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Original poster

Not to buy my brother's static caravan

223 replies

Ineedtocheckmylist · 18/05/2025 22:49

For context my DH & me are not wealthy, but we both have decent pensions (DH retired, me partially retired) & a fair bit in savings as when we got married we both sold our family-sized houses & bought a 2 bed bungalow.

My parents used to buy antique items at auction and, many years ago had some very nice pieces of furniture, antique rugs etc.

Brother lives about 2 hour's drive away. When my parents were alive I lived about 10 minute's walk away from them, but have since moved to somewhere close in the area.

My brother, although he earns a good salary, & owns a large house split into 2 flats (one rented out), but has a large mortgage as he had to buy his Xpartner out - twice as they got back together having split up.

I have a difficult relationship with my brother as I cared for my parents when they were sick, he did absolutely nothing until mum died & swept down, changed the locks & took anything of real value leaving me to clear the rest.

But, my parents have been dead for nearly 5 years now & we have started repairing our relationship meeting occasionally for lunch, email each other & I would like to continue that.

When my mother died (9 months after my father) he accused me of stealing things from the house that my parents got rid of many years ago. He was such a rare visitor that he didn't remember that they'd had to get rid of things like coffee tables & the nice rugs as they were a trip hazard for my father who had Parkinson's. He also accused me of stealing my mother's clothes (she was 2 sizes bigger than me), items of jewellery & of making a mess of the house in the process. He didn't understand that my parents were so ill that they never bothered to put anything away & the mess that the house was in was the mess that they lived in. When I said that he said that I should have cleared the house up for them. But when I visited (every morning & evening - whilst working full-time, to help get my father up, fed & then to get them their evening meal & help my father to bed, sometimes been called to them in the middle of the night when daddy had a fall) my mother would get very cross if I tried to tidy up saying that it was her house & I had no right to tidy after her - something that I respected. So I limited myself to making sure that everything in the fridge & kitchen cupboards was in date while I was cooking for them & keeping the kitchen & bathrooms clean.

My brother has a static caravan on the coast near where DH & me live. He's pressurising me to buy it from him. I've said that we have no need of it. Brother has provided evidence that it's giving a fairly good rental income & that it would be somewhere for DH's children & grandchildren to enjoy. I have no GC of my own, but regard DH's as mine.

I'm saying that I don't want the bother of it. Brother is pressurising me by saying that he's in financial straights & it would be a way of helping him out. I'm saying that he's an adult & his financial circumstances are his problem. Afterall he got a not-unsubstantial inheritance from our parents (as did I). Also if it's giving such a good rental income, he should hang on to it as it will give him the money that he says he needs.

DH is saying if I want to buy it from my personal money that's my choice. But I'm thinking if it's such a good deal why is my brother getting rid?

I think that I can guess what MN friends will say, but I don't want to put a further barrier between my brother & me.

So AIBU to tell my brother no thank you & risk deepening the rift? We're talking about him selling the caravan that is about 8 years old for £15K.

OP posts:
Mischance · 19/05/2025 07:17

Your OH has the right idea ... go on a cruise!

Climbinghigher · 19/05/2025 07:12

God no. Old caravans are not an investment. They usually have to be replaced at great expense. He sounds awful tbh.

PussInBin20 · 19/05/2025 07:10

Why can’t he just sell it to someone else? Why does it have to be you? Sounds fishy to me.

Whyonearthwouldyou · 19/05/2025 07:06

Taking your brother out of the equation (and what a charming man he is!) if you had £15k sitting in front of you on the kitchen table - would you use that money to buy his caravan?
Probably not I imagine, so don't feel pressured to do so.
I really don't think it would be a good investment and it sounds a little dodgy to be fair. My MIL used to do the accounts at a caravan site and she was shocked by all the rules that would put dwellers in bad financial situations. For example, once a caravan reached a certain age it wasn't allowed on site and had to be replaced if they wanted to remain on the pitch. I can't remember how many years old it was but it was toe-curlinly low.

Ponderingwindow · 19/05/2025 05:38

Thanks for thinking of me regarding the caravan and offering me such a good deal. If money is tight though, you should take the sale to the open market and get as much as you can.

Then if he brings up the matter again, just keep changing the subject.

GeminiGiggles · 19/05/2025 05:22

Have a look at Holiday Park Action Group on Facebook.

Now as someone who worked in the industry and adjacent to it I will say its not all parks but its far too many to say its the exception and is in fact the rule.

He knows this and is trying to set you up.

Princessfluffy · 19/05/2025 05:11

It would be cheaper for you to gift £15k to your bro than to buy this caravan OP.
Also buying the caravan will not improve your relationship with your brother.
Tell him you are sure someone will bite his hand off for it on the open market but thank you for the first refusal.

category12 · 19/05/2025 05:07

I suspect that his ex benefited as she stuck around for just long enough before she left him for the second time.

Oh OP, I think you might be buying into his warped views here.

Think about it, he accuses you of nicking valuables and not caring for your parents properly - which was actually what he did. Poor cheated brother is his narrative.

So .. he complains that his ex-wife took him for all he's worth? Poor robbed husband is his narrative. Maybe she split up with him twice because he's an arsehole and only took what she was due.

WellDoneThatSupremeCourt · 19/05/2025 05:05

I'm surprised you are even in contact with your brother, let alone contemplating doing him any kind of favour.

Springadorable · 19/05/2025 04:38

All of the history is irrelevant really. You don't want a caravan. That's the end of the conversation.

