Things to keep in mind when purchasing a holiday home

There are so many reasons why owning your own holiday home is a great idea! You have a spot to retreat to whenever you want, you can take the family (including the dog!) for a last-minute getaway with minimal fuss, and it works out cheaper in the long run.

Of course, owning your very own holiday home is fantastic but before that happens, you’ve got to go through the process of actually finding and buying it. With that in mind, we’ve pulled together some basic things some people overlook when thinking about buying a holiday home. We hope it helps you understand what’s involved with second home purchasing…

Security

If you’re not going to be spending a lot of time in your holiday home, maybe just a couple of weeks a year, there will be a lot of time when your second home is left unoccupied. With that in mind, you’ll need to think about whether you’re going to need to put some security measures in place.

Alternatively, purchasing your holiday home in a managed holiday park negates this issue altogether!

Do you need to pay stamp duty?

Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is a tax paid by homebuyers when they purchase property or land. Since the 1st April 2016, a stamp duty surcharge of a minimum 3% is attached to all second homes, so second homes worth less than £125,000 now attract 3% tax and those worth between £125,000 and £250,000 now have a 5% rate and so on. So you’ll need to factor this into your budget.

However, the good news is that if you’re buying a static caravan or holiday home on a holiday park instead, you don’t have to pay any stamp duty!

Remember any extras

It’s important to check whether any extra fees apply when purchasing your holiday home. For example, if you’re buying a home in a holiday park, you should double check whether you have to pay for things like pitch fees, ground rent, service or maintenance charges, use of facilities or any security.

At Lifestyle Homes, we’re extremely transparent about our various site fees across our different holiday parks in Northern Ireland and all the info you need is located on our FAQs page. When you buy one of our static caravans in Northern Ireland, the price of your home includes your site fees covered until the end of the season, fees for siting and connecting and all safety checks. We also give you one full gas bottle, an empty one to refill and a set of steps. Have a browse of our holiday homes and get in touch for any information you need.