A grandmother has advised how she was pushed to despair after shedding greater than £40,000 on her caravan in lower than a 12 months.
Lynda Newman, 66, purchased the cellular house for £76,000 at Seal Bay Resort, Selsey, in 2022, hoping it will develop into her protected haven following a annoying divorce.
However transient calm turned to chaos when Ms Newman rapidly discovered herself blighted by excessive utility prices, ‘overflowing’ sewage pipes and ‘excessive noise’ coming from the close by pub, claiming boozy revellers would begin fights and urinate in her backyard.
Finally, after a ‘lengthy dispute’ with the caravan firm over her complaints, the enterprise allegedly provided Ms Newman simply £36,000 to purchase again the property – £40,000 lower than she paid them lower than a 12 months prior.
The grandmother is the newest in a string of individuals throughout the UK to inform MailOnline about their cellular house hell – with many claiming they misplaced their life financial savings by investing in a caravan by a web site firm.
On Monday, Londoner Craig Edwards – who was Ms Newman’s neighbour at Seal Bay Resort – advised how he misplaced £20,000 within the area of 14 months after being compelled to promote his caravan due the ‘insufferable’ noise and delinquent behaviour coming from the close by Viking Pub.
Final week, Grandmother Kim Graham revealed how she misplaced an enormous chunk of her life financial savings after spending £57,000 on a cellular house – solely to must promote it for a £42,000 loss after being identified with breast most cancers.
And now Ms Newman, of Norfolk, has claimed she misplaced tens of 1000’s of kilos on her buy, regardless of solely staying on the web site for a complete of 5 weekends.
Has YOUR caravan buy was a nightmare? E-mail katherine.lawton@mailonline.co.uk
Lynda Newman, 66, purchased a static caravan (pictured) for £76,000 at Seal Bay Resort in Selsey
However lower than a 12 months later, the corporate provided Ms Newman simply £36,000 to purchase again the property, which she reluctantly accepted
Craig Edwards, 59, purchased his static caravan at Seal Bay Resort for £66,000, earlier than realising it was subsequent to a rowdy pub. He’s pictured along with his spouse
Ms Newman purchased her vacation house at Seal Bay Resort (pictured) for £76,000
A MailOnline graphic detailing the hidden prices of proudly owning a static house
Chatting with MailOnline, Ms Newman mentioned: ‘It was a grim interval of my life. Having gone by a really annoying divorce, I needed a peaceable and enjoyable place the place I might have my grandchildren to remain.
‘Sadly I misplaced £46,000 in lower than a 12 months. The noise from the pub, faults with the caravan and mis-selling had been all a part of the distress.
‘I stayed roughly 5 weekends on the web site in complete and on each event there was an issue.
‘Fights and excessive noise from The Viking, leaking pipes, cracks, doorways locking, sewerage pipes overflowing and to high it, folks had been popping out of the pub and urinating in our gardens […].’
Ms Newman claimed she was initially urged to improve to a distinct caravan, which might permit her to maneuver to a quieter pitch away from the noisy pub – however this may have concerned further prices.
‘Through the time of attempting to promote the caravan, I used to be conscious of many different folks going through comparable issues. It seems that folks usually solely keep for 12-18 months. The positioning charges proceed to rise yearly along with different utility prices,’ she mentioned.
The grandmother additionally claimed the park suffered from overcrowding and actions for kids had been overpriced.
MailOnline has contacted Cove/Seal Bay for remark.
Jim Inexperienced and his spouse Lorraine (pictured) purchased a caravan at Parkdean Resorts Wemyss Bay in 2013, however mentioned they had been provided simply £4,000 for it when going to promote
James and Emma Richardson (pictured) bought a caravan at Tattershall Lakes nation park in 2022, however had been left £50,000 out of pocket
Mr Edwards advised the corporate he needed a ‘quiet and peaceable’ location for his household to make use of as an ‘escape’ from their hectic life in London – however quickly discovered the noise
Common costs for a caravan begin at round £14,995 for a pre-owned mannequin and £29,995 for a brand new one at varied websites throughout the UK.