HomeTheatreSystem · 19/05/2025 04:33

He's treated you appallingly and now wants to offload a money pit on to you? He sounds awful. Btw he accused you of stealing stuff from your parents because that's what he did and he needs to think you're every bit as low a person as he is.

FancyNewt · 19/05/2025 04:26

Just say no..

End of
.

WiddlinDiddlin · 19/05/2025 04:23

He's an arse, tell him to stuff his tatty static where the sun doesn't shine.

I'd bet, as PP have said, it's getting to the point where the site owners want it replaced with a new one and if its not that, its tatty enough that the rental income has plummeted - possibly both.

He is certainly NOT offering you a cheap investment that will make you money, thats for sure.

TooGoodToGoto · 19/05/2025 04:19

I want to know who the 2% who say you are unreasonable are! Because you’re not!

Ilikeadrink14 · 19/05/2025 04:19

Ineedtocheckmylist · 18/05/2025 23:05

Thank you MNers. I needed a reality check & I got one. I guess that I have to accept that my brother is a CF & maybe I don't need that. He's my younger brother & when we were younger I always looked out for him. Time for him to grow up.

I'm drafting an email to tell him thanks, but no I won't be buying his caravan. God only knows what he did with all the money that he made from the pictures, antique books, Staffordshire figures, Clarice Cliff sets etc that he took from our parent's house. I suspect that his ex benefited as she stuck around for just long enough before she left him for the second time.

When my parents died, I sold a lot of lovely stuff on eBay. Some of it was special, and expensive, eg Clarice Cliff, Lalique etc. I soon found that sometimes, things would go for a good price but at other times, they just didn’t sell, or sold for a low price.
With Auction sites, it obviously depends on who is on line, how many people are actually bidding, the time of day and several other factors. It’s a mug’s game, to be honest, and we soon saw sense. The rest of the stuff waiting to be put on eBay when we were ready, didn’t get there. We took it all to a reputable local Auction House and got a fair price for it there. I’m afraid Auction sites have just about had their day, and the extremely high postage charges don’t help.

4kids3pets · 19/05/2025 03:57

Why are you making effort as your brother does not care about you, you should of taken note tho how many times money and him come into play around you as in just the short writings here it reads like he is always trying to get you to help bail him in one way or another.

Feetinthegrass · 19/05/2025 03:42

No thanks should suffice, no explanation necessary.

Boreded · 19/05/2025 03:39

Why are you even asking here…I assume you are sane, so obviously no you should not be forced into buying something you don’t want.

unless you want to buy my pile of odd socks, they are limited edition, only one of each so totally unique, and yours for the low low price of £10k…pm me if you are interested and I’ll send cash app details

Bleachedlevis · 19/05/2025 03:06

I echo what so many others have said - don’t buy. Also caravans depreciate in value rapidly. It is possible you have not flatly refused because you want to remain in good terms with your brother. But he doesn’t. He is a user.

Bethany83 · 19/05/2025 03:00

I obviously echo what everyone says.

Your brother is not a good person. That may be hard to hear but it's sadly true.

Childish of me but you could alays have a bit of fun in your reply. "Thank you SO much for thinking of me. Is this your way of trying to make it up to me after accusing me of stealing from our parents? I have forgiven you for that, please don't feel you need to make this huge sacrifice for me. You keep hold of it. But thank you so much. I am so touched by your thoughtfulness. This has been emotional for me. I'll never forget such a selfless gesture" That sort of thing. It will confuse him or highly irritate him!!!

pnutter · 19/05/2025 02:44

Nope

Feelingstrange2 · 19/05/2025 01:42

No it's a dreadful unregulated industry.

Join Facebook Holiday Park Action Group.

EllasNonny · 19/05/2025 01:37

TiswasPhantomFlanFlinger · 18/05/2025 23:04

Do not buy this caravan off him.
Is it on a park? If it is you need to be aware that some holiday parks only let you keep a caravan on their park until it is a certain age and then they try to make you sell it, remove it and buy a new one. Also some of the service charges can be very high.

This. Most camps only allow caravans until a certain age. Statics are renowned for being massively expensive to own, real money pits.

echt · 19/05/2025 01:29

It's understandable that you want to avoid things getting worse with your brother, but looking at how he's behaved, there is literally nothing you could do that would ensure it. He will never change. He's like a shark that scents blood in the water, in this case your good nature.
He's user of the first water so say no to the caravan. He'll be back in time to impose on you yet again.

Smallsalt · 19/05/2025 01:22

Do not ever buy a static caravan.

There is a facebook group with 70 thousand members involved in a lawsuit against caravan park owners. Parks fleece people out of their life savings and continually raise the site rent.
The caravan has no intrinsic value.

People never make enough from rental to even cover the site rates because the park owners under cut with their own rental fleet. If they rent it out for you, your caravan gets trashed and they take no responsibility.
They are money pits with no way out as it's impossible to sell a static privately and the park itself will offer peanuts. At 8 years old he would be lucky to get £1000.

People have bought brand new caravans for 80k and been offered 10k a to buy back a year later. In addition the fees and electric will be upwards of 7k per year. You could have lots of weekends away for 7k and still have your 15k in the bank.

This will be the financial mess your brother finds himself in and he is trying to pass that mess on to you. Do not do it.
This is the action group, Holiday Park Action Group.
Read the stories on there .

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1488700298019076/?ref=share