Tenby caravan owners claim they are having to consider quitting a holiday park over what they claim is an "extortionate" £2,000 increase in ground rent.
One of the owners is David, from Caerphilly, who doesn't want to give his surname. He claimed he wasn't the only owner who was having to consider selling his "beloved" caravan at Kiln Park, as he claimed the extra fees made it financially impossible to stay. But Haven said its running costs had "increased significantly" meaning it had little choice but to hike up fees.
The Haven-owned caravan park, on the outskirts of Tenby, is a popular place for holidaymakers visiting Pembrokeshire all year round. But with David's site fees topping £9,000 for the coming 2023 summer season, he said he wouldn't be able to afford to keep coming with his family.
Read more: Can you pass a Welsh citizenship test? 20 questions to find out how much you know
David said he visited Tenby every other weekend, often with his four children in tow. All love it there but, even so, they had started to notice costs creep up in the shops and cafes in the area, he said. While he accepted that inflation was running at an all time high, he said that when he bought his caravan two years ago for £23,000, site fees were just £6,000. He believed the recent fees hike was "ridiculous".
"There's no reason for it," he claimed. "The annual increases are normally about £350 which everyone is happy with. But this is ridiculous. I'm very close to selling it to be honest."
David, a mechanic, said his youngest child, aged seven, was already talking about their next visit, but he told him it might not be possible. He added: "I believe it’s another show of big companies taking advantage of the average working person. I’m an owner there and like many now are being forced into selling our beloved caravans."
Another owner, Richard Morgan, has had a caravan at Kiln Park since 2014. Self-employed and from Newport, he said the half dozen times he visited did not justify the spiralling costs of having a Pembrokeshire bolthole. The latest price increases were "the straw that broke the camel's back", he said.
"Things haven't been great down there for a long time now," he said. "We're constantly having to put our hands in our pockets and you do think as an owner what do I get back in return? The answer is very little." Richard said his site fees came to more than £8,500 and that was before he added on gas and electricity.
He said he'd asked the park directly as to why the price hike had been so steep, to be told it was due to the VAT rate being put back up to 20% for 2022. It had been set at 5% for 2020 and 12.5% for 2021, in part due to the Covid pandemic. But Richard believed not even that could justify pushing site fees up by so much.
"It's just too much," he added, especially, he pointed out, when he factored in additional costs that crept in, such as a £250 contribution all owners had to make to upgrading the Kiln Park clubhouse. "My decision is to definitely sell up," he added. But even that offers little return as owners have to give Kiln Park first refusal should they wish to sell their caravan.
"They've got us by the short and curlies," said Richard. "So many people are now saying they can't afford it anymore and selling up, they will be swamped with caravans which will push the price down. We can sell privately but the way things are going, people aren't going to have an excessive amount of money to put into a caravan."
A spokesperson for Haven said: "Like many businesses, Haven is experiencing the effects of inflation and rising energy costs which is impacting every aspect of our operations. While we have been working hard to offset these impacts, the cost of running our parks has increased significantly. This means to maintain the quality of our parks and a high level of service for our valued holiday homeowners, site fees have increased by 11.8% in 2023."
Read next:
- Inside empty vintage shop with stuff still on its shelves and a red telephone box on its doorstep
-
BBC Escape to the Country's worst ever property value guess has presenter smirking
- Nigel Owens publishes vile homophobic letter posted to his house by steel worker
- The hotel named the best wedding venue in Wales
- Mum who used penny a day saving hack has more than £650 to spend on Christmas
Find great options for your family in your local area:
