To think my parents are making a mistake?

[FizzyCherry]

My parents are both of retirement age, Mum is 69, Dad is 72.
Due to various reasons they didn’t get a mortgage until 20 years ago and both still work to pay it off, but they have at least 7 years left on it.

They have decided they want to retire, sell the house and buy a static home at a holiday park. They’re convinced it’s their ideal solution.

I totally understand their logic but I can’t help feeling they are being lured into a situation they will end up regretting.

If they sell the house, they can clear the mortgage and buy a static home outright with money left over.

However, they still have to pay the equivalent of 2/3 of their mortgage in ground rent and various other fees.
The park has swimming pool, gym etc, they are “free to use” - but that’s another £120 a month membership (!)
They must vacate their home for the whole of February every year so the site residents can avoid council tax.
Plus a friend of theirs lived somewhere similar that the owner decided to sell to developers. They were given £45,000 to “buy somewhere new”, after having lived there 10 years. They only owned the home, not the land, so that actually wasn’t a bad offer, but obviously nowhere near enough to start again.
So although they won’t have a mortgage, their outgoings will still be quite high, and they won’t have the same income, and they will need at least one car because this place is in the middle of nowhere. Plus at the end of the day, they will have nothing to show for it.

I have visited and it’s nice, but I think they are so attracted to the idea of living on a holiday park they are not seeing the full picture.

In addition, it’s in the countryside, where my mum has always insisted she could never live.

I asked if they would even consider this village if they were looking at houses, they said not for a second.

I fully support them in needing to make a move (and the house they’re in they only bought when I was 20, I only lived there 2 years so there’s no childhood sentiments involved).
Nor is this about inheritance before anyone says anything.
Although we’re not well off now, my husband stands to inherit quite well and my parents have never had much, plus have several kids, so it’s never been something we really think about,

But AIBU to be wary of this solution? Their current house is five minutes from mine and they are convinced that I’m trying to put them off because it’s convenient for babysitting etc but I genuinely am not remotely thinking about me or my needs, I’m an adult who can sort my own life.

I haven’t told them this but my husband and I have been trying to work out a way to help my parents pay the mortgage off but we’re just not in that position right now.
Nor can we offer them a spare room for February every year, we don’t have one. Nor do my siblings (one does but he lives abroad and my parents don’t like flying so he comes here for visits).

I suppose what I’m looking for is reassurance that I am BU, or at least more experiences of why I’m not.

I have suggested they look at retirement flats etc, my mum thinks they are for “old people”.

They like their house and would stay if they could afford it.

WWYD?

I agree with what someone else said. They should stay somewhere like that for a brief time and see how they get on with it before they do it permanently. But I don't think they'll like it that much. Living in the middle of nowhere in a small space with one person, they'd go crazy.

My brother and sister - in - law did this big mistake lost a lot of money then had to move back to where family could help as their health deteriorated. Good luck.

Bless them.
Two concerns got me here, the first is that recently a case came to light at Rookley Country Park on the Isle of Wight, home of many static caravans, that the owners of the land wanted to redevelop it and this kicked everybody and their static caravans off the site with nowhere to go. Your parents will not own the land and will not have any rights, plus as you know there are additional charges. Secondly, I work at an Estate Agents and I'd rather have a freehold than a leasehold. The former is where you own the land outright. Honestly, if my parents were going to do this I would be very concerned.

And just pick up re posts about paying for care and deprevation of assets, I lost both my parents to care homes, my dad pays £4000 a month in care home fees, knowing the costs of static caravans this would not fund you for long. However, whilst you are in good health you can downsize and leave lump sums to the children, it's only after (and hope it doesn't happen( you become poorly the local council can say you deliberately stripped yourself of assets to avoid paying care

Following this with great interest

Ps. You are left with £23,250 assets when you're paying for your care, then £14,000 after they've sorted your care (hopefully) so that's all my dear pops will have left

Are they the type to do things on a whim and laugh it off, putting it down to experience, when it all goes tits up? If so, then leave them to it. Maybe they know, deep down, that it will only be for a few years.

Is there even the remotest possibility that one or other has been diagnosed with a terminal illness (that they are not telling you about) and have decided to throw caution to the winds and follow a dream, however daft they know it is?

For your sake I hope not - I'm clutching at straws here obviously.

Have they told you where they will go each February?

"Trying it out" by living on a park for a few weeks or months is what a cautious person would do, but some people just jump in with both feet. We're not all the same.

It's their life. It would worry me, but I'm Mrs Cautious-with-bells-on, and sometimes I think I miss out on life as a result!

Crackpot idea as everyone else has said.

Other smaller points that come to mind are : where will they store the Hoover, ironing board,suitcases, big coats, how will they do their washing ?

dangermouseisace
I agree with everything you write. But these things always happen to "other people", don't they ?! Never "us" - "we" are immortal and will always have all our own faculties ...

My 90-yo MIL has 3 hours of care visits a day (personal care, housework) plus what we do for her (weekly shop etc). She still tells other people that she's coping herself!

