Can you live in a static caravan on a holiday park?

No, you can’t live all year round on a holiday park as static caravans and lodges on holiday parks are designed to be used as holiday homes rather than primary addresses. You must have a main address as your permanent residence, which your holiday home cannot be. This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy countless trips away — but it’s often not in a holiday park’s remit to allow permanent residence. If you did so, you’d most likely be in breach of your licence agreement.

However, people do live in their static caravan for several months at a time. Each holiday park has its own rules about maximum time that can be spent on-site per year. If you’re considering staying in your holiday home longer term, it’s worth discussing with your holiday park management team. There might be a maximum number of consecutive days that you can reside in your holiday home. This length is most often governed by the local authority in which the holiday park resides.

You must have a main address as your permanent residence, which your holiday home cannot be. If your main residence is outside of the UK, you’ll probably be required to provide proof when buying a holiday home. Similarly, if you downsize to buy a holiday home, you’ll still need to maintain a main residence.

Can you live in a static caravan all year round?

It all depends on whether your caravan is located on a residential park, or a holiday park…

What’s the difference between a residential park, and a holiday park?

The parks will have different site licences issued by the local government which determine whether they are a residential park, or a holiday park. Some parks may be a mixture of both and have areas dedicated to full-time residents, and holiday home owners.

Owning a home or caravan on a residential park means you can permanently reside there full-time. You don’t need to have another address outside of it, and you can stay there all year round if desired. You will be required to pay council tax when residing at a residential park too.

A holiday park, is just that, a place where you can holiday and spend your leisure time in your caravan or holiday lodge. You won’t be required to pay council tax at your holiday park, as you will be paying it at your primary address elsewhere. Even if the holiday park has a 12-month season, you cannot live there permanently as the site licence will not allow for it.

Before deciding if a residential or holiday park is for you, you should consider how you wish to use your caravan or home. Often caravans are designed to be used for short stays, meaning they may not be fitted with the same luxuries and storage as a home designed for full-time use, therefore it’s important to identify your needs and requirements when deciding on the location of your caravan or home. You should also consider the costs associated with both, this can include running costs such as bills and insurance, along with site fees which you will be required to pay at both residential and holiday parks. Finally, ensure the location is somewhere you want to live permanently or simply visit for holidays and is in close proximity to all essential amenities such as doctors, vets, dentists and shops.