Park Homes

[AndrewSchofield]

Hi guys,

Does anyone have any experience and or knowledge of 'park homes' - by which I mean basically static caravans which are permanently sited and used by people to live in, as opposed to static caravans on holiday parks. My mum is considering buying one to live in and its unknown territory for us so we're wondering if there's any 'cons' or pitfalls to look out for with them?

Anyone any idea how they hold their value? I assume they wont be an investment like a normal house usually is, and that, over time, they'll be worth less, but if you look after them well, I would assume they wont depreciate too quickly?

Basically - is there anything she should be wary of, look out for or check before she goes ahead and buys it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[pred]

Do they have to be replaced every 10yrs or so?

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Hi pred,

No they don't - certainly not on the park that my mum is looking at anyway, as the one she's thinking of buying is nearly 20years old. They are pretty permanent structures - some of the others on the site have conservatories, porches and extensions built on to them...

 

[AronSearle]

I assume they wont be an investment like a normal house usually is

It's the land that makes a house an investment, not the building itself.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Hi Andrew,

My parents-in-law live in a park home, on a site near Bury-St-Edmunds. They have lived there for about 5 years. The one that they live in was in a bad way when they purchased it but they spent a few thousand pounds reconditioning it, new bathroom, kitchen, put in a 2nd loo etc, and completely revamped the garden and it is now probably one of the happiest homes they have lived in. They love the community feel that you get from the park that they live on. Their one has an 'age limit' in that there are no younger than 65 living on there (they are the youngest ones there!).

They feel incredibly safe living there, they have no cold callers, everyone looks out for each other and I truly believe they are the happiest they have ever been. It is peaceful but not far from the noise of a town.

The rules and regulations possibly vary from park to park, on their park you are not allowed wooden sheds (they have to be prefabricated or brick) or fences. This is due to the fire hazard as the homes are not brick built. I don't think there is a rule to not having pets but this may apply to other parks. They were lucky that they purchased an older park home as they have more garden around theirs, the newer ones tend to have less garden.

Since improving their home the value of it has doubled and they don't expect that this will drop by much (obviously their property is subject to market fluctuations as any normal property would be). The only difference is that I think home insurance is slightly different (but you would look into this anyway) and I have a feeling that having a mortgage is different because it is not classed as a property but a chattal (like furniture) as it is not a brick structure, however, my parents-in-law didn't have a mortgage anyway and purchased with cash.

I believe that you actually don't ever own the land that the house sits on, I'm sure they pay a ground rent. You obviously own the property on it and I do think that you could pick it up and site it elsewhere if you wanted to and the property was viable. However, I don't think not owning the land is an issue because the park home would always want every plot filled because of the revenue from the ground rent etc. They certainly didn't buy a new one, I think their one was over 40 years old, the outside structure was sound, they did replace the roof and the panels outside but this was more cosmetic for them than anything (my mother-in-law likes things to look 'nice'!).

Feel free to ask any other questions and I can get the answers from them and let you know.

Regard,

Andy

 

[AndrewSchofield]

I assume they wont be an investment like a normal house usually is

It's the land that makes a house an investment, not the building itself.

You don't buy the land with a park home, she'll have to pay ground rent for the land - so that wont help...

 

[HERTS P&D]

If the one she is looking at has a bit of 'garden' round it she might want to check around her one and the neighbouring ones to see if there could be potential to 'pinch' a bit of land from each and site another home. This was an issue when my parents-in-law first moved in. As their home and the ones around it had quite a bit of land around it the park home owners had made mention that they may be taking some land from each to site another two homes.

However, my parents-in-law and the neighbours did object and it was resolved when the Council got involved and it transpired that there were two oak trees that were protected on the land so they didn't go ahead!

Regards,

Andy

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Andy,

Thanks for that - all very useful and a lot of it rings true. The site has a security gate so you can't gain access if you haven't got the code so that adds some level of security and when we went to look at it yesterday, the people in the neighbouring home were in their garden, as we got out of the car they said hello in a way that made me think my mum must know them already - when i asked her she said she'd never seen them before. Cetainly seems more relaxed and friendly - expecially compared to where she lives now where her neighbours are all not friendly at all.

The plot in question already has two timber sheds on it, so I assume that rule isn't shared with this site and she's been told she can take the dog she already has, but can't get a new one - not sure about that....seems a little odd.

One thing that does seem a little strange is that the park owner charges ground rent and she has also been told that when she sells it, they also take 10% of the sale price - do your parents know anything about that??

She'll have no problem with mortgage, as she wont be borrowing the money - she can't get a mortgage as she only works part-time - one of the reasons for buying one of these instead of a normal house is that she can afford it without a mortgage.

The one she's looking at is empty as it was the home of an elderly couple who have passed away and their daughter is looking to get rid of it as soon as possible as she's got to pay the ground rent until its sold, so the price seems to be very good so hopefully that'll help off-set any depreciation. It looks really well looked after though and Mum could move in straight away. She's wanting to do a few alterations and a bit of modernisation, particularly in the kitchen, but there seems to be nothing wrong with it.

On a slightly different note. Do the normal building regulations apply to any work/alterations she does to it?

 

[AndrewSchofield]

Andy,

The plot next door hasn't got so much space on it, so not sure there'd be room to get another home inbetween the two. Besides which, this plot has a pre-fab garage on one side and two timber sheds on the other side, so hopefully these existing structures would give her some protection. From memory though, I think getting another one in between the existing homes would almost certainly not comply with fire regulations as they'd be too close - it would be a VERY tight squeeze!!

