Introduction
There are Caravan/Lodge Owners who use their Caravan/Lodge, or buy a Caravan/Lodge to use as their primary residence on a Park Site. This comes with complications, putting both the Caravan/Lodge Owner and Site Owner in a precarious position.
This article will consider the (1) misconceptions (the elephant in the room) and (2) issues that one may face as a result, and (3) suggest some pointers for you when you are in this position or considering buying a Caravan/Lodge in the future.
The misconceptions
If you have a Holiday Caravan/Lodge, the general position is that the Site Licence, Planning Permission, and the Licence Agreement provided would not allow the Caravan/Lodge to be used as your only or main residence - it would only allow for holiday use.
It is unknown by the author how many people are in this predicament, i.e. using a holiday caravan/lodge as their only or principal residence; but it is fair to say that avoiding the issue does not make the issue disappear.
The issues faced
By choosing to buy a caravan/lodge to use as your permanent address on a holiday park site, one is exposed to great risk, which will usually ones main or only ‘asset’. This is because once the Local Authority finds out that holiday homes are being used for residential purposes, they can prosecute the Site Owner for either a breach of his/ her Site Licence Conditions or a breach of the Site Owner’s planning permission.
The potential risks to the Caravan/Lodge Owner could face are as follows:
No security of tenure: As a holiday caravan/lodge is not intended for permanent residence, the Caravan/Lodge Owner has no legal protections usually afforded to residential park home owners.
Asset risk: if you are in this position, you may be forced to vacate the property (if enforcement action is taken by the Local Authority) or you may be forced to sell it back to the site owner at a huge loss.
What should you do?
If you are in this position of using a holiday Caravan/Lodge as your permanent residence, you may wish to understand where you stand and how to navigate away from this position. Unfortunately, there are no straightforward answers on this and the approach very much depends on the factual matrix for each person. It follows that you may need specialist legal advice if you are in this predicament.
Thinking of buying a Park Home or Lodge?
If you are thinking of buying a Caravan/Lodge and using as your only or main residence, before proceeding with a Caravan/Lodge, obtaining your independent legal advice is essential for 3 reasons:
- Ensure it meets your requirements (both legal and practical).
- A qualified legal adviser who is a specialist will be able to identify issues that will help you avoid major pitfalls.
- To give you peace of mind. There is no ‘conveyancing protocol as there is with bricks and mortar’ for buying a holiday caravan/lodge (most of the time) or a residential park home.
Concluding remarks
Investing in a Holiday Caravan/Lodge represents a significant financial commitment, often involving one’s life savings or a significant proportion of the same.
There is an abundance of fully licensed residential parks with homes available for purchase on the market, but you must ensure that the paperwork is correct (by instructing someone to undertake due diligence for you). As the saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed”.