Owners' Advice: Relocation After a Sale

Posted 3 May by Dan Ellacott

National Association of Caravan Owners

A common issue that our team has dealt with this year is relocation following a private sale of their holiday caravan. This is a real problem for people and is often not in accordance with the terms of agreements in place. If you've not encountered the problem before…

You find a buyer for your caravan. You go down to the park to introduce them only to be told that upon the completion of the sale your being moved from your lakeside view position to the one near the bins.

Maybe this is a little extreme, but people are being presented with similar situations. There are two key considerations:

The terms of your agreement. 
1) Make sure that you are fully aware of the private sale process and what your obligations are. You can't expect the park owner to comply if you haven't. If you haven't got terms ask what the private sale process is.

2) Be careful about varying terms by entering in to a 'private sale agreement'. Whilst this may be a requirement of your pitch licence agreement you should be mindful of signing up to terms that may be to your detriment.

The 'right to assign' is described very clearly in the OFT's document Guidance on Unfair Terms in Holiday Caravan Agreements (OFT734) and the following is particularly helpful:

5.32 Restrictions on sales.
We object to terms that completely prevent caravan owners from selling their caravans, with the benefit of the licence to station it on the park, to third parties, as this is open to abuse. By preventing private sales, park owners can purchase the caravans themselves at very low prices. A park owner may reserve the right to approve the prospective buyer, but should not withhold, or delay, approval unreasonably. Although there is no objection to park owners seeking first refusal on the caravan, at a fair price, they are expected to deal fairly with caravan owners and not to hinder private sales. If a park owner reserves a pre-emptive right to buy the caravan at a fair price, that right should only be exercisable for a short time. We would expect any commission for the sale of the caravan or transfer fee for the licence, if charged to the caravan owner, to be clear and prominent in the relevant agreement.

5.33 Unfair terms
We regard as potentially unfair terms that:
• prohibit the sale of a caravan on the park by the caravan owner.
• state that the right to station a caravan on a pitch cannot be passed on to anyone.
• state that owners are not allowed to sell their caravans with a right to station the caravan and, if sold privately, the caravan must be removed from the caravan park by the owner.

Get in touch with us if you've got an issue...

Dan Ellacott
National Association of Caravan Owners
www.nacoservices.com