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As far as I know, there are no laws governing the charges and practices for holiday homes, rather than for residential park type homes.

IMHO the whole area of buying a static caravan is a nightmare and to be avoided unless you have a huge pile of cash you would like to fritter away.

I speak from personal experience.  My parents bought a van on a nice site next to the river, so dad could fish and they could have a holiday home in the country.  Paid £9000 for the van, extra for "siting it" (it was already sited and hooked up to all amenities anyway) and when they came to sell it less than 2 years later, they had to sell it back to the site owner for £1,500.  No choice, it was in the agreement that private sales were not allowed and all prospective purchasers had to be "vetted" by them.  In other words, sell it to us for what we deem it to be worth. 

We were honestly tempted to set light to it rather than let it go for that price but didn't fancy the criminal record for arson!!

I know for a fact that less than a month after mom and dad sold that van back to the site, they resold it for £8,000.   It's a licence to print money and I would agree with the person above, someone should investigate this racket.  One big rip off.

In my view what it all boils down to is that a staticis a worthless piece of junk if you have nowhere to site it.   Simple as that really, and the site owners know it.

If you do manage to find somewhere to site it, it will cost a fortune in transport costs (low loader etc. etc.) disconnection and reconnection fees.  This is if you manage to find somewhere, and it's a very big if.  

The whole industry is unregulated, a minefield.  Even if you do manage to find a well run site on reasonable terms, if it is sold on to an unscrupulous new owner, they can come along and change your contract/agreement to suit, massively increase the pitch fees, introduce new terms etc. etc. and there is not a thing you can do about it.

The more you spend on a van in the first place, the more you are in danger of losing out.  My advice - don't touch a static with a barge pole.  If you do want a van on a pitch, buy a large tourer and look for a seasonal pitch...so much easier to move it if things don't work out or if you no longer want to be on site for whatever reason.   A tourer is properly mobile, a static isn't.  That's what makes the difference.

Quote: Originally posted by davewk80 on 02/1/2015

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Most commercial sites do not give tenants a fair deal. As far as I know they are still unregulated and the landowner has you at his mercy. Start up fees, extortionate annual fees, charge for installation, charge for connections to services, charge to disconnect, ten years old and buy a new van (overpriced- from him), sell the old one (undervalued- to him).
I have a static on a site which is a private social club and owned by the members. Been in existence since 1948 and facilities improve year by year. Seventeen acres in beautiful rural Cheshire countryside. Has heated swimming pool, crown green bowls, boules court, shuffleboard, tennis courts,natural ponds with facility for fishing, modern clubroom and pavilion with lounge,regular dining events and entertainment. Two shower and toilet blocks and a sauna suite. Fully serviced touring sites with individual lighting, water supply, mains electric and waste water disposal at each emplacement.
AGM last October agreed a huge increase in annual fees. From £670 to £725. That's for annual membership, use of all facilities, static caravan site fees, water and rates included. Gas and electricity are billed separately.
Those who buy new caravans from main dealers gain a reduction in price of around 30% due to there being no site owners 'commission', and connection charges.

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