Oh good here comes the cavalry - Helena! I was going to suggest she would be the BEST source of up to date info - not on the 'strict letter of the law' but on what ACTUALLY happens (the two can sometimes be very different!)

There are up to date UK Gov laws relating to Mobile Home Parks and Sales and all sorts.

But, as I said, my Auntie Norah lived in one in Taunton until she died and what Helena said above more or less sums it up - say goodbye to the money you paid for it or live in it 'til you die (and even then you can get problems). And I do recall the rules summat about you only being able to 'replace' with brand new - not newer second hand. And not being able to keep it on there over and above a set age.

And I think 75K is a lot of money for what is basically a caravan with a brick skirt round it. I would not pay good money for anything that wasn't bricks and mortar with a freehold.

There is a good reason why these homes go for giveaway prices if they are unsited.

Here in Cyprus we have only one such park. And I seriously considered buying on it (but keeping flat on) a couple of years ago. Kalymnos off of Governors Beach. You could get a virtually unused 3bed 2 bath with Sat TV side garden parking and luxury fittings (double range cooker) for £23K sterling. The park fees were about 1,500 annually and that included water rates.

Main reason for not going ahead was the remote location and the fact that Jen doesn't drive - I'd have had to take her everywhere when with me (and she was with me a lot during the Uni years).

Boy am I glad I didn't buy it. When the main power station blew up it was literally alongside this park. Devastated a lot of the vans and the insurance companies well they DID NOT play ball. They paid out pittances.

There is a difference between residential park homes and holiday lets. the rules are not the same.

That is true and a lot of parks down in the West Country only allow them to be lived in for about 10 months of the year because they are not 'residential' parks. In reality people DO live on them (they just buzz off visiting for the off period - some don't bother)

I don't know about holiday letting parks. I only have experience of residential ones. As well as my late Auntie I have a lifelong pal who has lived in one in Wokingham for more than 25 yrs. Renewed several times.

The pitfalls are well known which is why the Gov passed laws to try to tighten up and make things better for buyer owners.

Recent article 27 May 2013 on the subject here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22677508

It's all very new and I've no idea how it is working in practice yet.

This is very true Pat! Our park sell what they call "holiday homes" and yet every owner that has one, has it purely to live in all year round (cos it's a cheap way of living) OR they are well off enough to have it has their holiday home. In the park rules, they actually discourage people living there all the time, because of the rules they abide by, and you cannot let your holiday home out for more than 28 days at a time, but then some of the owners let their homes out for the entire year (11 months).

The guy who was renting mine wanted to purchase one privately that I had found for him, it was only £10K to HIM and it was a lovely van with central heating and double glazing. However, the park had offered the owner £5K and they were adamant they were gonna get it off her for that £5K and then sell it on to my buyer for the £15K that they wanted for it. This is how they make the majority of their dosh, by sales, not by the annual plot rents.

They put every obstacle in his and the owner's path that they could possibly, legally do, and when he added up all the little "extras" that he would have to pay on TOP of her £10K she wanted from him, it turns out it would actually cost him more to buy it privately, plus he would only have got the 10 year plot licence instead of the 20 years which the park would give him.

I can't really see any difference between a residential site than a holiday home site apart from the fact they charge more for their homes, they charge more for their plot rentals, purely because it's such a cheap way to live.

Once my park turns into a residential park, being open for the full 12 months of the year, the price of my vans will sky rocket, BUT, having said that, who will want to buy them when the park will do their utmost to make it as difficult as possible. I'm well in with the office bods and sales people up at my park, and I know how they work, i.e. for themselves and their company, and nobody else!

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole, UNLESS, it was my final destination, it had enough years left on it to see me out and I could afford to forego the initial outlay of it, cos that's what it's all about, once you pay your money, that's it, you can forget getting it back, and these people who put them up for sale like this are wasting their time, unless they find some poor victim who comes along without doing their homework!

I don't mind, cos we had the money to invest and I will get it back but double in 5 years' time, which the banks won't do for my investment, but you can't do it in halves, you have to commit one way or t'other.

Helena, off the top of my head, I am sure all the new laws 'protecting' owners that apply to residential homes probably do not apply to those classed as 'holiday homes' and not allowed to be inhabited all year round.

And I am sure this will be how a lot of unscrupulous site owners get away with still applying THEIR rules and regs instead of those laid down by law.

Same sort of stuff happens here with properties bought 'off plan'. Only when the 'owners' want to sell do they realise they are at the mercy of the property developer. 130,000 'owners' still waiting for their title deeds. Some been waiting more than 15 yrs. If they want to sell before they get them - they have to 'assign the contract' to the new 'buyer' who is then locked into it with the property developer same as they were. Property developers charge extortionate fees for doing this (20K is not unusual) it is put on the selling price so the buyer effectively pays it. But of course the seller gets less.

That's not unlike how these site owners operate in a lot of ways is it?

Oh and all the while they don't have Deeds the developer has to pay sewerage etc. and it is at a higher rate for a developer/business than for a private owner. And, of course, when deeds are assigned he wants all that money back so they end up paying it all at the higher rate. Some of the unmentionables even want their TAXES paid by the 'owners' who are of course only 'beneficial owners' until they have deeds. And Deeds cannot be issued to 'buyers' until the developer is up to date with all his taxes and outstanding loan repayments! Even though these buyers 'think' they've paid in full for the property when they bought it.

What happens is a deed is issued to the developer for the plot. When all properties are sold and completed and the development has been passed as being in accordance with the building plans the deed he has is 'parcelised' into however many separate dwellings there are. But it gets even more complicated than that if the developer hasn't built EXACTLY according to plans. Or if any owners have put up carports or pergolas or changed windows etc.

And this went on for decades because no Cypriots cared about Deeds because they live in their houses for all their lives and then leave them to their kids.

Then along came the Brits - leaving their brains on the planes!