The guides
Static caravan guides
From “what exactly is a static caravan?” to selling one and sorting out a dispute. Every guide lists its sources and shows when it was last checked.
The basics
What a static caravan is, how holiday parks work, and how the rules differ around the UK.
- What is a static caravan?A static caravan is a caravan kept on a pitch at a holiday park and used for holidays. Here is what the law counts as a caravan, and how a static differs from a holiday lodge, a residential park home and a touring caravan.
- Holiday park rules: seasons, site licences and the holiday-use ruleEvery holiday park works within a site licence and planning permission from the council. Together they set when the park can open — and, almost always, that nobody can live there. Here is how the rules work and how parks check.
- Holiday home or residential park home?They can look alike, but a holiday caravan and a residential park home are treated very differently in law. A park home can be your main home and comes with statutory rights; a holiday caravan can’t be, and in Great Britain doesn’t.
- Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: what’s differentMost of the rules for holiday caravans are the same across Great Britain, but dates, park home law and consumer advice services differ — and Northern Ireland gives holiday caravan owners statutory rights that the rest of the UK doesn’t.
Buying one
New or used, from a park or privately, the licence agreement and VAT.
- Buying a static caravanWhen you buy a static caravan you’re buying two things — the caravan, and a licence to keep it on a pitch for a set number of years. How buying from a park compares with buying privately, new with used, how people pay, and what your consumer rights are.
- The licence (pitch) agreement: what to checkYour licence agreement with the park decides how long the caravan can stay on its pitch, what you pay and how that changes, whether you can let or sell it, and how the agreement can end. Read it before you buy — here’s what to look for.
- VAT on static caravansThe VAT on a new static caravan depends on its size and the standard it’s built to — 20%, 5% or zero. Pitch fees on holiday parks carry 20%. Here is how HMRC’s rules work.
Owning one
Running costs, letting it out, maintenance, winterising and safety.
- The costs of owning a static caravanThe price of the caravan is only the start. Every year there’s the pitch fee, rates, gas and electricity, insurance, safety checks and winterising — and the caravan loses value. What to budget for, with operators’ own 2026 figures as examples.
- Letting your caravan outWhether you can let your static caravan depends on your agreement — and many parks don’t allow private letting. If you can, there are rules on tax, gas safety, fire safety and insurance to follow.
- Maintenance and winterisingYour agreement makes you responsible for keeping the caravan in good repair, safe, and able to be moved. What that means in practice, plus damp, using the caravan in winter, and draining down before the frosts.
- Safety: gas, electrics, carbon monoxide and fireGas and electrical checks, carbon monoxide alarms, and the fire safety rules that shape how holiday parks are laid out — what the law says, what’s recommended, and what changes if you let the caravan.
Selling & sorting problems
Selling your caravan, and what to do when something goes wrong.
- Selling your static caravanThere are three ways to sell — back to the park, privately to a buyer who stays on the pitch, or off the park altogether. Each has its own costs, and the transfer fee on a private sale on the pitch has no legal cap.
- Complaints and disputesIf something goes wrong with your park, start with its own complaints procedure. On NCC member parks you can then use the NCC’s free dispute service and, after that, the Independent Case Examiner. The route, the time limits and who else can help.