Buying a Mobile Home To Live In

The Darkroom

With the current housing crisis we are seriously thinking about turning to a mobile home to live in.

As we don't own any property to put it on, are there all year around sites that let you rent land for your mobile home? If so, does anyone know where I could locate these sites to investigate a little further? Is a holiday all year round site even considered an official address one can use?

We have no home and are desperate so forgive our ignorance.

the_syco

Not sure. Maybe look at http://www.donegalcaravanpark.net/42689184 and see if they allow you to stay there all year round?

Bear in mind that a lot of mobile homes won't have much insulation, if any, as they're only supplied to be used as holiday homes.

This crowd may be able to assist you better; http://harryfarrellsons.ie/mobile-home-on-your-property.php

Please also bear in mind that some sites may not be welcoming if your surname is common with certain communities.

The Darkroom

the_syco wrote: »

Not sure. Maybe look at http://www.donegalcaravanpark.net/42689184 and see if they allow you to stay there all year round?

Bear in mind that a lot of mobile homes won't have much insulation, if any, as they're only supplied to be used as holiday homes.

This crowd may be able to assist you better; http://harryfarrellsons.ie/mobile-home-on-your-property.php

Please also bear in mind that some sites may not be welcoming if your surname is common with certain communities.

Thanks for that I'll take a look at these. I'm ok in the surname department at the moment.

looksee

I have lived in an ordinary mobile home over a winter in the depths of the country and on balance it was fine. Its not legal though, you have to have an all year round mobile home - one that is properly insulated - and there really are not that many (if any) places that would have them. Sites tend to close, in fact its quite possible they may legally be obliged to close, for a month or two over the year, and it would hardly be viable for them to have the expense of keeping the place open for a couple of occupied units.

One thing you might not think of is something that we found, you don't tend to do anything when living in those circumstances. There isn't enough space to move around all that easily so you do the essentials, like cooking food and cleaning, then just more or less sit. There is also very limited storage, not room really for much more than immediate essentials of cooking and cleaning, life is really pretty limited.

Anyway the short answer is that it is simply not legal to live in a caravan all year round and you would not get planning permission to do it.

Do you have to be in any particular area? There are much cheaper properties in villages around the country, they may need work but in the (very) long run would probably not work out any more expensive than a caravan, and paying for a mobile home is dead money, no more than rent.

Caranica

Try doing a search on this forum, this comes up fairly regularly.

dory

Mobile home parks have it in their planning permission that the people don't live there full time. You have to prove you have other accommodation.

They also have rules about how old the mobile home can be. One place is west Cork has a 10 or 15 year max, can't remember which. I made out that my friend has to put away €2k per year to save for the next mobile home once theyve bought theirs and then pay site fees of €3k. You'd probably be better off finding a house in rural Ireland with less rent.

Dunfyy

You need planning permission you will not get

TheW1zard

The Darkroom wrote: »

With the current housing crisis we are seriously thinking about turning to a mobile home to live in.

As we don't own any property to put it on, are there all year around sites that let you rent land for your mobile home? If so, does anyone know where I could locate these sites to investigate a little further? Is a holiday all year round site even considered an official address one can use?

We have no home and are desperate so forgive our ignorance.

You could live one place 6 months and another the other 6. Might be a solution

Edit. Renting of course. Unless you moved the mobile?

Water John

It's worth having double glazing windows put in.

An Ri rua

Definitely pick up the phone and talk to a seller like Harry Farrell. Even if you found a site to locate a mobile home, this is an awful time of the year to get the mobile onto site and to connect services.
It's also very possible that a mobile home in the price bracket you'd be talking about wouldn't be Grade III (or Grade II which was the highest grade in UK up to maybe a decade ago and incorporated much of grade III standard). Apart from you potentially being cold, your pipework could be! Most caravanners and mobile home users winterize them i.e. drain pipes etc etc.
But of course, your first hurdle is finding a site where you could get year round usage (v unlikely).
Any family where you could park a large caravan(I've read you haven't)? 4 berth upwards. You're talking about up to 25ft long. If neighbours interfere, just spin the line that you're using it as a home office and ancillary leisure space. Not sleeping.

Edit: whether you buy a mobile home or caravan, be acutely aware of having it serviced by RGII before it comes to you. Gas needs servicing and Irish people are useless when it comes to keeping things serviced. Like we're codding someone, apart from ourselves?

As others have said, many threads on this over the years. Plenty of wisdom in them.

looksee

TheW1zard wrote: »

You could live one place 6 months and another the other 6. Might be a solution

Edit. Renting of course. Unless you moved the mobile?

It is almost impossible to get a mobile home moved unless you have a mate with a low loader and crane. Commercial firms will only move them if they own them, because of insurance. And then you have to disconnect/reconnect power, water and sewage. There is not a practical, legal solution to this set up.

griffonmark

An Ri rua wrote: »

Definitely pick up the phone and talk to a seller like Harry Farrell...

Whatever you do, don’t do that.
Try to talk to other ‘owners’ and understand if you do end up on a site you, in most cases, are locked in where the odds (changing the van, selling, altering, parking your car, etc) are all stacked in favour of the park owner ie he/she can insist you only buy or upgrade from them; he/she can remove you from the site at a whim; can change park rules on a whim; can make you change your mobile after a number of years irrespective of its appearance or condition; can jack up the fee without any recourse to arbitration on your part - including paying a “leave” fee. While many people love it and have fond memories beware you have practically no rights. You’ll pay a large fee for the mobile on a park site - the majority being hello money for the right to rent the site and will never get it back as you will not, in most cases, have the right to sell the mobile on the park site without the agreement of the owner AND a considerable ‘fee’.