Park homes - convince me I ABU

[Torple]

My parents texted me today to tell me they have put their house on the market and are buying a park home.

It’s something they have discussed before but every single time they have been put off because someone tells them a negative.

Now, without any discussion with me or my brothers they have decided to do it, because they are struggling financially.

I am not remotely unhappy about the decision to sell up.
It’s their house, their choice.

The problem I have is that I know of several people who have had parents who have done the same.

In one case, the site owners decided after 60 years to sell up, they gave my friend’s parents 6 weeks notice and £13,000 on a park home they had paid £65,000 for three years previously. She ended up getting a massive loan to help them get a deposit on a flat as they had nowhere else to go.

On another, the site was quiet all winter (pool and bar were shut) but March till September it was the equivalent of living at Butlins and they moved because they couldn’t stand the constant noise.

Another friend’s parents moved to one, after five years they were told they MUST upgrade their unit or face eviction because the site only wanted new units.

None of this is registering with my parents.

By all means, I would support a move to a flat say, or other freehold property. Just not this.

Plus the site they are looking at is potentially going to be next to a major new A road within a few years, so they have a high chance of it losing all its value, if it even stays open.

I have asked if they have any guarantees in writing, they say they don’t need them, it’s a family run firm. This has tipped me over the edge and I have had to cut the conversation short before I explode.

My brothers and I are not in a financial position to help or put them up.

So, the reason for my post is to ask for good news stories, tell me that I am being unreasonable and it will all be fine.

They are both 70 and in good health, at the moment. They refuse to go into housing association property because they are “for old people”.

Any advice please?

I agree With you OP and would much much rather buy a flat. At least they’re legislated and easy to sell on etc

I’ve had similar with my parents and can’t understand the park home thing. Their friends have just bought one for £300k

Well if they are not listening then what can you do?

Con number one- some parks misrepresent the site and intimate that you can live there 365 days of the year or most of the year. Unless that site has a residential license then you cant live there as a permanent home. You can check the status of the site with your local council planning dept

Con number two- the site owner may have restrictions on who you can sell to should you wish to leave the site. Also restrictions on age of the caravan.

Con number three- it is common to call these struxtures detached homes,bungalows,lodges etc,,anything but which they actually classified as i.e caravans.

Con number four- you almost always have to buy all your utilities via the site owner,pay insurance and pay site fees upwards of £3k pa which can go up.

YANBU.

I have no personal experience, but I've never heard anything positive about owning one.

The losing of vast sums of money due to buy-back clauses seems to be a theme if you look into it (as I think you have, OP.)

If they start to struggle with mobility in the near future, even a small amount, it's really hard to 'adapt' a park home to make it safe, they often have steep steps to get into them, walls that can't tolerate hand rails etc for safer showering and have limited space for mobility equipment.

It's also quite common for them to shut for a few weeks of the year and for everyone to have to move off during that time.

Maybe I just see the worst case scenario with elderly people in these places but we seem to have so many problems getting services in for our elderly service users who live in them.

My uncle and aunt bought one years ago. They love it. They've been there at least 30 years now, have a wonderful community, a close set of friends, entertainment laid on all year. Value of the property has gone from its purchase price of around 20K to 240K. They aren't intending to sell so they wont lose.

It certainly seems to be 'a thing', we have several older friends who have done similar (different area) this year so no idea what the fall out might be.

Could you write them a letter outlining all of your concerns and urge them to think again?

I lived on a site for a few years, bought the van second hand on site. I did loose money when I eventually sold - but not much. Caravans, like cars depreciate in value. It was a small private site, with certain rules, but nothing too draconian. I was very happy there, would I move back to mobile home? I would think very carefully about it, especially as the smaller private sites are swallowed up by larger companies

My mother looked into it. You have to pay the site a monthly fee, they usually demand you buy a new home every 10 years as they don't want old ones on the site. Also, if you decide to sell up and move, they take a hefty chunk of the sale price too!

My DP's parents owned one up until last year, no issues at all and it sold for almost as much as some houses would in the area. Lovely location and community of similarly aged people. They only moved in the end as they brought the house my DP lived in when we moved in together. Guess it depends a lot on the site/owners