Lifestyle Villages???

[Grumpy John]

Anybody here living in a Lifestyle Village. These are different to a retirement home in that you own the house, but rent the land. I understand the consequences on the village being sold out from under you and you have to relocate your house, but this is not my main concern. I currently live on ~1750 Sq Mtrs with only one neighbour, while we wish to downsize I'm not sure that I could cope with living with people so close. Has anyone made the move to this type of accommodation, and how did you adjust?

[ian]

Hi John
Are houses in a "lifestyle village" similar to transportable homes in a caravan park?

the reason I ask is that in NSW at least there is a very long history of unconscionable conduct on the part of the owners of the land the transportable dwelling is located on. Issues I recall the ABC covering include
the land owner demanding 25 to 40% of the sale price when a home within the park is sold.
making life difficult for any resident who wants to relocate a home to another location.

[Grumpy John]

Short answer, yes.

The place we are looking at has no exit fees in the first year, but fees of 4%P.A. for five years. So if you sell after 5 years the "village" gets 20% of the sale price. Not sure if that is off the nett, or gross sale, either way it's a fair chunk.

This article is from 2011. Not happy campers (http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/not-happy-campers-20110317-1bytv.html)

[ian]

well, I don't live in one of those parks, but have spent most of the past 25 years living on 125 sq.m. the block was <5 m wide, with no off street parking and neighbours separated by a 230 mm thick party wall.
The neighbours have varied from really really nice to a right pain, with a three act tragedy at 3 AM thrown in for good measure.

Making an effort to meet and get on with the neighbours is possibly more important thing you can do.
You don't have to swap dinner dates, but you really should make the effort to at least say hello every time you see them.