Latest news with #JasonRoss
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Moment caravan park boss issues 'veiled threat' to couple who suffered 'huge' loss after buying £125,000 holiday home on the site
This is the moment a caravan park sales manager issued what they believed to be a veiled threat to a couple who had suffered a 'huge' loss after purchasing a £125,000 deluxe static from a site. Asha and Jason Ross believed they had found an opportunity for a steady income when they bought a six-figure caravan from Prestige Country Parks. Social media posts made by Malton Grange Country Park, owned by Prestige, claimed buyers could make anywhere up to a £1,000-a-week. It also suggested the value of the holiday home would only rise, much like a property, despite advise from the National Caravan Council saying caravans are a 'depreciating asset'. However when Jason and Asha chatted with the firm's sales manager, Patrick O'Donovan, he also told them they would make good money from letting the caravan. But within six weeks the couple only secured two bookings, worth in total £180. So they decided to sell the lodge back to the company but as a 'huge' loss. Feeling 'ashamed', and even now to embarrass to reveal the extent of their financial loss, the couple sought legal advice. Following this, Jason was phoned by Mr O'Donovan, who hurled abuse towards him, as well as issuing what the couple believed to be a veiled threat. However matters soon went awry as they secured only two bookings in six weeks, and after deciding to sell at a significantly lower price sought legal advice During the phone call, recorded by Jason, the sales manager said: 'Its Prestige Country Parks have you got nothing better to do? 'F*****g hell you need a day off mate. You need to get a job or something... You sold it back to us but it's us ripping you off? Pathetic.' The former caravan owner calmly responded, telling Mr O'Donovan it was down to lawyers 'to address' before adding: 'So, nothing more to say.' And in what was seemingly a veiled threat, the sales manager added: 'We know where you are don't we.' Jason said he felt it was a warning to advise him and his wife 'to back off', telling the BBC: 'I don't know them, I don't know what lengths they are willing to go to ensure they safeguard their business. His wife, Asha added: 'I was very aware they knew where we lived, you start thinking who are we actually dealing with here and how dangerous they are.' The couple say they later discovered the previous lodge owner, Paul Gordon, had not passed away as Mr O'Donovan had led them to believed. According to the BBC, he had purchased the same caravan for £140,000 in May 2021, but after just over a year he sold it to Prestige for £70,000. A MailOnline graphic detailing the hidden costs of owning a static home (pictured) The caravan site firm since told the BBC they do not condone staff behaving in a threatening or unprofessional manner and have since launched a probe. It also added the offer given to the Rosses' was due to the couple wanting to rid off the caravan quickly as well as the firm being overstocked. It maintained rental income was not assured, adding six weeks was not a great deal of time to secure booking or to make money. Elsewhere, in Allerthorpe and Country Park near York, Mark and Sandra Thompson were pushed out by increasing site fees, which were upped from £3,995 to £7,000 in a three year period. They eventually sold their lodge back to the firm after concluding the arguments were not worth the stress. But they were offered just £23,000 by a salesman for the caravan, despite having bought the lodge for £66,000 in 2019. And it was only shortly after they spotted their former property back on the market for a £110,000 sum. Mrs Thompson said: 'We were devastated because we'd taken a mortgage out for this holiday home, so we still have to pay the mortgage off.' The caravan firm said the hike in site fee was a reflection of 'growing cost operations' as well as 'the significantly enhanced offering'. Kim Graham paid £57,000 for a mobile home (pictured) from Seal Bay Resort in Hampshire two years ago, but says she was offered just £15,000 for it this year It denied to the BBC any inference of deception, adding that final decisions on listings are determined by upgrades, location and not the original value of the lodges. It also asserted the ultimate decision if a caravan stays on a site 'is a business and operational matter'. It comes after over 1,000 'ripped off' caravan owners begun legal action after claiming they have been unfairly put out of pocket to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds by greedy holiday park owners. Members of the Holiday Park Action Group (HPAG) are seeking compensation for what they say are unfair increases in annual pitch fees and misleading claims about the value of static caravans at the time of purchase. They have accused holiday parks of selling the homes at a 'significantly marked-up price' ensuring owners had substantial losses if they ever decided to sell up. Founder Carole Keeble told the BBC existing regulations were failing to protect consumers from 'unfair commercial practices' on an 'industrial scale'. The anticipated rulings in the High Court will rely on a small snapshot of test cases which could pave the way for the rest of the near 1,200 people to bring legal action to get compensation. Hugh Preston KC, the group's lawyer, said: 'It's essentially an unregulated sector, there's no statutory regulations that tell parks what to do or how to behave… and there are a wide range of issues that consumers feel they're just not getting fair value from.'
