To think that we can live in a lodge

[Pizfufffff]

We have been looking at family homes for a while now. I stumbled across these lodges on rightmove. https://www.goodlifelodge.com/

I've looked at the website and I mentions things such as "part exchange your home" or "sell your home" to get funding for them. So I presume you can live full time in these things.

I love the design and layout of them. I love the idea of waking up to rolling countryside views.

My partner says I'm being ridiculous and that we are not living in a wooden lodge in the middle of nowhere with our baby.

I can't see why it's so bad?

On the website it looks very bucolic and really tempting on a warm summer’s day; now they to imagine it on a wet and stormy day in winter.

There are residential park homes yes.

However there are service charges - often extortionate. And many of them require the park home to be replaced every n years. One place I visited did not allow homes over 12 years old.

And they depreciate.

Admittedly I don't know much about log cabin type things but I have looked into park homes myself and concluded it wasn't viable for me.

Very much depends where it is and the site. My parents lived in a brand new static caravan for many years after they retired on a really lovely convenient site - walking distance to supermarket, buses, trains, and really looked after by the family run site, and the service charges were reasonable.

This looks to be retirement orientated.

It isn’t at all practical with a young baby/child/teen.

Marooned.

If it's retirement orientated they might not even accept people under 50 or children as residents.

It is afaict a completely unregulated industry.

A way of disposing of money very quickly.

This

I think your answer would be in the small print.

Typically: Leasehold, high rent for the pitch. High service charges for the park. Tight restrictions on replacement and resale (only through the company at extortionate commission). Rules about look and maintenance. Etc.

A lot of these answers are wrong. You can live in those all year round you are right op, generally they are sold as retirement homes.

my friend got one post divorce, it is lovely inside, but I can’t lie in real life they are very much like a static caravan on the outside. And the view is of other static caravan type abodes.

they have called it a lodge for marketing purposes, but it’s a park home. Personally I’d always go for bricks and mortar if I can.

A review of this company by 'Anonymous Tenant' on a property and agency site:
"Hopeless. Wish I never moved here. The site is a holiday site only you have no security of tenure. The council tell me
the land owner has exploited a loop hole in the rules. The management have banned residents association from
forming"

The other review is also 1 star and cites refusal of management to answer any calls or engage.

They are static caravans designed to be weekend retreats / holiday homes. We live near one of the sites on the website. They are constantly being promoted as retreats, not residences. You won’t own the land it’s on - so there will be lots of considerations about additional charges.

These are unmortgageable as they have a limited lifespan

What about a bungalow in a village instead? Some bungalows already have an open plan layout others can be altered. Bungalows usually go up in value as well. Most villages have a good community and there wouldn’t be the danger of the water just a garden you could make space. I have a bungalow and it’s great with small kids.

I believe with the majority of these you cannot use them as a postal address. So you need an alternative address for bank accounts, claiming credit, voting ect. The address you use would be classed as your 'sole and main residence' for things like Council Tax. So the person that lives at that address wouldn't be able to claim discounts based on their circumstances eg Single Person Discount, student exemptions, carers disregards ect. Your income would be taken into account in any Housing Benefit claim they needed to make.

I know someone who lives in one. They have to move out one month of the year. They go abroad in January and get a cheap month long holiday. Service charges are high, £7k per annum currently. Need a separate address for post.

They like it low maintenance, grandkids love the pool, on the edge of a village so can walk everywhere. It’s a six figure sum to replace the lodge every 15 years though.

It would significally drop in value over a short time. A very bad financial decision, as a family home, apart from retired couples. You have to pay site fees as well.

I know someone who bought one of these ‘lodges’ as a holiday/weekend retreat. It wasn’t new, three years old but the previous owner had died and his wife couldn’t face going there any more so she approached the site owners about selling it. It couldn’t be sold privately it had to be sold through them. They took a huge commission fee for this. Our friends bought it. They loved it, close to the sea, in a lovely Victorian town on the North East coast, the site fees were about 4k a year but accepted it.
Two years after buying it the Holiday Park owners changed the site from a Holiday Park to a residential site and started bringing in lots of bigger lodges.
The owners of lodges five years or older all got notices to quit. ‘As a goodwill gesture we can buy your lodge from you. Or you can arrange removal from the site at your own expense.’
Our friends lodge was five years old.
The amount they were offered was an insult. Those affected formed a group and took legal advice and they found the site owners had found a loophole which meant the lodge owners didn’t have a leg to stand on. They had no choice but to accept the offer. Some tried sell privately , others looked to other sites to move them to but discovered it’s almost impossible to find one. It’s all left a bitter taste. Personally I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.

You cant live in them, join holiday home action group on FB, many people have foolishly thought same as you,casavan address cant be used as a permnanent address,you have to soe d some weeks/months away from there depending on site,some sites close down completely over the winter,if people have been found to live in them and use them as permanent residence they get evicted off the site etc.

My sister had a holiday in one a few years ago, and I went over to visit for a day as it wasn’t too far from me. Looked just like that, balcony onto a lake, fabulous views. Absolutely gorgeous. Inside was amazingly roomy and very smart and comfortable. But really it was just like a big holiday park with lodges instead of caravans. Lovely for a week or two, but would probably do your head in if you were there longer.

This is what a retired ex colleague of mine did. It’s in a beautiful location and seems to work for them, but the negatives such as not owning the ground, and there probably being something written into a contract about mandatory replacement/upgrading would make it a no go for me

I was about to say something similar. This pretty much happened to a site near us. You might own the building but not the land so they can kick you out when it suits. Cue news footage of lodges being winched off site to who knows where. It was heartbreaking fir alot of retirees who wanted a nice retirement in a beautiful setting and discovered the small print too late.

It says on the site:

'Whether you are looking for a park home you can use 365 days of the year or just a holiday retreat where you can spend quality time with your family and friends, we have the perfect lodge for you'

So, yes - you could live there all year if you really wanted too.

I don't think I'd buy one if I could, even for just holidays. It would be far far cheaper and cost effective to just rent one when you wanted to actually go on holiday. The way that lots of sites are set up with fees etc are a bit of a scam imo.

You can live in them if they are 'park homes' on legally residential sites, as seems to be the case in the link you shared. They aren't all holiday homes with 10/11 months occupancy. I wish people wouldn't be so convinced they know what they are talking about when they clearly don't.
They can be very nice, cosy and warm, if a decent unit that's properly insulated.
Many people live in them, often retired people, and people who can't afford to buy bricks and mortar.
Of course, they will be much cheaper to purchase than a 'bungalow' in the same area.
The downside is that it's a leasehold agreement, so you pay park fees and are very much at the mercy of the landowners. Park fees can be increased at the whim of the owners or when ownership changes. As others have mentioned, you can also be given notice to leave and take your mobile home with you, which for most effectively means they would lose their home. They can decide to move you to a different pitch.
Of course you can't get a mortgage on them. You can't get a mortgage on anything considered a temporary dwelling or non-standard construction.
I have friends who have lived many happy years in mobile homes on decent sites. However I also know two couples who have had terrible problems with site owners and managers. If you can afford a standard construction property I can't imagine why you'd consider moving into one of these places.

It’s interesting that they use the term ‘use’ 365 days a year as opposed to ‘live in’ 365 days a year.

Also as others have said, massive annual service charges, no real security, lodge obsolescence etc. Also when they claim that you can let it out to make an income I always think that if that was so successful then the company would want to hang onto them and do it themselves.