Static caravan 'rip off'?

[Andy_5039835]

Hi.

We have a static caravan located in Somerset. Although it is 'old' it is well furbished and well looked after (and no sub letting). We paid £7000 for it 3 years ago and have decided that we want to sell. The site owner has said that it is only worth £400 scrap value and we cannot sell it privately. We appear to be over a barrel on this.

Is this common practice by site owners?

I just get the feeling that he will give us £400 and then sell it on to another customer for a couple of grand.

 

[Damian]

Andy, there has been a lot of publicity recently about the situation you find yourself in.

Unless the site is licenced for 52 weeks occupancy of vans, which I suspect it is not, then the site owner can stipulate anything he wants, including who can and cannot purchase your van, how much he will give you for it, even down to removing it to storage and charging you for disconnection of services and storage, in fact ANYTHING he wants to do. Maybe he is doing what other site owners are doing, forcing ppl off the site with older vans, paying a pittance for them, then breaking them up, clearing the site, and then replacing them with new vans at huge profits to him.

What is worse is that there is nothing you can do, you are not covered by any laws preventing such practice.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

I would seek legal advice -approach the Citizens Advice first prior to contacting a solicitor. Alternatively why not put two fingers to the site owner and if you do not need the cash rent the van out, this way you are receiving an income and the site owner is not in a position to make a few profit out of your misfortune.

I was offered a similar deal a few years ago by amajor campsite company who own static sites in west Wales. They would not give me a copy of the sales agreement to study at home, I had to sign first at their office and the receive a copy afterwars. No doubt you can guess what I said - too rude to print here.

I hope you have some success in either selling at a reasonable price or making a few pounds on summer rentals.

 

[Jonathan_5040772]

Andy,

I suspect you may have a few more rights than you think. Although on someone elses land, the caravan is your property so, subject to reasonable care and consideration of the site owner/operator, you should be within your rights to have the caravan removed (low-loader) and transported to a site or storage of your choice. My parents have had statics for years and have been faced with similar but less severe issues before. Best bet would be to sell the van privately (to someone who can site it somewhere else) then make your own arrangements to have it removed. There are specialist companies who do the removals who will be as happy to take your money as the site owners. The site owners rely on people not having the "bottle" to make their own arrangements. Go for it and good luck.

 

[Trevor_5041760]

I am a tourer myself but I have heardsimilar stories from others.. just at least make sure he doesn't more than he pays for, remove or damage the rest...

Is it insured for theft or fire ??????/