My mum and grandmum (separately) did this. They are not forever homes if they end up with mobility issues but neither were their previous homes. The site (permanent, year round) is friendly, very well lit and safe and the homes are light and cheap to heat. They could buy outright and have spending money to top up meagre pensions. But they wanted to downsize and be closer to family. And they'd never have gone somewhere you had to vacate for a whole month a year - let alone in February.

posted earlier but with shopping , If there is a shop on the site you cannot do internet shopping e.g. Tesco as management don't allow deliveries on site and of course Tesco don't meet you in a layby. So you either go out or if not possible pay I flared prices in site shop

YANBU, if this were my parents I’d think they had taken leave of their senses. I can understand them wanting a smaller house, but a caravan?

If they’re of legal capacity there is nothing you can do of course but YANBU to be concerned

ffs why is there no edit for a few minutes on here
inflated prices not I flared

Isn't there a creative way out of this? I'm thinking along the lines of you, your siblings and your parents remortgaging your homes and somehow paying off the mortgage between you. Also are any of your parents due a lump sum of any kind on retirement which could also be put towards it? It seems such a pity that after paying a mortgage for 20 years they have to sell up and go and live in a static caravan.

I can’t see what the perceived benefit your parents think they’ll have. They will lose money by having a depreciating asset on land they won’t own. They’d be better looking at retirement villages that would be practical and future proof for when they need help. I don’t understand posters saying leave them to it, wouldn’t you care about your parents

I’m going to go against the grain. We own a holiday static caravan and have elderly neighbours who live there 10 months of the year. Me and my dh always admire their way of life and hope ours is this way when we are older. They are out every day, walks along the beach, socialising with other residents or holiday makers. They love it.

Imsotired but if they got mobility issues....?

It may be a lovely way of life (while they're fit and healthy) but it's a financial train crash for all the reasons pps have outlined.

Hmmm this is making quite sobering reading. This is what I was thinking of for my retirement too - with the winter months spent somewhere cheap and sunny. The trick is knowing when it's time to exchange your 'fun' retirement for the retirement flats with support on site.

I'm sure they don't think of themselves as old at 69 and 72, but the reality is that within the next 10 years, the chances of one or both of them starting to get age-related health issues are very high. At that point, the last thing they'll want is to be living in a static caravan on a holiday site. It's fine if they don't want to move to a retirement home now, but maybe downsizing to a smaller flat with a correspondingly smaller mortgage that would be quicker to pay off is a much better idea.

I think it's perfectly reasonable for you to be concerned and to explain to them your reasons, though of course it will be their decision in the end.

If your parents have a spare room, even lounge they can rent this out and receive up to 7k per year tax free look on HMRC website. Or look at selling and moving to smaller freehold property. Leasehold flats will incur service charges and maintenance fees. Better to move now, rather than in 10 years time. Look at what resources are nearby shops, doctor, chemist, bus, social club etc

applesareredandgreen I think this is less about whether you might need support, which might be a problem for any number of people wherever they live in a remote spot, in a house with lots of steps etc, and more about trying to solve financial difficulties by selling your investment to move into an depreciating asset that is going to commit you to paying ever increasing charges for no security of tenure. The point is if you move to one of these sites first and then decide you’d rather be in in a retirement complex (or even just bricks and mortar) further down the line you are unlikely to be able to afford the move back. The OP’s parents are considering this because they want to cash in their asset and stop paying their mortgage so they can stop working. Their plan means they may end up seven years down the line - at the point where they would have stopped paying their mortgage anyway - strapped for cash, wondering how they are going bail themselves out. Precisely the position they sold up to avoid. Mobility problems and ill health are a separate issue - these may or may not affect anyone. They point is if you own your own home (as the OP’s parents currently do) you have options, if you live in a caravan you don’t.

I think it's perfectly ok if you understand the costs involved, and will have the funds to move somewhere else as and when needed. And at the very least to replace the caravan every few years. Not otherwise. It's fine as a lifestyle you're willing to pay for, but it's not a cheap option.

My parents used to own a caravan in a holiday park where there were quite a few permanent residents.

The owners didn't allow any caravans on site that were more than ten years old. The only way you were allowed to replace them was to buy a new one from the owners (and only them), pay them for delivery - oh and sell them your old one at a vastly reduced price.

They've got their tenants over a barrel, they really have.

apples I think if a person has funds to move to a caravan park as permanent home during retirement, and also has funds to then move from the caravan to a retirement flat if the caravan park becomes unsuitable in elderly age, then that's fine.

From what OP's saying, her parents are cashing in all to buy this caravan and they will not have the funds to move to a retirement flat should the caravan go wrong for them in time. Even if they rented a retirement flat, as they won't get another mortgage at their age even now, I bet on an assisted living retirement complex, rents would not be cheap whereas if they stayed with their current home and paid off the mortgage they'd have no mortgage or rent worries thereafter and they would have something worth something instead of a depreciating caravan.