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Caravan buyers say they have been misled, ripped off and even threatened by holiday parks
When Asha and Jason Ross bought a caravan sited in a North Yorkshire holiday park, they thought they had made an investment which would provide them with a steady within a few weeks, they found themselves selling the caravan back to the holiday park company which sold it to them – at a substantial when they sought legal advice to try to recoup their losses, they say that a park employee made veiled threats to Rosses are among about 800 people who contacted BBC News, following our report on a lawsuit brought by caravan owners against allegedly unfair practices by holiday parks. The claims we heard, included:Misleading claims from sales staff about potential income from the caravanSite fees which holiday parks increased steeply and allegedly without warningFeeling pressured to sell caravans back to parks at a loss, and for significantly less than their market value 'We know where you are' Mr and Mrs Ross were looking for an investment opportunity, and thought they'd found the perfect solution when they came across Malton Grange Country Park, a static caravan site in North bought a lodge – a deluxe static caravan - for £125,000 from the site owner, Prestige Country Parks. They say they were told that it had come up for sale because the previous owner had Rosses say the company's sales manager, Patrick O'Donovan, assured them they could make a good income from renting out the lodge. They also saw social media posts from Prestige, claiming investors could make £1,000 per week this way, and that the lodge would appreciate in value, like a the advice given by industry bodies such as the National Caravan Council (NCC), is that buyers should treat a caravan as a "depreciating asset" which will fall in value over time. After six weeks, the Rosses had only received two bookings, totalling £ decided to abandon their plan, and asked the park to buy the lodge back. Mr Ross says that the park owner eventually agreed a price below what the Rosses had originally couple say their financial loss was "huge", but they are too embarrassed to admit how much it was."You feel, you feel ashamed, you feel stupid," says Mrs the couple decided to seek legal advice about recouping their losses, Mr Ross received – and recorded - a call from Mr O'Donovan, who was abusive and swore at issued what the couple interpreted as a veiled threat: "We know where you are, don't we?" Mrs Ross said the phone call left her feeling shaken: "You start thinking who are we actually dealing with here and how dangerous are they?"When we looked further into this case, we also found out that the previous lodge owner had not died, as the Rosses say Mr O'Donovan name was – and is - Paul Gordon. When we tracked him down, he alleged a similar experience to that of the Rosses - being left with no choice but to sell his caravan at a Gordon says he paid £140,000 for the same lodge in May 2021. But after 16 months he decided the site wasn't for him and sold the lodge back to Prestige for £70,000. The BBC has consulted industry insiders and estimated that this one lodge may have returned a profit for the company of about £180,000 in less than five has told the BBC that it does not condone any form of unprofessional or threatening conduct and is investigating the phone call and the information provided about previous says that the price offered was because the company was overstocked, and the couple wanted a quick sale. It also says it told them that rental income was not guaranteed and that six weeks was a short time to generate consistent bookings. 'An unregulated sector' "The holiday park sector... is essentially an unregulated sector," says Hugh Preston KC, a lawyer currently representing a group of about 1,200 caravan owners taking legal action against holiday a caravan or lodge in England is used as a permanent residence, then its owners are covered by the Mobile Home Act 1983, which gives them tenancy rights. Similar rules apply elsewhere in the United if a static caravan is a holiday home, any agreement between its buyer and a caravan site is covered by private contract law, which is much buyers face problems because they will not have studied the small print on their contract with the holiday park, according to second-hand caravan dealer Peter Preidel.A contract can often allow a park to "do what it wants, when it wants", he says, and can charge the buyer "what it wants, when it wants". The buyer, he adds, has no redress against this. Site fees A further way this power can be used is to hike site fees for the 2019, Mark and Sandra Thompson from Coventry bought a static caravan at Allerthorpe Golf and Country Park near York. The price was £66,000 including annual site fees were free for the first year, and then £3,995. But in just three years, Mr Thompson says they were facing a demand for £7,000. "I did feel bullied in the end," Mr Thompson said. "I just felt it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth all the hassle and the arguments and the stress that it was causing."It's a feeling former owners from other parks BBC interviewed one who said they felt bullied when a park company forced them to replace their wooden decking with plastic, at a cost of £20,000."It wasn't a case of you could get another contractor in and ask them for a price," he said. "It was a case of 'we are going to do it' and you had no [other] option." In September 2024, the Thompsons asked the site to buy back their sales manager offered £23,000 – little more than a third of what they had Thompson said they had no choice but to accept: "I just said, yeah, let's move on. It is making you ill."But soon after leaving, they were shocked to see their lodge back up for sale, in exactly the same lakeside spot, for £110,000 - £87,000 more than they'd been paid for it."We were devastated because we'd taken a mortgage out for this holiday home, so we still have to pay the mortgage off," says Mrs see how honest the parks were being with potential new customers, our team posed as a family interested in buying the Thompsons' former lodge, and recorded the conversation. A salesman offered to sell the caravan for £90,000 including the first year's site fees – nearly £70,000 more than the Thompsons had received for also said that site fees would only ever rise by the rate of inflation, and that the park couldn't "just