Long-term, casual occupants were told on March 21 their vans or cabins can only be sold to a purchaser for removal, at the owner’s expense.

Geoff and Mary Curnow bought their on-site van in 2013 and have made several improvements to it, including adding awnings, concreting, electrical, plumbing, a new shower and air conditioning. 

“Our investment has just gone from around $45,000 to virtually nothing,” Mary said. 

“We’d planned to hold on to it for another five years but that’s not happening now.”

Another resident, who didn’t wish to be named, bought a cabin with her father in August 2016. 

“If they’d told us this was going to happen, we would have thought about buying something else,” she said 

“There’s a lady that’s been there less than a month. Everyone’s concerned about losing their little piece of home.”

The woman said while the local managers had been helpful, she, along with Geoff and Mary, are yet to get a reply from Queensland-based Gateway Lifestyle after calling them with their concerns.

A spokesperson for Gateway Lifestyle said upgrades to infrastructure and amenities would be carried out in the future and it was necessary to put a hold on the sale of casual holiday vans and cabins until plans were finalised. A date for the start and finish of the development has not been set. 

The spokesperson said casual occupants were told about the possibility of long-term upgrades in April 2016. 

“This in no way impacts the current use by casual occupants and Gateway will continue to keep our casual occupants updated,” the spokesperson. 

However Geoff and Mary said they were concerned about their future. 

“We like Ulladulla, we looked at about 20 different caravans up the coast and we chose that one because we could resell it later and knew it wouldn’t be a problem,” Geoff said. 

“We’re worried now.”