Owning a holiday home means that you have the freedom to enjoy it whenever you like, but it can’t be your permanent residence all year round. To put it simply, a holiday home is just that, it’s a second home to enjoy for the use of holidays only. This is because the way you purchase a holiday home and the legalities surrounding it are very different to a residential property.
Before we go into more detail on why you can’t live in your holiday home all year round, it helps to start by looking at how we define a holiday home:
What is a Holiday Home?
A holiday home, or holiday lodge, is often described as a “mobile home” that is purchased in addition to your main residence. Buying a holiday home is a much different process to purchasing a regular property and it should be a process that you enjoy, as it’s an exciting purchase to say the least!
There’s no requirement for legal advice, which of course means no legal expense. You don’t need to contact a lawyer or have any documents or searches prepared by them unless it’s something you wish to do personally. There’s also no stamp duty like there is on a regular property purchase, meaning there are no additional costs – the sale price is the price you pay. In fact, here at Roadford Lake Lodges all of our luxury lodges for sale come fully furnished so you won’t have to worry about further expense to dress your holiday home. Your holiday home will have everything you need other than personal items, meaning you can start holidaying from the moment you complete the purchase.
Holiday Park Licences
While most luxury lodges are actually built to residential specification, the most important thing to consider is the parks site licence from the local authority which confirms the use of the park in question.
Each holiday park is different, and some have restrictions on how long you can stay at your holiday home at one time. This is another thing to question when considering holiday home ownership. Here at Roadford Lake Lodges, our licence is for all year-round usage with no specified limitations, meaning you can use your holiday home as much as you like throughout the year.
You might see some holiday parks refer to this as their “open season” and this changes depending on the location you visit or enquire with, so be sure to ask before you buy. In any event, if you’re thinking of spending a longer amount of time at your holiday home, simply communicating with the park and informing them of your plans is always the best way to approach longer spells.
When buying a holiday home, the park in question should always be comfortable providing you with a copy of the site licence for your reference prior to committing to any financial exchange.
What Happens if You Live in Your Holiday Home?
Once you have purchased a holiday home, you will be given a licence agreement which is the legal agreement between you and the park operator which sets out the terms of use. Should you be found using a holiday home as your main residence, this will be a breach of your holiday home owners licence agreement. Your main residence must be at a separate address to that of your holiday home and park operators require evidence of this such as a utility bill at the time of purchase. You may also be required to provide proof of your main residence each year in order for the park to maintain their records.
Local authorities do not consider holiday homes to be main dwellings, whether they are a luxury lodge, static caravan, or other forms they are exempt from paying council tax and stamp duty which is another way to identify that you are purchasing a holiday home.
Roadford Lake Lodges
If you’re considering buying a lodge here at Roadford Lake Lodges and would like more information, please feel free to speak to one of our advisors or send us an email. We will be more than happy to address any queries you may have. Remember, buying a holiday home is a process to enjoy and your perfect getaway could be closer than you think!