That strikes a chord, Concrete.

For many years I toyed with the idea of buying a property abroad and got within a hair's breadth of doing so in 2007 - in Switzerland, of all places, with all the complications that come with a non-Swiss retired person trying to buy property in a country that doesn't make things easy.

It was a super top-floor flat in Clarens a couple of hundred metres or so from Lake Geneva, with panoramic views, and would have been highly lettable during the times when I wasn't there - for example, the Montreux jazz festival.

The financial complications made me pull the plug, and though I was disappointed but philosophical at the time, years later I was glad not to have the commitment - the need to go there any spare time I had and the resulting lack of opportunity to travel elsewhere.

Let's hope none of our members is affected, but many thanks for the information, FB.

We, like FP, baulked at buying and took the long term view, which was correct. Buying and owning at least gives you security of tenure and the possibility of letting. These trailer parks, dream lodges, mobile homes sites, whatever description they go under are a very precarious business indeed. None come out of their contract with any satisfaction, at least that is the prevailing story I hear time and again. There is one near us and some residents use our local pub. Some of the stories of what the park owner demands are scary. Example, you can only paint the outside of your 'home' with the owners recommended paint and colour. Apparently it costs a whopping £90 per 5 litres and is supposed to be a specialised paint. It is meaningless because the units come ready painted from the factory with good old fashioned paint specially designed for cladding, and is available from the usual outlets at about £40 per 5 litres. The idea of putting something on top that is not compatible or similar is ridiculous. However, it turns out that the park owner also own the paint company. He has a couple of parks with hundreds of units all requiring painting every 5 years. What a swiz. That is the sort of thing you would be up against.

Cheers Concrete

Just an observation. Our Static van. The site are not letting us on to visit our vans due to covid. Still paying pitch fee water rates etc. There are some who live permanently on our Holiday Park. They are allowed on but not us weekenders . So having a second pad is just a lot of paying out. Think carefully about the downside before committing yourself.