Owning one
The costs of owning a static caravan
The 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.
On this page
At a glance
- The pitch fee is usually the biggest yearly bill — Parkdean Resorts quotes £3,250 to £12,495 a year for 2026, including VAT.
- Holiday caravans don’t pay council tax: the park pays business rates and may recharge you.
- Insurance is compulsory under your agreement, and your policy must meet the park’s requirements.
- There are no official national averages for running costs or depreciation — get your own park’s figures.
What to budget for
The NCC’s list of yearly costs to expect is: pitch fees, rates, insurance, electricity, gas (LPG), winterisation, and optional extras such as gym or spa access. On top of that come safety checks, any finance repayments and the value the caravan loses.
The pitch fee
The pitch fee is the yearly charge for keeping your caravan on its pitch and for the pitch services listed in your agreement.
- Parkdean Resorts (2026): site fees from £3,250 to £12,495 a year, including 20% VAT, depending on the park, where the pitch is and the size of the caravan. Parks with longer owners’ seasons tend to charge more, and on parks that aren’t open all year the fee includes winter storage.
- Park Holidays UK (2026): holiday home pitch fees from £3,245 and lodge pitch fees from £4,745, billed in late summer for the following year or payable by monthly direct debit. It lists grounds maintenance, refuse collection, lighting, a security gate, a warden, broadband, and upkeep of and access to facilities such as pools among the things the fee covers.
Offers of “free pitch fees” for a period exist — Parkdean advises budgeting for the full fee once any offer ends. Holiday park pitch fees carry 20% VAT. For how fees go up each year, see the licence agreement.
Rates, not council tax
Holiday caravans on holiday parks don’t pay council tax — a caravan pitch is only domestic property if the caravan is someone’s sole or main home, which a holiday park doesn’t allow. Instead the park operator pays business rates for the whole site and may recharge owners; for VAT the recharge counts as part of the pitch fee. The Valuation Office Agency says that by law the operator is the rateable occupier of privately owned caravans on its park, and they aren’t valued separately.
If a council asks you for council tax on a holiday caravan, the NCC says you should tell the council it is a holiday unit.
Example: Parkdean’s combined recharge for local authority rates, water and sewerage ranges from £340 to £1,500 a year, depending on the park (2026).
Gas, electricity and water
NCC member parks must resell electricity and mains gas at the price they pay — they may add a reasonable admin fee for infrastructure and meter reading — and mustn’t sell LPG, bottled or piped, above the gas supplier’s recommended retail price. The NCC model agreement says the park won’t charge more than the law allows, such as Ofgem’s maximum resale price rules for electricity.
Example: at Parkdean every pitch has an electricity meter, read and billed quarterly at cost; gas is either piped (billed quarterly) or bottled (bought on the park at the supplier’s recommended price).
Separately metered electricity and gas carry 5% VAT; metered water and sewerage are zero-rated.
Insurance
Insurance is a condition of the licence agreement. You can buy the park’s policy or your own, but your own must meet the park’s written requirements and you must show proof each year. Holiday caravan insurance usually doesn’t include alternative accommodation in the way that home insurance does.
The NCC model agreement expects cover against the usual risks — fire, storm, flood, theft, escape of water, frost damage, falling trees, subsidence, accidental damage and so on — for enough to replace the caravan with a new similar one at the park’s retail price, plus removing the wreckage and re-siting, and liability cover of at least £2,000,000. Under HARPA’s model, if you use your own insurer you give the park a copy each year and may pay a yearly “insurance check fee”.
Example: Parkdean gives about £335 a year as a typical premium through its broker (2026); the cost depends on the caravan’s value, age, size and location and on the cover. If you let the caravan you’ll need a policy that allows letting.
Safety checks
For your own use there’s no law requiring a yearly gas check, but parks commonly make one a condition of the agreement — and it becomes a legal duty if you let the caravan. Example (Parkdean, 2026): an annual gas test at £100 and an electrical test every three years at £120, booked through the park. See safety.
Winterising
The NCC lists winterisation among the yearly costs. Parkdean, for example, offers annual winterisation to protect against frost and damp as a paid service. Drain-down services carry 20% VAT. See maintenance and winterising.
TV licence
You only need a separate TV licence for a static caravan if someone is watching live TV or using BBC iPlayer at your main home at the same time, or if the caravan is your main home. Otherwise your home licence covers it, and TV Licensing asks you to send a signed “non-simultaneous use declaration”. The colour licence fee shown on GOV.UK in October 2026 was £180. Parkdean says owners in its letting scheme need a separate licence.
One-off costs when you buy or leave
- Siting and connection: for a new caravan, budget for transport from the factory, siting it on the pitch and connecting it to water, electricity and drainage.
- Removal: if you take the caravan off the park, you pay the park’s disconnection and removal charges. Under the NCC model these must be reasonable and no more than a written quote you get from a third party.
The value it loses
The NCC says a holiday caravan is a depreciating asset whose resale value will be less than you paid; HARPA compares it to a car, and Parkdean says it isn’t a financial investment. We found no official figure for how much value a caravan loses each year, so our calculator lets you enter your own estimate.
Finance
If you’re paying in instalments, add the repayments. As an example of an operator’s own published figures (October 2026), Park Holidays quoted finance on a pre-owned 2014 caravan with a cash price of £19,995, a £3,500 deposit, 84 months and a representative APR of 8.9%, including siting, connection and the season’s pitch fee.
| Pitch fee | park price list |
|---|---|
| Rates, water and sewerage recharge | park price list |
| Electricity and gas | your bills |
| Insurance | your premium |
| Gas and electrical checks | park price list |
| Winterising | park price list |
| Finance repayments | your agreement |
| Add them up in the running-cost calculator, with the value the caravan loses. | |
Sources
Checked 6 October 2026. We wrote this guide from these sources, in our own words:
- NCC: Q&As before buying a holiday caravan or lodge (2025) (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC Best Practice Guidance for Holiday Parks (February 2025) (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC model Combined Purchase and Licence Agreement (June 2024) (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC: Making the best use of your holiday caravan (2025) (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC: guidance for consumers thinking of buying a holiday caravan or lodge (thencc.org.uk)
- HARPA model holiday caravan Licence Agreement (December 2025) (bhhpa.org.uk)
- UK Parks (HARPA): Buying a holiday caravan FAQs (ukparks.com)
- Parkdean Resorts: pitch fee guide (parkdeanresorts.co.uk)
- Parkdean Resorts: running costs (parkdeanresorts.co.uk)
- Park Holidays UK: running costs (parkholidays.com)
- Park Holidays UK: finance (parkholidays.com)
- HMRC VAT Notice 701/20: caravans and houseboats (gov.uk)
- Local Government Finance Act 1988, section 66 (legislation.gov.uk)
- VOA: How we value caravan sites (valuationoffice.blog.gov.uk)
- GOV.UK: Park homes — charges (gov.uk)
- TV Licensing: mobile homes and caravans (tvlicensing.co.uk)
- GOV.UK: TV licence (gov.uk)
- GOV.UK: Letting out a self-catering holiday home in England (gov.uk)
Travel Trailers is an independent guide. It is not owned by, or connected to, any holiday park operator, caravan manufacturer, dealer or trade body. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.