Static Caravan as a home?

[ladybird0718]

Hi All, I'm a long time lurker but first time posting and just wanted some advice. Me and my DH live with my husbands parents, have done for 6 years, its been great, they are lovely people. We decided to move in as I wasn't happy where we were living, it was rented house and not only was it helping us when we moved in it also helped them. We are in a debt plan so a mortgage is off the cards. Anyway, it has been lovely being here. This year we purchased our own Static Caravan on a holiday park, we talked about it for a long time and decided to just do it...Best thing we ever did, we go every weekend and spend as much of the school holidays as we can there, our DS loves it. We are now thinking of moving into this permanently (well almost as it closes for 8 weeks during winter), this is the nearest we will get to owning our own home without paying huge rent bills and when we are there we just feel so less stressed, relaxed, calm and happier in general. It has everything on site for us and DS. Its not a far commute from where we work (around 50 minutes), however, we appreciate there could be traffic in the mornings/evenings but we will get through this somehow. I just wondered if anyone else has lived in a static caravan or knows people who do. I suppose my only issue is how cold it could get in the colder months but we've been looking at insulation. We have double glazing and oil heaters. Our caravan is only 2 years old. During the closure of the park we would come back to DH's parents house which is not a problem.

I wouldn’t, because your description of toing and froing sounds exhausting. So the point of a rented house is that you aren’t doing that.

Also because when we stayed in a top of the range one the first week of the season, it was very cold and we had the heating on all night which gave me a headache. Granted, you could get round it with heated blankets I suppose.

The biggest irritation though was that the whole thing vibrates when you walk about. Or is it just my kids that thunder around?

Yeah I see where your coming from but its not really toing and froing for us though because we do it now already....Friday we pack up and leave, Sunday night we pack up and leave.....and do the same thing again the following week and have done every weekend since April with a few weeks thrown in for the school holidays.

If you are paying to live with you pils and also paying for the caravan, wouldn’t it be more economical to rent your own place?

I did this for a while for various reasons. Be aware that you usually can’t stay all year round (for council tax reasons although I think some sites do allow this and charge council tax rates? I’m not sure how it works)—I stayed with my dad for the weeks I had to vacate. But I guess you can just spend that time with your in laws? It’s usually over the Christmas period.

I loved it. We actually considered it again before we decided to buy this house because it’s a nice community, always plenty going on, nice green space. The one I stayed at the owners and managers of the site were great, that’s really important IMO. I would say go for it! I certainly would again if the issue arose.

We are definitely more swayed to going for it thats for sure, now that we've concluded a solution for DS not to feel the pressure of early morning get-ups which was my main worry, I feel like we will go for it once we are 100% comfortable with the pro's and con's.

so DS will only have to endure 2x early morning get-ups.

Hope your neighbours at the caravan park will still be able to enjoy a relaxing lie in on their holidays with your early morning get-ups.

We're lucky in that respect...Our neighbours to the left are really nice and know of our plans, they too live on the park during open season. Neighbours to the right are only there at the weekends, neighbours to the back of us there is none, neighbours to the front of us only there at the weekends....Besides its no difference from hearing the tractors/vans/car during early mornings at the weekend - it happens!

Sorry, thought it was a bit more upmarket....if it's a glorified travellers camp, that's fine, crack on.

haha that did make me laugh out loud....I would say definitely not a glorified travellers camp. Just some people who only use they're caravans at the weekend (a bit like us at the minute) and the plot we are on happens to have neighbours around us who live there or only use it at the weekends.

I do get your thinking though, I bet the caravan owners who are next to the fields (fenced of course) with the horses and cows think they are on a glorified farm when they wake up.

OP you still haven't answered why you have spent quite a lot of money on a luxury (a holiday home) rather than pay down your debts so you can work towards owning somewhere you can actually live in properly and permanently, a two year old static isn't cheap, plus £3k or so on ground rent, plus heating etc is very expensive, Phys you say you will continue to pay rent and council tax at your inlaw's , it doesn't add up. If you can afford to do all of that you could have cleared your debt in the time you've been where you are and be in a position to privately rent somewhere nice or put a deposit down on a flat etc. If you'd cleared your debt plan your credit score would be better too increasing mortgage options.

A friend of mine has a static caravan on a site closed for 8 weeks over the winter and they have to show their Council Tax bill for their main residence (i.e. not the caravan) to the site office each year to prove they're ordinarily resident elsewhere. If that's the case on your site, I'm not sure your plan will work.....

I hope your plan works for you. The commute for your little boy does sound daunting but needs must. I think you might find it a bit more expensive than you think, though. Can you maybe save a bit of a cushion for things that pop up unexpectedly? I’m thinking about all that driving and wear and tear on the car. Also, really consider the driving time when bad weather sets in. Good luck, honey.

My stepson did a long commute for school as they moved mid year and it was awful for him btw.

Have to agree with Curious - it does sound like CF territory to be living with your in laws and on a debt plan but to splash out on a static. You might have unwittingly put backs up. However perhaps your plan will help you repay your debts more quickly. Are you planning to stay with the ILs during the eight weeks off site? Does that genuinely suit them?

Not everyone would gave a Council Tax bill in their name for a main residence. What if you live with parents, family or other adult.

I spoke to somebody years ago who had done this. She said it was the worse thing she ever did. As it was freezing cold in winter. Just don't. And where would you go for the eight weeks you can't live on the site. And the caravan will deteriorate over time and be worth less unlike a house. And then some caravan sites make you move once the caravan is over a certain age. Please don't.

And where would you put down as your official address. It couldn't really be your parents as you would only be there eight weeks per year.

Have you borrowed money to finance the caravan or do you owe it outright?
Don't forget that even though you are in a debt plan that your creditors may review your arrangement and put your repayments up.

Yes, Op has still not said exactly how the purchase of the van was funded.

It doesn’t add up, I agree.

OP is in debt so presumably paying an amount off each month, is also talking of still paying council tax to in-laws (what percentage is your share?) rent to them also (how much?), commuting costs, ground rent of 3k a year, expensive energy bills, upkeep of van etc etc. Never mind massive depreciation.

I thought the idea of moving in with your in-laws was because you did not have much money due to your debts, OP?

It just doesn’t sound like a great idea to me, the financial side of it. I’m not sure you will ever get out of debt living like that.

Is the real issue that you feel pushed out if parents in law’s house now that the other relatives have arrived? I woukd feel for you more if you started the thread saying the overcrowding at your in-laws had become unbearable and you simply needed the caravan for the space. Instead you start by explaining that it’s more or less just something you fancied doing, buying a static holiday home, so you just went for it while being perfectly happy at your Inlaws. That is not the decision that people in your financial position usually make.

I’m suspended that your in-laws have been asking you for rent, knowing that you have debt problems. Covering your share of bills, food etc, I can understand.

I just think there is a big back story to your situation which you aren’t telling us.

I think OP is asking for practical advice and others' experiences of living in a mobile home, not for a financial inquisition and criticism. She has quite rightly not responded to any of your questions about her situation.

OP has shared some of her circumstances, but I don't feel she was requesting financial advice. Her choices are not our business. I am interested in hearing posters' experiences of living in a static caravan though, as it is something I am considering for myself.

My mum and dad have retired friends who live in their caravan. They are only able to do it 10 months a year. Their son and his family live in their old house rent free, and they just move in with the for 2 months a year. It's part of the deal with no rent.