 

[snico]

My aunt lives in a mobile home, not a Park home but very similar. We visit her a couple time per year.

The home itself is very big, 3 bedroom, en suite bathroom, patio doors etc. It doesnt feel like a mobile home, its about the size of 2 static caravans together, maybe a bit bigger.

The site owner charges a site fee per year, in the fee, water and electricity are included. The only utility they pay for is gas, which is bottled gas.

There are pets on the site, certain most sites will have their own rules on this.

The atmosphere on them is really good, my aunt knows everyone on the site and everyone is really friendly....when she lived in her old house, she didnt really know many of her neighbours.

Her garden is pretty large too, every home as different sized and shaped gardens. There is no worry about taking land from her, as the site is only permitted to hold so many homes, I think there is about 60 on her site.

As for selling and buying, my aunt bought it private with cash and just pays the usual site fee. The owners of the site do sell some homes, and take a small percentage of the sale price, they do sell pretty quick and they take the hassle out of selling them. You can sell them yourself without the site owners help and not have to pay any percentage.

Just to add, up until a couple of years ago, you could not own a home less than 20 years old. Once your home got to that age, you had to sell it and the home was removed from the site. This rule does not apply anymore because a lot of residents' homes where coming to age at the same time. You can now own a home of any age as long its kept upto date regarding fire regulations etc

 

[HERTS P&D]

Sounds like a similar situation. The one they bought was being sold by the son as his mother had passed away. I think they purchased for around £40k and spent less than £20k, and for that they absolutely gutted the place. They put in a new kitchen, new bathroom, closed off one entrance to the home and made the corridor into an additional loo, new roof, new outer 'shell', new windows, everywhere redecorated/painted, put in central heating and had all the pipework underneath pinned up and insulated, had a raised patio area built with railings on one side (out of double patio doors) and new brick built steps with railings to the kitchen door entrance. I would hazard a guess that it's now worth £90k.

It is the law across the Country that you pay 10% of the sale price to the park home, I suppose together with the ground rent that's how they make their money. My father-in-law has just told me that there are moves afoot to try and change this law so you never know in the future. He has said that he would recommend living on a park home to anyone of around his age (he is 72 and my mother-in-law is 67).

There are no building regulations that you have to adhere to within the property, you can change the internal structure however you wish and with regard the building work outside, they only had to obtain permission for the two raised brick built areas from the park home. On their park you are allowed a certain amount of patio area per site, and this is only because they don't want the water to sit on lots of concrete, and that is the reason they limit it, but they have plenty of room for a table and 4 chairs.

You are right concerning the sheds. My father-in-law has confirmed that had there been any wooden structure (sheds, fences etc) when they moved in they could keep them but you have to ask permission to replace it (and he doesn't think permission would be granted, simply because of the fire risk). But they are allowed to grow a 'natural' fence on the boundary so they have planted bay trees and privet hedges (he thinks there is a request on their site that no leylandi be planted, which I can understand!).

He has said that he thinks that rules change from Council to Council and park home to park home but imagines that they are all similar in the most part.

I told him what you said about the neighbour who said hello to you and your mother and he suggested that you go to the site on a sunday and have a walk round, you would probably have many more people saying hello and you'd find out a lot of information about that specific park from the residents. He has a friend on the site who used to take a constitutional every evening and recently starting changing the time to do it while it was dark. When my father-in-law asked him why he did this he told him that he had to because the walk was turning into a stroll and taking over two hours each night because everyone stops him for a chat!

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

Regard,

Andy

 

[AronSearle]

I assume they wont be an investment like a normal house usually is

It's the land that makes a house an investment, not the building itself.

You don't buy the land with a park home, she'll have to pay ground rent for the land - so that wont help...

You don't buy the land that a flat sits on either, but a leasehold.

Park homes don't have timed leases IIRC, but the lease is tied to the "property"

It may not be an "investment" in the madness of housing, but I don't think you have to worry about loosing money.

 

[snico]

It is the law across the Country that you pay 10% of the sale price to the park home

But that only applies to 'Park Homes' not other mobile homes. The 10% is the maximum a site owner can take from the final sale.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Snico you may be right, I can only go by what my father-in-law has told me and I know they looked into it when they bought. Theirs is a park home and not a mobile home and I think that AndrewSchofield's mum is buying a park home as opposed to a mobile or holiday home, therefore the 10% would apply when she sold (and I would say that most park home owners would charge the maximum that they can when their tenants sell).

Regards,

Andy

 

[snico]

Snico you may be right, I can only go by what my father-in-law has told me and I know they looked into it when they bought. Theirs is a park home and not a mobile home and I think that AndrewSchofield's mum is buying a park home as opposed to a mobile or holiday home, therefore the 10% would apply when she sold (and I would say that most park home owners would charge the maximum that they can when their tenants sell).

Regards,

Andy

I think the majority will try and take a percentage, maybe some sites are more leniant than others.

There was a couple on the site my aunt lives on who wnated to move their home to another location, was something to do with an argument between them and the owners over fees etc.

The site owner wanted to charge them for moving their home( which was just a large static) of the land. He ended up going through the courts and was finally told he can move it. He arranged for the police to close the road, paid for the crane and the lorry himself to take it. Left the owners pretty unhappy!