13.08.2021

All you need to know about buying a holiday home

Buying a holiday home is a dream for many people in the UK. Where else can you have a home-from-home with guaranteed holidays throughout the year whilst at the same time being able to potentially earn some money by renting out your holiday home?

We want to make the experience of buying a holiday home as straight-forward as possible.

In this article, we’ll talk you through the potential pitfalls and guide you through how to avoid them, so you can ensure your property purchase is as simple and stress-free as possible.

Establish why you’re buying a holiday home

While making the decision to purchase a holiday house is exciting, it’s vital you step back and establish your exact motivations for doing so before purchasing. Are you going to use the property as a holiday let, or will your focus simply be on finding the perfect holiday home for your family? In many cases, it will be a combination of these two factors, in which case you need to establish which takes precedent. Your answer changes what you should focus on when you start looking for the perfect property.

Owning a holiday home for investment purposes

If your main or sole focus is on purchasing a property which maximises rental income and your return on investment, you’ll need to consider every aspect of the purchase from the perspective of a potential renter. Establish your target market before reviewing whether the property is in the right location and contains the right features to draw people in. Paying a premium for a swimming pool could be a real winner if you’re trying to appeal to families, but people looking to go on walking holidays probably aren’t going to view it as worth the extra cost.

You’ll also need to review the local market for people looking for holidays in different types of holiday home before running your expected outgoings against this to establish what you’d need to achieve to be profitable and how likely this is to happen. If your rental rates need to be much higher than the competition’s to achieve a good return on investment, even the nicest holiday home won’t be right for you. Some additional aspects to consider when establishing the rental income you hope to achieve are:

The size of the property - a larger holiday let will justify a higher rent
Local transport links
On-site amenities. If you’re buying your holiday let on a holiday park, establishing how the park compares to local alternatives should be one of your first ports of call
Seasonality. While every holiday let is subject to seasonal variation, this will be more pronounced in some and should be taken into account when establishing your income projections. Ultimately, while the importance of this varies depending on your overall income goals for the property (are you happy with some extra spending money or do you want to squeeze out every drop of value?) potential holidaymakers should always be at the top of your list of concerns when looking to purchase a buy-to-let holiday home.

A holiday home just for you

If you’re buying a holiday home just for you and your family to use, things are much simpler! You just need to establish what you want from your holiday house and how that fits with your budget before you start shopping.

You’ll simply need to be aware of the financial implications throughout the process to ensure you’re fully prepared. These include choosing the right finance legal fees and ongoing costs like site fees (also known as pitch fees) and utility bills. Get a full roundup of every cost you should take into account.

Where’s the best place to buy a holiday home?

There really isn’t a singular ‘best’ place to buy a holiday home - the decision needs to be based on exactly what you need from your holiday accommodation. We recommend potential owners consider how easy it is to travel to the respective holiday park. Owners usually buy within a 2 to 3 hour driving distance of their home so that they can visit most weekends.

Buy a holiday home in Cornwall for your family and explore stunning local attractions including surfing, seaside walks on some of the best beaches in Europe, or the Eden Project and other attractions.
Buy your holiday home in Norfolk if you’re looking to explore a stunning coastline and broads teeming with wonderful wildlife
Enjoy Blue Flag beaches and the Broads National Park while indulging your thrill-seeking side at the theme park when you purchase a holiday home in Suffolk
Explore ancient forests and heathland and get up close and personal with nature by choosing holiday home ownership in the New Forest

Whether you’re looking for a cosy holiday lodge, a family holiday home near the beach or the ideal investment property, the UK has a destination ideal for you. Take your time, do your research and visit potential destinations to get a feel for them before making your final decision.

When’s the best time to buy a holiday home?

Buying a holiday home at Lovat is an important decision and all potential owners should do their research and take the time they need. Given the demand for holiday homes at the moment, we recommend that customers speak to our friendly teams at our parks and look into the various homes we offer.

Get the right finance for your situation

Whether you’re purchasing your holiday home solely for personal use or only expect to let it out on rare occasions, you may need to look into finance.

When buying a holiday home from Lovat Parks, you will be asked to deposit at least 20% of the total purchase price and rates typically range between 8% and 10%.

Remember the additional fees

It’s important that every potential owner considers the additional costs that come with holiday home ownership. These include site fees, insurance, utilities and business rates.

Site fees

You need to pay site or pitch fees to keep your holiday home at one of our parks. These fees also pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the park. Pitch fees change each year to reflect annual inflation and any investments we make on our parks. However, these are always reasonable and competitive compared to the industry.

Insurance

At Lovat Parks we ask every owner to take out insurance to cover their holiday home.

Utilities

Other fees to consider include the cost of gas, electric and water. Most of this is metered and in line with personal use. We do not charge any additional fees on top of what is consumed.

Business rates

We pass on business rates to all our owners. Again, we do not charge any additional fees on top of what we are charged.