Buying static caravan

[westernlights]

Any tips or positive aspects?
I just seem to read negative views..

My only personal experience is we had a static caravan when I was a kid, it was brill, entire summer holidays there and frequent weekends, half term etc. We never went abroad . I think it was a fairly cheap site, maybe the fees have increased a lot since the 80s / 90s. As a child though it was great.

My inlaws have one on a very nice site (they stay there for a few days every week as they're retired and it's only about an hour from their home).

They love it and it absolutely suits them. Their caravan is beautiful, has central heating and they use it all year round. The site fees are high but the site is stunning (just owners no rentals so you get to know the same faces and make friends).

Some questions to consider...

• Do you want to live on the site or have the caravan as a 2nd home?
• If a 2nd home, will you use it enough to justify the costs?
• Do you want to go back to the same place all the time?
• What are the site rules?
• Is there a rule on how old can your caravan be before they make you change it? Can you afford to do this? What happens if you can't?
• What sort of site do you want to buy on? Some are owners only and some allow you to rent your caravan out? Both can give a different feel to the site.
• What are the additional costs over and above the site fees? Repairs or upgrades might need to be done by the onsite maintenance team so shopping around for prices might not be possible? Is WiFi charged for? What's the cost for utilities?

I think the best way to have a positive experience with static caravans is to find out all the info and compare it to what you want. If it all aligns then you're going to have a great time.

A family member had one and loved it.
Their own space in a location they loved and although it was 150-miles from where they lived, at least one family member went there every week/weekend.

Wasn't particularly expensive when they bought it but the ground rent was not insignificant and any works had to be done by the site owner or their approved contractor.
When the 10-year lease was up they had to either buy a new static (through the site owner at a premium of course) or just walk away (which is what they did).

In hindsight they would have been better off buying a flat or house but at the time 10-years seemed an age and the increase in house prices could not be imagined.

We considered buying one as we love a UK holiday and it would be nice to just get away when there's a surprisingly warm weekend. We decided against it as the costs were too high - mostly ground rent rather than the actual caravan and we would get bored of going to the same place every time.

If you were to use it to make money, you'd have to be renting it out exactly when you would want to be using it.

Bit more info required OP. Are you thinking of buying it on a site as a holiday home or somewhere else like your garden? We renovated and lived in one in our garden for 2yrs. Ours was single glazed, no central heating and not winter ready! We coped, but did have ice on the ceiling which then dripped on us once we got into bed. Not ideal, but if its a holiday home, you are likely there more in warmer weather. I can't really help re having one on a site, other than hearing stories of needing to sell and upgrade if its over a certain age.

There was a recent radio item on this. Lots of people saying they bought, sight fees increased etc etc and then when they came to sell they couldn’t and the parks only offered them way under so they lost money or the parks insisting that only vans under a certain age could be on site then them having problems to sell/losing money. It was heartbreaking to listen to.

Check out Holiday Park Action Group on facebook. Other people's experiences might give you second thoughts.