Potential patrons can safe their vacation house with an up-front deposit of 10 per cent of the caravan’s finance. New vacation properties can be found from £449.75 per thirty days topic to phrases and situations.
Nonetheless, as soon as campers have their identify on the deeds, different issues can come up.
Michael Garbutt advised MailOnline he had an ‘terrible’ expertise attempting to renovate his £30,000 caravan.
He mentioned: ‘We needed a wood veranda constructing round aspect and entrance of caravan, my buddy who’s a joiner quoted us £2500, however the proprietor of park mentioned they’ve an organization who should do it and it value me £5000 […].
‘Then we needed to undergo the proprietor to insure caravan after which purchase gasoline bottles off him.
‘After many issues […] we determined to promote after two years so I put on the market indicators up in home windows and a girl got here provided me £26,000 for the caravan.
‘However the proprietor got here advised me to take the indicators down saying we won’t promote it to the woman as now we have to undergo him.
‘He even threatened me to take the caravan and put it on the street outdoors the park.
‘Finally we had been that harassed […] by proprietor we offered it again to him for £8000.
‘As soon as you purchase you might be completely within the web site homeowners palms […]. I’ll by no means purchase one other static in my lifetime.’
Many despairing patrons have advised MailOnline of shedding tens of 1000’s of kilos when promoting their caravan again to the location proprietor, because of the property’s depleting worth.
Some even claimed that after shopping for again the caravan for a considerably diminished value, the corporate then went on to promote it once more for far more.
Lisa Webb, Which? Client Regulation Skilled, advised MailOnline: ‘We have beforehand discovered that dodgy gross sales techniques are rife within the caravan park trade, and we have heard of numerous individuals who have mentioned they had been misled in regards to the phrases of their buy, and have ended up 1000’s of kilos out of pocket consequently.
A view of Kim Graham’s £57,000 static house, which she made an enormous loss on
Jim Inexperienced described his caravan as ‘stunning’ however mentioned he was advised by the corporate it was outdated and would want shifting offsite
‘Shopping for a vacation house or caravan ought to be an thrilling time, however as with all massive buy, it is essential you are taking the time to do your analysis.
‘If one thing sounds too good to be true it often is, so interrogate any spurious claims like guarantees of assured rental revenue out of your property, or guarantees {that a} vacation house could be resided in full time.
‘You also needs to bear in mind that caravans will often decline in worth after buy.
‘Earlier than signing on the dotted line, be sure you totally perceive your contract, together with any further charges you might be anticipated to pay.’
When buying a static caravan by a caravan park firm, patrons are generally required to pay an preliminary price – referred to as a ‘pitch price’.
The price is determined by the corporate and is for the holding of your property on the their web site.
Caravan homeowners should not allowed to maintain a caravan with out it being totally insured, which may value 1000’s.
When proudly owning a caravan on a vacation park web site, you might be generally required to undergo the corporate for utilities and should not allowed to purchase your personal, Mr Goodwill defined.
The businessman claimed that this enables the corporate to purchase gasoline and electrical energy themselves, earlier than charging you extra for a revenue.
Very similar to gasoline and electrical energy costs, web site firms typically insist that cleansing providers are organised by them, to allow them to cost you extra and make a revenue.
One caravan proprietor, Fred, advised MailOnline that purchasing a static caravan with out contemplating the additional prices is a ‘mistake’ for patrons.
‘Our caravan value £165,000 however this appeared okay over the 30-year interval provided.
‘The sale got here with no web site charges for Yr 1 and the salesperson confirmed that future web site charges might be greater than lined by renting the lodge out for the primary faculty vacation weeks by them.
‘In reality though the location had been renting the lodge out for over £1k per week our receipt after ‘prices’ was extra like £200 per week. On high of this spiralling web site charges plus Council Tax, insurance coverage, utilities and so forth. are operating at over £10k a 12 months.
‘We’re scuffling with the full yearly prices however the ‘depreciation’ over the primary couple of years is supposedly about £100k!
‘Worst mistake ever!’
