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Re: Travel Trailer (Park Model) in Florida - Tie Downs - Help!
hohenwald48 wrote: I think a lot of municipalities have a problem with this. Some more than others. A family moves into a RV park, sets up housekeeping, uses the fire, police and public school systems and don't pay any property tax to cover their fair share of those expenses. Governments are doing what they can to recover those costs and I think they should. It's only fair to the other tax payers. Property taxes to the RV park owner don't cover those costs so they don't get passed on to the resident. RV parks are intended for tourists not full time residents. If you tie it down you are no longer a tourist. I think some states (WA I believe) even have a limit on the number of nights you can use an RV before it gets reclassified as a full time residence and taxed accordingly. Good point and I am not disagreeing with this - other than tying it down no longer makes me a tourist. So if I come for a month and tie it down, I am now a full time resident? I don't plan on being a full timer in a RV park. Maybe winter time. I may want to take it with me to TN part of the year (RV park that I like there). So it may not be in FL the whole time. Over there I would not even worry about tying it down. My point is that I am not a permanent resident. It is not a mobile home. With the county, no one mentioned size, no one mentioned park model. Only tying it down was asked. Tie it down and it is "permanent". They also said that if I don't tie it down then it's fine because it will then be considered temporary. OK, I guess I don't tie it down and there is no foul. My posting was merely to get feedback from people that have run into this themselves and what they did (or didn't do). I have a hard time thinking that putting these so called "anchors" 3 feet into dirt is really making it "permanent" anyway. It probably won't do much if a hurricane hit - I bet the "tie downs" will rip right out of the dirt and flip the travel trailer over as Old Biscuit said.1.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Travel Trailer (Park Model) in Florida - Tie Downs - Help!
BubbaChris wrote: Governments need money to run, and provide services. You've obviously run across a boundary point that is important to your local government. And they've determined that a park model effectively being treated as a manufactured home is worthy of appropriate fees/taxes. Sorry you ran into this speed bump in your plans. When you consider the big picture, I hope you make an appropriate choice and are able to enjoy your new home. Bubba, I appreciate your input, but there may be a misunderstanding. When I called, I never said park model. I only said travel trailer. They never asked size and I never told them any size. The words were travel trailer and if you tie it down it is considered permanent. The same conversation would have happened if I had a 13' Scamp and wanted to tie it down.1.2KViews0likes0CommentsRe: Travel Trailer (Park Model) in Florida - Tie Downs - Help!
Old-Biscuit wrote: Forget about 'tying it down' Travel Trailer/Park model is NOT built like a Mobile Home or Manufactured Home. Tie Downs in dirt will only give YOU the false sense of safety. Hurricane will just rip out those tie downs flip that trailer over. IF hurricane happens you should already be gone to a SAFE place. NOT in that trailer. Tie downs -----permanent--- are labor intensive, expensive and MUST be done to code Thanks Old Biscuit - I see your point and I was thinking the same thinking the same thing about the tie downs in the dirt. Not sure how they consider those tie downs - only a few feet long - into the dirt makes it "permanent". It reminded me of putting up a tent and putting those little stakes in the ground to prevent it from getting blown away in the wind and saying it makes it permanent. Tie downs in the dirt don't really make it "permanent" - at least to me. It would just get ripped out of the dirt with a hurricane. If a hurricane does come, you better believe I am out of there - someone's house or a shelter somewhere where I know I will be safe.356Views0likes0CommentsRe: Travel Trailer (Park Model) in Florida - Tie Downs - Help!
Thank you for your input Dennis. It is 398 square feet inside. The length of the unit itself is 33 feet long - add a few more feet for the tongue. From what they said, if I just do not tie it down then the fees are not required. Maybe I will do this instead and keep it "temporary". I am a bit discouraged with this. Maybe I will turn around and sell the unit and get a motor home - not sure. In this case, SIZE does NOT matter to them. They never asked about size when I called. I never told them it was a Park Model travel trailer and they never asked. I simply just said "travel trailer" and nothing else. They basically said that ANY travel trailer that will be tied down will be considered permanent. Which means even if you had a smaller 16' RPOD travel trailer or even a tiny 13' Scamp. It did not matter the size of the unit - only if it was to be "tied down".152Views0likes0CommentsTravel Trailer (Park Model) in Florida - Tie Downs - Help!
Sorry if this has been covered before, but I am so frazzled and really need advice/input from you all. I just bought a Travel Trailer (Park Model) that I am going to use at a RV lot. Someone informed me to call the county for a tie down permit - I called them and they informed me that if I plan to tie it down it then makes my travel trailer a "permanent" structure and I will have to pay $7,000 to do this. To tie it down, they pull a mobile home residential building permit and the hefty fees goes to schools, police, fire etc. I told her that this is not a mobile home - the title clearly states that it is a "travel trailer". They said that the closest thing that have for this fee is "mobile home" and it would fall in that category anyway (even though it is NOT a mobile home). FYI - the RV place doesn't even allow mobile homes or manufactured homes, but they allow park models of course as it is a travel trailer. I informed them that I would only want to tie it down just in case if a hurricane /strong winds happened to keep it from moving around and it may be moved half the year to somewhere else, depending on where we go. They told me that if it is going to be considered temporary and we don't tie it down, then it won't be considered permanent and we won't have to pay the fee. This makes no sense to me. The tie downs only go into the dirt and is not permanent like cement. The only purpose is to prevent the thing from flying around in high winds. When I told them it wasn't a mobile home, they basically said "it's the same thing if you tie it down" because that is the "closest category" that they have. The wheels and axles stay on the park model, unlike a mobile home. Can anyone shed some light on their experience with this? Someone told me to just tie it down anyway for safety of the vehicle AND for the others in the park next to me. I don't want to do anything that will get me in big trouble just because I want things to be safe. Any input would greatly help. Thank you. PS - if you would feel more comfortable answering me privately and not publicly, please feel free to send me a private message instead. Thank you.4.7KViews0likes18Comments
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