Buying and selling a residential park home? Read on for our columnist Dax Keeling’s – commercial litigation solicitor at Bell & Buxton – advice
The rise of residential park homes
As an experienced civil and commercial litigation solicitor, I have dealt with many types of dispute Recently, I acted in a dispute in an area that was totally new to me – the buying and selling of a residential park home. I was surprised at what I found and concerned at what I read online whilst researching the matter.
Residential park homes (as opposed to holiday park homes) have traditionally appealed to the retired population. As the proportion of retired people in the UK grows, and, if housing market pressures generally continue, we may find that residential park homes become a more popular option for home purchasers generally.
Residential park homes tend to be cheaper than standard ‘bricks and mortar’ houses. There may be even a suspicion that, because you are buying a ‘caravan’ rather than a house, the purchasing process is simpler as a result (in fact, there is plenty of conveyancing paperwork that needs to be completed when buying and selling a park home).
I noticed some apparently specialist park home websites suggesting purchasers do not necessarily need legal assistance when purchasing a residential park home. In fact, the purchasers in the case I worked on had not thought legal help was necessary when buying their property.
Bearing that in mind, it may be worth considering the following points, which are not exhaustive, but apply to anyone thinking of purchasing a residential park home:
- When buying a park home, you purchase the home only and not the pitch that it stands on (the pitch remains in the ownership of the site owner);
- You will have to pay a pitch fee to the site owner on a regular basis, which could constitute a significant financial outlay over a lengthy period;
- Not all sites have licences allowing residents to live on site all year round, some sites only being licenced to allow park homeowners to live on site, for example, for 10 months in a year;
- Sites will have different rules which set out the obligations of park homeowners, and what they are and are not permitted to do on site, which could have a big impact on individuals and their lifestyles;
- When a park home comes to be sold, under current legislation, 10 per cent of the sale price of the home must be paid to the site owner, that commission effectively and significantly reducing the sale value of the home to the seller.
In my view anyone considering purchasing a residential park home should instruct a conveyancer to help and advise them through the buying process!
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