General Chat

:-D probably Lincolnshire coast as its nearest to us in the midlands, I cant wait. I was wondering if renting the caravan out is likely to cover the site fees for the year? It'll be a 3 bedroom van, not brand new but in good condition.

The site owner usually wants a cut of any renting.

We had a static for 20 years and renting it out didn't anywhere near cover the site fees. But we have no regrets at all we loved it and it served its purpose while our son was young.

Make sure you have a good look at the site rules - some make you buy a new van every 10 years and charge for electricity.

Gwynne

Thanks Gwynne. Im looking at some reliable holiday parks/sites at the minute. Did you have trouble with anyone wrecking the place when you rented it out? Ive thought of charging a deposit, but then we'd have to go up every time someone vacates to inspect the caravan. Suppose we would anyway though to make sure its ok! I dont want us to get into anything we cant sustain really.

Hope it all works out for you, but think it unlikely you will recoup the site fees the best rental period is probably when you will be wanting to use the static yourself.

Bear in mind too the cost of wear and tear on the van and the cost of cleaning up between lets....some sites have cleaners but it does cost!!!

My sister has one in Kent and I know the site fees are fairly off putting and very few manage to cover their costs

Also the weather in season has been so poor the last couple of years, we have noticed that touring sites have been much less busy even over bank holidays it was possible to find space without bookings (in a camper van) that in the past would be impossible. so I believe demand has dropped off.

Having said all that if your heart is set on it go for it and enjoy it :-D

Sorry I was still typing when you posted, I think you are right about the deposit there is bound to be some little damage at some point (never heard of anything major)

Anyone you let to should supply their own bed linen towels etc.....but be aware there may be an odd mattress or two needing replacement over time and as Gwynne said some sites do insist on new vans every 10 yrs

I agree that you would have to rent out the van most of the school hols (peak time) to cover the site fees but if you plan to use it yourself a lot then you may be able to make a little towards the fees off peak which would help a bit.

Depending on which site you are on there are other costs involved eg. Insurance, gas bottles, electricity, gas checks, electric checks and end of season drain down.
As others have said do be careful of the 10 or 15 year rule on some sites. Also some sites have lower fees but don't allow renting out. Some sites do have piped gas which is metered and you pay at the end of season, these gas and electric bills will of course be higher if you rent out the van.

Have sent you a pm. :-) :-)

Thanks Lolly. It would be brilliant to have one to escape to, I suppose money is the factor :-( as with everything. Um, we'll have a think about it. xxx

We rented a static caravan out one year to cover the site fees because we were unable to make as much use out of it personally as we usually did .... became self employed and our insurance company stated we had to always be on the premises overnight.

We managed to cover just over half of the anual fees but not too sure if it was worth the hassle. Our new business was only just over 4 miles away from the caravan site so I was able to do the cleaning inbetween lets myself ..... what an eye opener that was. Judging by the state of the van after 2 weeks I can only assume that some people lived in squalar. Greasy grill and frying pans, cheesy milk in fridge, red wine stains on carpets. Wont mention the toilet :-0...... apart from someone nicking the toilet seat!

Cushions nicked, condiment sets nicked, casserole dishes etc nicked.

Someone even "threw up" all over one of the beds. Yuk :-0 :-0

Never again

Nicking the loo seat!!!!! Dordi me lol it was obviously better than they had at home! :-D

Look into libel insurance on letting......

Look into libel insurance on letting......

There was something on tv recently, think it was Rip off Britain about holidays, where the people weren't allowed to rent out the van as it was too old, part of the Caravan park's policy. That meant they had to give it up as they couldn't afford the fees without rentals to help out.

If you work out how much you are able to afford and then divide it up by the number of times you might use it, would it work out cheaper to rent somewhere? We often rent a house at Heacham, across the wash from your area, (near Hunstanton). It's 4 bedrooms, lovely open fire for winter and enclosed garden and lots of toys for children, and it isn't always expensive. For a couple only it's about £250 in low season and there are several reasonably priced places you can rent if you look around. We are off to Sheringham again in Feb for o.h.'s birthday week and I noticed several small cottages at reasonable prices including the heating etc We have chosen a house from a person we rented from before, he has several houses, but did us a deal as he knows us now.


Might work out cheaper for you in the long run if you take into account all the hidden costs and hassle as well if you rent out.

Good luck

Lizx

btw Hunstanton has loads of caravans being sold off at the mo.

If you have realistic expectations you'll be fine. They are money pits, though, and you have to realise that before you buy. Every year there was something that needed to be repaired.

If you rent them out you have to have gas checks every year, which can be expensive. Paying for cleaning is also costly as you cannot rely on renters to do it, unless you only rent to friends, as we did. Plus there's paying for getting the bedding laundered.

You won't be able to leave anything there in case it gets stolen by "stranger" rentals. We left loads hidden under the seats and in a shed outside the van, We also had canoes and surf skis under the van. Fine if you only rent to friends but not so good if you rent to strangers.

Insurance can be costly if you rent and some site owners insist you get it through them thus pay through the nose.

I'm probably putting you off but I'm trying to be honest. Even taking all that into account we have no regrets. We had a lovely van in Tresaith, West Wales and had years of wonderful holidays. We made friends on the site - all were privately owned - who we met up with year after year. And our son made some good friends as well.

If we had to postpone a holiday if one of my parents was ill it wasn't a problem because we could go almost any time. And that happened a few times.

But it was much more expensive than renting a cottage 4 times a year, which we do now.

Gwynne

Gwynne, that's what I was trying to say, it works out cheaper to rent a place and you can usually find somewhere at short notice who will do a discount because of the late booking, and there is none of the worry or responsibility. We had a small caravan at a local coastal park but it had to be stored there all winter and that cost lots as well as the fact that we couldn't always use it as much as we wanted due to o.h.'s job commitments. We didn't rent it out as it was tiny and we left our things in there. Ended up having to move it to store elsewhere and then didn't use it so sold it for peanuts, well it only cost £500 anyway, we bought it off a neighbour after he let us use it one time.

Lizx