put them up to £7,000" - even though this is exactly what they had planned to do, according to the Thompsons and others from the site the BBC has spoken Golf and Country Park says site fee increases "reflect the growing cost of operations" and "the significantly enhanced offering".It strongly rejects any suggestion of deception, saying "the final decision on whether a caravan remains on park is a business and operational matter and the listing price reflects significant upgrades and premium location, not simply the original unit value". We also heard from Vivian Vincent who – with her late husband, James - bought a lodge at Far Grange Holiday Park on the East Yorkshire coast in 2010, for £80, her husband's death in 2023, Mrs Vincent decided to sell. The park owner, Haven, offered to buy the lodge back for £26, wasn't long before Mrs Vincent saw her lodge being readvertised in a Haven sales video: "I gave them the keys, and two days later they put it up for £74,999, which absolutely devastated me. I've been in business, and I understand you have to make money, but this isn't right."In response, a Haven spokesman said the company was sorry Mrs Vincent felt she had been treated badly, and that it was always the company's intention to treat owners fairly, and with transparency. The spokesman added that the sale price of the lodge was considerably lower than implied in the sales video. Speaking about the industry generally, Peter Preidel says that selling caravans is how holiday parks make most of their money, and that hiking up site fees is a way of pressurising caravan owners to sell back to them."The parks can only sell as many caravans as they've got bases for," he says. "These days a lot of people will pay cash for [caravans] outright, and as soon as they have, the park would actually quite like [the buyer] to go, so they've got another base to sell again."He adds: "I know this sounds cut-throat and well, basically it is cut-throat."The NCC told us they were saddened to hear that some holiday caravan owners felt let down by the advises buyers to research their purchase and carefully read contracts before signing.
Associated Press
09-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Peakline Real Estate Funds Enters Build-to-Rent Market with Launch of New Fund
Building on its success with their QOZ and Logistics investment programs, Peakline Real Estate Funds broadens its private real estate offerings with the launch of the Peakline Real Estate BTR Fund I. CHICAGO, April 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Peakline Real Estate Funds ('PREF'), a private real estate investment firm with $1.7B equity invested, today announced the launch of the Peakline Real Estate BTR Fund I ('the Fund'). This new initiative marks PREF's entry into the growing Build-to-Rent (BTR) space. The Fund offers investors a strategic early entrance into a high-demand sector of rental housing via a geographically diversified portfolio of developments in select, supply-constrained markets. The launch underscores PREF's expansion of its suite of private real estate strategies, complementing its existing $5 Billion, 35 property portfolio in qualified opportunity zones, logistics developments, and other key real estate sectors. 'We are thrilled to add Build-to-Rent housing to PREF's portfolio, as our team continues to identify compelling private market opportunities for our investors,' said Michael Miller, Co-Founder, President, and CEO of PREF. 'Coming off the heels of our firm's renaming, this is an exciting moment to expand PREF's fund offerings. The real estate market is evolving, and we remain committed to disciplined, strategic investing that delivers smart solutions for our investors.' A Legacy of Real Estate Investment Excellence PREF's leadership team has over 50 years of experience in real estate ownership, value enhancement, portfolio and asset management and ground up development across multiple property types. The firm's origins date back to 2003, when its founders established a platform within a family office focused on opportunistic and value-add real estate investments in partnership with additional family office investors. In 2018, PREF expanded into fund management, launching its Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) fund series to capitalize on tax-advantaged real estate development opportunities, followed by its dedicated Industrial development fund series. Today, PREF continues to expand its platform, leveraging its deep expertise to identify and execute high-value investments across a diverse range of real estate sectors. Strategic Vision for Build-to-Rent The new Peakline Real Estate BTR Fund I will be led by Jason Ross, Managing Director at PREF, and aims to capitalize on the ongoing supply and demand imbalance in the rental housing market. Targeting select markets throughout the Southwest, Mountain West, and Midwest, the Fund will partner with select sponsors with local expertise. The BTR Fund will create purpose-built, single-family rental communities with high-quality shared amenities. With a focus on in-fill locations in upscale suburban markets, PREF will prioritize investments in areas with strong public school systems, employment hubs, retail and entertainment access, and high tenant demand. PREF has already identified multiple projects totaling 1,600+ units for investment. 'We're excited to partner with leading developers in our strategic markets to create rental neighborhoods that meet the growing demand for community living and modern amenities,' said Jason Ross. 'Our team is focused on delivering innovative solutions that exceed the expectations of the evolving renter, providing homes that meet diverse tenant expectations, and have a strong potential for value appreciation and income generation.' About Peakline Real Estate Funds Peakline Real Estate Funds ('PREF') is a private real estate investment firm providing direct access to real estate opportunities across multiple property types, including rental housing, industrial, office, and retail properties. PREF currently has over $1.7 billion1 in equity invested across six funds and select individual investments, totaling $5 billion in gross value across 17 million square feet in more than 15 key growth markets in the U.S. PREF is a part of Peakline Partners, an SEC-registered investment adviser and private investment firm that provides direct access to multi-faceted real estate opportunities.
