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 Topic: Living on a holiday park
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22/7/2022 at 3:52pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: residential park home
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DO NOT DO IT.
NO, repeat NO site that allows people to live full time when they only have a holiday licence can possibly have a good reputation - if they are happy to ignore the terms on their site licence and breach legislation about the use of the vans, then they will be more than happy to breach other things.
A reputable park will expect you to PROVE that you have a residence elsewhere, and the proof is in the form of council tax and utility bills in your name at the address you claim is your residence.
11 months a year living means that you can HOLIDAY any time during those 11 months.
Two increasing likely scenarios:
(A) the park owner changes hands and the new owner is not willing to turn a blind eye to people illegally (which is what it is) living on a holiday park
(B) The council discover, either through their own investigations or by information from local residents that the park is breaching the terms of the site licence, and the council takes enforcement action.
Either one has the same result - you get told to provide proof of residence elsewhere or leave the park - meaning you will be homeless, with no comeback.
I have seen so many reports about people complaining "we are going to lose our home" when they should not have been living there anyway.
Also, holiday parks do not have the same regulations that residential parks do.
What happens if the terms change and the month you have to leave does not suit you? What happens if you are ill and cannot leave?
There are so many things that can - and do - go worng, and very little that will go right.
You may get away with it - until the site owner decides your van is too old and needs to be replaced.
And no, the council won't rehouse you - it is a holiday site, so the council will reasonably assume that you can return to whatever address you used to cheat the system.
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23/7/2022 at 9:14am
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Buccaneer Cruiser
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Quote: Originally posted by 22seaside on 22/7/2022
DO NOT DO IT.
NO, repeat NO site that allows people to live full time when they only have a holiday licence can possibly have a good reputation - if they are happy to ignore the terms on their site licence and breach legislation about the use of the vans, then they will be more than happy to breach other things.
A reputable park will expect you to PROVE that you have a residence elsewhere, and the proof is in the form of council tax and utility bills in your name at the address you claim is your residence.
11 months a year living means that you can HOLIDAY any time during those 11 months.
Two increasing likely scenarios:
(A) the park owner changes hands and the new owner is not willing to turn a blind eye to people illegally (which is what it is) living on a holiday park
(B) The council discover, either through their own investigations or by information from local residents that the park is breaching the terms of the site licence, and the council takes enforcement action.
Either one has the same result - you get told to provide proof of residence elsewhere or leave the park - meaning you will be homeless, with no comeback.
I have seen so many reports about people complaining "we are going to lose our home" when they should not have been living there anyway.
Also, holiday parks do not have the same regulations that residential parks do.
What happens if the terms change and the month you have to leave does not suit you? What happens if you are ill and cannot leave?
There are so many things that can - and do - go worng, and very little that will go right.
You may get away with it - until the site owner decides your van is too old and needs to be replaced.
And no, the council won't rehouse you - it is a holiday site, so the council will reasonably assume that you can return to whatever address you used to cheat the system.
Have you lived in a caravan permanently on a holiday park. seems unlikely due to your comments above as they seem ill informed.
The park we lived on had a good reputation and there were no issues. It is perfectly legal to live on a holiday park for 11 months of the year if the park allows it otherwise seasonal pitches would not be allowed. It is of NO concern to the park and none of their business whether you have a permanent address elsewhere as that is an infringement of your privacy so utter tosh!
Out park did change hands while we were staying on it and we saw improvements with the only difference being that pitches became metered. We continued to live on the park having a great life.
Why would the council carry out an investigation if you are not doing anything illegal? The fact that you live don a holiday park and then want to move into permanent residence does not absolve the council from rehousing you. How can you be cheating the system if you are doing it legally?
We lived on a holiday park for 1 1/2 years and the council would have been well aware of where we lived, but they took no action. It was one of the best times of our lives living on the park and then moving off for the winter months to another park for 2 - 3 months. It was a small community and we missed it when we moved into a permanent residence. Today it is the only way many people can live to save up enough for a deposit on a house.
