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Warning Bulletin No 12 BUYING A NEW PARK HOME? BEWARE OF PHANTOM PRICE RISES. |
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Written by Ron Joyce
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Tuesday, 23 October 2007 |
WARNING BULLETIN No. 12.
BUYING A NEW PARK HOME? BEWARE OF PHANTOM PRICE RISES.
Buying a Park Home is usually the biggest investment you will make in your lifetime. Not only a major financial investment you must also carefully consider the fact that you are investing your future life and happiness into a lifestyle, which for most is a leap into the unknown, very easy to enter, but can be extremely difficult, stressful and certainly very costly to leave.
When you have sold your home, having decided on the park home which suits you, (See also step by step “PHRAA GUIDE TO BUYING A PARK HOME” freely available on this Website) and assuming that up to now everything has gone smoothly, the day has come when you arrive on the park, complete with your possessions, to move into your new park home. Unless you have already paid the full agreed price for the home prior to the moving in date, this is usually the time you pay the park owner the balance of the agreed price.
It is now that you may be in for the biggest shock of your life. The Park Owner will appear, just as you are going to unload your possessions into the home, demanding an extra X number of thousands of pounds, (£5,000, £10,000 or even more is common) claiming that the manufacturer has increased the price of the home or some other reason or another, and you must pay him (the park owner) the extra there and then, or else he will not allow you move in.
So what do you so now? You are stuck in the position of being stranded outside the park home along with all your worldly goods. You have also sold and moved out of your previous home so have nowhere else to go, and the park owner will not let you occupy your new home, holding you to ransom unless you submit to his demands. Even though you have already paid him the agreed full price, he has you over a barrel. He knows you are homeless with no where else to go.
Unfortunately most placed in this situation are forced to pay the extra. Some have even been forced to take out loans as they have already used every penny of their life savings to buy the home of their dreams.
It is vitally important that anyone buying a park home is aware that the procedure for buying a park home is totally different to that used when buying conventional housing. A park home (mobile home, officially classed as a caravan, See Warning Bulletin No. 11) is CHATTEL and purchased in exactly the same way as a car or a TV. But unfortunately unlike buying a car or TV if something goes wrong or you don’t like it, you cant take it back and/or get a full refund. Nor is it any good, because it is a residential dwelling, approaching Trading Standards for help.
In order to try and avoid finding yourself in a similar situation it is crucial that you insist that every stage of the buying process is conducted in WRITING. The final sited price for the home is agreed prior to purchase and stated in WRITING on an officially headed contract. (Do not accept verbal quotations or estimated costs) Obtain in WRITING a detailed list of all works such as landscaping of the plot (pitch), sheds, driveways, etc that are included in the final price. Obtain official receipts for any monies paid in advance such as a deposit. DO NOT ACCEPT OR ENTER INTO ANY VERBAL AGREEMENTS however trust worthy the park owner may appear. GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING, DON’T BE RUSHED, SCRUTINISE EVERY DOCUMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE SIGNING.
If you should find yourself being “blackmailed” in this manner by the park owner or his agent then call the Police immediately. Explain to them what the park owner is demanding and produce the relevant documentation to support your case. Above all, do not pay or agree to pay any extra money over and above that already previous agreed.
If you have become a victim of this widely used scam especially where the park owner has claimed that the homes manufacturer has increased the price, it is a simple matter to check up for yourself by contacting the manufacturer concerned, giving the name, model and serial number of the home, obtainable from the documentation and/or the identification plate on the home. If having checked you find the claim to be false then take steps to recover your money by taking your case to the County Court, Small Claims Court for amounts up to £5,000.
If you have been a victim please let PHRAA know with full details. All information treated in confidence.
Compiled for PHRAA by Ron Joyce. General Secretary. PHRAA. May 2007
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 November 2007 )
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