Stuart Allen is representing the residents at the Kingfisher Caravan Park, who have had age-limit proposals handed to them. They have been told that once a caravan reaches 15 years of age, residents may apply for an additional licence.
East Lindsey District Council stated they reviewed its policy position and determined that once a caravan at the site had reached 15 years of age, residents may apply for, and the council may grant, up to 10 annual licences.
This was previously five annual licences.
The Council continued, saying: “The grant of such annual licences is subject to an annual caravan inspection undertaken by the Council.
“Any caravan that fails such an inspection, or that reaches 25 years of age, will need to be removed from the Park.
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“The interesting thing is that a lot of the caravan sites don’t actually enforce their age limits on purpose.
“If you set up a brand-new caravan site and you put 40 brand-new caravans on there, that means in 15 years you’ve got to sell 40 brand-new caravans.
“And until you’ve sold those 40 brand-new caravans, you’re not picking up your ground rent, and the main income for caravan sites is ground rent.
“If you look at the profit margin between 10 years ground rent and one caravan, it’s a lot.
“So if you look at Skegness, some parks have always said ‘yes there’s an age limit’, but they’ve never enforced it, as long as your caravan is fit for purpose and abides by their site rules.
“Another park says ‘your caravan can stop on site as long as it’s fit for purpose, but after it’s 20 years old, we would prefer that you do not have it privately, you sell it back to us’.
“This is a reasonable option. You can keep your caravan now or if you want to upgrade it, you need to sell it back to us.”
There are some concerns over how local authorities are able to determine whether a caravan is fit for purpose, meaning some owners may have to prematurely sell their caravan.
He continued: “People still maintain them because we’re talking about people who could be 40- or 50-years old investing in a £30,000 caravan for their families’ future holidays.
“And the last thing they want to do when they hit 25 years old is have to fork out another £30,000.
“It’s just ludicrous, people haven’t got that kind of money to throw away.
“It doesn’t make sense. If it’s an eyesore, get rid of it, I’ve got no problems with that.
“If somebody’s given up on their caravan, get rid of it.
“But if someone’s cleaning it, coming along and maintaining it, why would you give up £3,000 every year?”