The only thing you got right in your rant is the advice not to sell your home to live permanently on a holiday park as you could contract a serious illness and be forced to move back into brick and mortar.
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23/7/2022 at 11:48am
Location: None Entered
Outfit: residential park home
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You are correct. Depending on the site licence, planning terms, and your contract with the park, it may be perfectly legal to stay for the full 11 months - but NOT to use the van as your ONLY residential home.
It has to be a second home - you must have an address which is your recognised residential address, whether in this country or abroad, whether owned or rented or shared.
At least we agree that selling your home to live on a holiday park is a very bad idea - which is what the OP is intending to do..
The land will have both planning permission and a site licence, which will specify whether the land is used for holiday/leisure or residential use.
If the planning permission and/or the licence specifies it is for leisure use, then the site owner will in contravention if they allow residential use.
It is a requirement of the site owners terms that they are responsible for making sure that people are not using the van as a permanent residence, and it is also perfectly legal for them to ask for proof.
People can and do ignore the legislation - but nowadays caravan parks are very big business, and changing hands rapidly. The new owners are usually big companies (some are American consortiums) and want to make money by selling new vans, which means they need to create new pitches - and the quickest way to do that is to start getting rid of older vans and.or anyone who is breaching the terms of their contract by using the van as their only address.
I am sorry that you regarded my postings as a "rant" but times have changed, the difference between holiday and residential use is much more regulated, and councils are under greater pressure to carry out enforcement action; if somebody can be made aware o the likely problems ahead, then at least they are taking their gamble with some information behind it.
For the record, the reason I know so much about the legislation is that I carried out a lot of research prior to selling up and moving to a park home on a protected residential caravan site with full security of tenure (8 years ago). At the time I was totally unaware that there even was a difference between holiday and residential use.
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/mid-suffolk-prosecute-stonham-barns-holiday-park-carav........
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/nan-devastated-lose-home-10-22133833
https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/caravan-owners-given-eight-days-to-leave-si........
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/the-rights-of-residential-and-holiday-mobile-........
https://www.sellmygroup.co.uk/blog/living-static-caravan-year-round/
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24/7/2022 at 1:53pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: residential park home
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As already said, times have changed and so have regulations. There was little regulation on caravan sites, and little difference between holiday or residential - if the land owner was happy for people to live full time, the councils generally turned a blind eye.
Of course, the lack of legislation also meant that people with homes on caravan sites had no real protection if the land was sold, or the landowner changed their mind about it, hence various bits of legislation (some good, some not so good) started coming in to protect people living on caravan sites.
The laws in Scotland, and (I think) Northern Ireland are still more in line with the 1975 Act, which makes it much safer for people to live on a holiday park. In England an Wales, the Acts were revised in 1983, 2013, 2017 (and this year the "Fit&Proper persons legislation came in).
In England and Wales, the latest Acts are quite clear about the difference between a site licences for leisure used and a site licensed for residential use.
Residential use can be used as a permanent full-time residence. Residential sites are known as "Protected Sites" (in law) which gives full security of tenure to the home owners, even if the site changes hands your agreement continues unchanged.
On a holiday site, there is no protection; you have a contract with the park operator - but the only legislation that applies is the law of contract, so if the park changes hands then you contract may or may not be renewed by the new owner.
People can (and do) live full time on both holiday static sites and seasonal touring sites, frequently because they have been forced into this by circumstances, sometimes because they want the nomadic lifestyle - but it is a gamble they are taking, and the chance of it all going very wrong is very high.
The OP posted that they were planning to sell their home, indicating that the sale would be used to pay off the mortgage, and buy a holiday static to use as a postal address.
The fact that they have asked about what address to use when buying the static, and then the comment about using the static as a postal address, demonstrates that they have not carried out any research at all, so telling them that everything will be hunky-dory is remiss.
The OP needs to know of the possible(probable) risks in order to decide what they really want to do.
So I stand by my original post - selling your home in order to buy a holiday static to live in is a huge gamble, both financially and emotionally.
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via mobile 22/7/2022 at 3:07pm
