To give up renting and go and live in a mobile home?

[Milkshakebelly]

DH and I have been renting for the past 10 years. The likelihood of us ever getting on the property ladder is slim to none. I'm sick of renting and out rent is going up each year, I'm worried that it will get to a point where we will have to downsize because we won't be able to afford the rent as it keeps increasing.

I've seen a company on Facebook that builds luxurious mobile homes - I mean REALLY luxurious. To look at them on the inside you would think they were houses. I dismissed the idea as the likelihood of us finding land to park it on round here is unlikely.

However, I've been told by someone that there is a local farmer that owns a lot of land and may be willing to let us use abit of his land for this purpose.

I've told my parents and they have gone apeshit. They think it's an awful idea. In my eyes it means our "rent" would be dramatically reduced and we would own it, have abit of land around us instead of being squashed into a 3 bed terrace.

AIBU? We have two young DC's if that makes a difference.

Get one of these!

www.theweehousecompany.co.uk/our-houses/two-bedroom-wee-house.aspx

I'd rather one of those than a big semi, myself (I live in a biggish semi... I have too many kids for a 2 bed but it's my ambition when they finally move out :o )

However in practice a plot to put on is the problem - if you can't afford to buy a doer upper then you probably can't afford a plot with planning permission and utilities - the actual structure is the least of your worries.

I'd bet the farmer with a bit of land thing won't be legal or have proper drainage and access and utilities and will be a disaster if you try going for it without everything in place - you'll end up owning the mobile home but having nowhere to legally put it.

Farmers do get to park these things for themselves or their workers but not to live in full time, even if that's what happens in practice they are technically not supposed to have it as anyone's sole residence.

milkshake I not suggesting kids neccessrily would get taken i to care but planning enforcement police fire and housing officers are obliged to let childrens / social services know about any children we find living in unauthorised sites because of safeguarding ...

And safety issues around people living in unauthorised structures. Youd be shocked if you saw some of the places we find people living in.. a few years ago there was a barn fire in the county i work in..the fire service found a caravan inside with several bodies some of them children A ' helpful' farmer had let them live there..

Im not suggesting at all that you would do that of course. I do understand fully your reasons ( we deal with this every day and its shocking how difficult it is for people to find affordable homes). However we still are obliged to inform...

The chances of getting planning permission for a permanent dwelling would be slim to none. You can't just move permanently into a mobile home on a random farmers field- everyone would be doing it! Holiday homes are different of course. A permanent mobile home is viewed the same as building a house by the planning dept.

And I don't think lying to the the authorities about where you actually live is really a sensible long term plan

If you're looking at that kind of thing, what about living on a narrow boat instead?

If you gave your parents address as your usual residence it would affect your school applications too

There are a few holiday sites that are only closed 2-3 months and a lot of their owners live there and then holiday or go into short term lets for those 2-3 months. Not officially obvsiouly but there is a whole network set up around it. So ok they still pay site fee's and then rent/holiday for 2-3 months but they all seem to enjoy it more and have become proper little communities.

JustAnotherPoster00
Not all parks only allow 11 months living there.
That is " holiday" parks. Or leisure parks.

Residential parks are open all year round.
Different regulations.
You pay ground rent but own the static caravan
They're usually bricked in, permanently sited.
Connected to water, sewerage, electric, also you can have phone lines, broadband, sky tv if you want and pay for it.

You pay council tax
You can register to vote using the park address.
You can insure and tax cars while a resident.
Your kids can go to the local schools.

But a designated residential caravan site is one thing. Sticking a caravan in the middle of green belt countryside is quite another and is rather frowned upon by planning departments!

Aye, I remember a big news story a while back of travellers being evicted from a settlement of static vans in a field one of them had bought.
Dale Farm?

Without planning permission a static home would eventually come to the attention of the local council.
Id suggest the OP gets it in writing from the farmer that he is willing to lease/sell part of a field AND that there is planning approval for a static home on it before buying a mobile home.

Do the facebook sellers have any recommendations as the where to site?

Surely if you've got £50,000 to buy a mobile home outright, you can afford to put down a deposit on a house and therefore stop worrying about your rent increasing?

Residential parks are open all year round.
Different regulations.
You pay ground rent but own the static caravan
They're usually bricked in, permanently sited.
Connected to water, sewerage, electric, also you can have phone lines, broadband, sky tv if you want and pay for it.

Sounds rather nice.

**

that's gorgeous

There can be planning issues with these (NDNs son looking at you,) but if sorted out properly and in advance (again NDNS) it can be done ok. Although you would be best to either buy or get a ridiculously long lease from the farmer in case something happens suddenly and the next generation isn't as accomodating

Look into this carefully as you might struggle for planning. There are mobile caravans for sale on sites which are lived in all year around. They slightly cheaper to buy than houses. Have a look around.

Depends where you live peach. Houses in my area are expensive and the salary me and DH earnt we wouldn't of been able to afford a mortgage with a £50k deposit

I had £30k and that afforded me a small deposit and fees to purchase a share of a two bed shared ownership place. It's crazy what a lot of money can't get you!

As someone who works in the industry, please don't just pick a field somewhere and assume you can get utilities put in.

The infrastructure side of utilities is a cross between an Orwellian nightmare of doublespeak and the last hurrah of an old boy's club.

Getting anything done as a first-time, single connection developer would be months of your life and a small fortune. The majority of the independent connection companies won't touch a job like this because of it's size, and the statutory bodies have never yet met a deadline they didn't aim to miss or a form they haven't lost.

The designs alone for new gas/water/electric connections can be thousands, and the physical installation is subject (and rightly) to more audits, inspections and red tape than you would believe. Avoid that, and you'll likely be dealing with a dodgy installer,which will mean you'll end up with an incredibly expensive hole in the ground with some pipes in that can't be connected until it's all ripped out and replaced.