is incorrect. You have no "right" to park on the highway. It constitutes obstruction. The fact that it's rarely enforced doesn't make it legal.

 

[Bulletguy]

In most cases, this restriction is due to a covenant placed in the property deeds by the builders, to prevent their nice new estate being made to look like a gypsy camp....

Funny but from what i've seen of most new estates thats exactly how they look!
They seem to attract the 'yuppy' set (or whatever they call them now) who clutter the driveways up with huge 4x4 Tonka Tanks or whacking big caravans, because they think thats how wealthy people live!

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[staging lady]

In most cases, this restriction is due to a covenant placed in the property deeds by the builders, to prevent their nice new estate being made to look like a gypsy camp whilst they are still selling the houses off.
The covenant can only be enforced by the party who placed it. and can be removed with their permission.
I doubt that the original builders of the house would be interested in enforcing it once they've sold all the houses.
If they are still in business!

I agree the restriction is mostly placed by builders but not always. We had a survey done on a former run -down vicarage with condemned outhouses in Wales. When the contract came after the survey, there were two restrictive covenants. First one was about mining rights ( a coal seam area) which allowed the drilling for minerals from below up into the garden!
The second no alcohol on the premises!! oh: Needless to say we walked away.
The second time we came across restrictive covenants it was no shooting the pheasants and no businesses to be run from the premises. That time we paid the local landowner £200 to waive a covenant saying no businesses on the premises. We still have to watch as the pheasants peck our daffodils to bits!

 

[Chrisdy]

Thought I'd post this to alert others!

We were about to buy a new house, we had made it clear that we needed to park a motorhome there. We were assured that whilst caravans and boats were not allowed, motorhomes were OK.

When our solicitor saw the contract she said not so. The contract did just refer to caravans, but it appears that the caravan act 1960 (amended 1968) section 29 is the key definition. It defines a caravan as :


“caravan” means any structure designed or adapted for human habitation which is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer) and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted, but does not include—
(a)any railway rolling stock which is for the time being on rails forming part of a railway system, or
(b)any tent;


So be warned. Any legal things that refer to caravans also include motorhomes. Thought this might alert others not to fall into the trap I nearly fell into!

Actually, if the motorhome was your only means of transport (i.e. you did not have a car) then I suspect that this 'contract' would be unenforceable, as there is no limit on the size of 'car' that you can park on your own property. However, if it was only used as a leisure vehicle, then it could be argued that it was indeed no different to a caravan. Not quite so black and white as the solicitor made out though.

 

[pappajohn]

The second no alcohol on the premises!! oh:

and just who is going to pollice it ? did it come with a resident verger?

thats just typical of the church......double standards:Angry:

turning water to wine......

communion wine....

bloody religion....gets my back up.

main cause of ALL wars.

rant over !

 

[staging lady]

]and just who is going to pollice it ? did it come with a resident verger?[/I][/B]

Yes got it in one, Pappajohn. There was a verger in the tiny village (10 houses) who was around the place when we were viewing. Impossible to hide the fact you had people over for drinks in a tiny Welsh village.... so it would have to be blackcurrent or rum and black disguised!
Enjoyed your rant! Feel free to rant away, Lucille

 

[motorhomer]

Latest since my original post is that the vendors solicitors have offered to make the clause in the contract more specific - ie still to ban real caravans but to specify that a motorhome is allowed. I still need to get my solicitors view of this, but it seems to meet my needs whilst preserving their wish to ban caravans (although it is unclear to me why they should wish to do this)

Just need to make sure I will never return to caravans!

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[oldun]

For a privately owned property i'm surprised to see something like this written into a 'contract'. With property prices tumbling they won't get many buyers.

Probably the restriction is imposed by some other authority and is not something added by the seller.

Many houses have covenants restricting the parking of "caravans" on the premises.

Quite often it would be hard for anyone to enforce an old covenant.