Thousands of people in the UK have made the choice to purchase a static park home. Initially, many have been enticed by owning a ‘home from home’ in which to take holidays to enjoy with family and friends.
The purchase of many park homes often begins with a sales presentation at the holiday park which includes a viewing of the potential park home and a breakdown of the financials. Many have been taken aback by the initial outlay, which can often surpass £100,000, but have been sold on the benefits of joining a park home community.
The breakdown of financials may likely include the opportunity to make an income from renting out the park home with an estimate of how much the owners could expect to earn. Details of all outgoing costs may, or may not be included such as;
- Pitch fees
- General maintenance rates
- Cleaning charges
- Water rates
- Utility rates
- VAT
- Connection charges
- Safety tests
- Steps and decking
- TV / Satellite / Wifi connection
- Any plot development
- Transport
Many owners find that the upkeep, running costs and maintenance is a drain on their finances. If they took out finance to purchase their park home, they have to manage repayments on the loan as well as any or all of the aforementioned costs.
For those who find that the reality of owning a park home doesn’t live up to the promised dream, they may at first try to look for a solution before being forced to look for a sale. This is the point where the small print in the contract comes into effect, as many park home operators include terms that oblige park homeowners to give the park operators first choice on their park home. If a sale is effected to anyone other than the park home operator, the owner is obliged to pay the operator up to 25% commission from the sale.
Then comes the reality of depreciation. Even if only 12 months have passed since the purchase of their park home, many owners are offered only a fraction of the original purchase price, citing depreciation and age of the park home (if not brand new) amongst reasons for the poor offer.
Many park homeowners feel entrapped in their position, with no other option than to accept the poor offer given to them, which can be between 10 – 50% of their original purchase price.
The effects of this are detrimental. Park homeowners feel mis-sold, lied to, scammed, outed from their local park home community and in many cases, financially ruined.
What could be worse? For a lot of owners, seeing their park home re-sold to another eager prospect for almost double the offer you received is the philosophical final slap in the face.
And so the cycle starts again.
If you’ve had a similar experience and would like to know if you could be eligible to claim against your holiday park operator, get in touch for a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our park home experts.