What To Do When Your Park Is Taken Over
SO YOUR PARK HAS JUST BEEN TAKEN OVER??
'CAVET EMPTOR‘ - (Latin for ‘let the buyer beware)’....simply means that the new buyer of the Park you are on, has bought it with the knowledge they are taking on the park and all it entails, on purchase. They will have carried out due diligence prior to purchase to check the liabilities that come with the purchase (caveat emptor).
What happens next?What do you need to do?
It is a good idea to now make a S.A.R request, (Subject Access Request) to the Company for all the documentation they hold on you. This is free to do and gives the Company 1 month to supply the information you are asking for. This should include your purchase and Licence Agreement and all Correspondence and Invoices between you and the Park.
When you get this documentation, check all of it to be sure it contains the information that relates to your use and ownership of your Caravan on that Park.
You can find out more information here:
https://www.which.co.uk/.../how-do-i-make-a-subject...
Will you need to sign a new Licence Agreement with the New Owners?
First and foremost, for you as a Caravan/Lodge Owner, YOUR original Licence Agreement still stands you in good stead.
Simply put, if your Licence Agreement still has a number of years to run, then it is still perfectly valid, no matter what the New Park Owners may tell you. This includes all the benefits you get as part of your original licence, inc letting fees and conditions, any wooden decking, plastic sheds etc that you were previously allowed.
There is no need to change/alter your existing Licence Agreement with the New Park owner unless your Original Licence Agreement is about to come to an end, or the New Park Owner offers you, (in writing), a much better set of terms than you already have.
It is also worth noting, that if your Licence Agreement has no ‘end date’, (so no date you must remove your caravan off of the Park), then please be sure to hold onto that agreement.
Having a New Park Owner, may be daunting, but doesn't mean it could be all bad for you - know your rights, and be sure the New Park Owner, also knows you right and dont be afraid to point them out as soon as you become aware of them trying to get you to sign up, in any way shape or form, to a new set of terms and conditions.
Be aware they will send out new terms and conditions without any warning that if you sign them or agree to them they will hold you to them. So if they do do not sign them and before you pay your annual fees, email to say you are paying without prejudice to the terms and conditions of your original agreement, meaning that you are not accepting any new ones simply because you are paying your fees.
Any concerns then contact the Holiday Park Action Group for further advice from those who have been there and have got the 't' shirt.
Related Real Life Story - As Reported On BBC Wales X Ray
Owning a holiday lodge in the Welsh countryside is a dream for many. But, tread carefully.
Holiday parks all have rules – but even if you sign up to a contract with a park where the rules suit you, we’ve discovered that things can change.
Moreton Farm Park near Saundersfoot describes itself as a 'luxury lodge holiday park' in an 'idyllic setting', a short distance from the beach. Gillian Davey and her husband Paul Cunningham from Tonypandy fell in love with the place.
Gillian said: “It's been our life-long dream really to have a family resource down in Saundersfoot near Tenby. We've gone there ever since I was a little child with my parents.”
In 2015, the couple used inherited money to buy a three year old lodge at Moreton Farm Park at a price of £93,000.
Gillian said: “It’s just been lovely you know. A real sort of place that we can get together, just switch off from everyday life, put the barbecue on and just enjoy ourselves and relax.”
But last summer the park was sold, to a company called Coastal Resorts Ltd. It's run by Bailey and Rebecca Farr, who also own two other parks in nearby Manobier.
The lodge owners already had contracts with the park’s previous owners, which they were happy with.
But when Coastal Resorts took over, they wanted to change some key parts of the contracts and issue some new rules.
For Gillian, the most worrying was a new restriction on the sale of lodges. Now, anyone wanting to sell their lodge would have to arrange for it to be taken off the park - unless they sold it directly to Coastal Resorts.
Gillian says she felt uneasy about the new contract. So she asked the new park owners how much they would pay her for her lodge, but was devastated with their response.
She said: “For our cabin that we paid £93,000 for, we were offered £37,000, which is a massive drop.”
The offer came in more than £50,000 lower than a recent independent valuation.
Gillian said: “It will take away all of our choices for the rest of our life and our retirement.”
But there are more restrictions on older lodges. We met several other worried lodge owners whose luxury lodges are thirty years old. They use them for family holidays and to rent out.
All of them saw the lodges as a long term investment. One, Zoe Priddy, said: “It was a commitment for us and something we had never done before. But we thought in our contract at the time, we could always sell them. So there was no issue really if things didn't work out.”
But Coastal Resorts new rules brought another shock - a complete ban on anyone hiring out lodges which are more than ten years old.
Zoe said: “We need to pay our site fees shortly, which is nearly £13,000 and no way of getting the money back.”
Now unable to rent out her four luxury lodges, Zoe asked a local trader if he'd be interested in buying them and taking them off site. But his valuation came as a shock!
She said: “We had the phone call off the trader to offer us the price of £5,000. And we had nearly paid £20,000 for each one. As you can see you know, it has been so stressful for us.”
So what rights do the lodge owners have?
Well there are specific laws to protect people in residential caravans, but not owners of holiday caravans. That means they’d need to go to court to prove their new contracts were unfair – which could be a costly process.
The lodge owners don't want a legal battle. They just want to talk.
Gillian said: “You know they have made a business investment. We have made a very personal investment. And I would be quite willing to sit down and talk if they were.”
But the last time the lodge owners asked for a meeting, Gillian had a devastating response.
She said: “The answer we have got to that was to tell us we were evicted from the site and we have until February the 28th to remove our lodge. We weren't expecting this, all we have ever wanted was for our existing contract to be honoured. And we would like to sit down and talk and negotiate but that's just being ignored and refused.”
Coastal Resorts told us they have never wanted a fight with the lodge owners. They say their new rules are family-friendly and they want to prevent old, unsuitable lodges being rented out and jeopardising the park's good name.
They say they're surprised by the suggested valuations as most are in poor condition.
But since we wrote to Coastal Resorts they have agreed to meet with lodge owners individually. They've also withdrawn the threat to evict Gillian and another lodge owner from the site.
They say they never intended to make changes to owners’ rights to sell their caravans and they will now honour the previous agreements.