The basics
Holiday park rules: seasons, site licences and the holiday-use rule
Every 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.
On this page
At a glance
- A park needs a site licence from the council, and it can only get one if the land has planning permission for a caravan site.
- The planning permission and licence set the opening season — often 10 or 11 months, sometimes 12.
- A 12-month holiday park still isn’t somewhere you can live: you must have a main home elsewhere.
- NCC member parks check your main address when you buy and at least once a year after that.
Site licences and planning permission
In Great Britain it is an offence to use land as a caravan site without a site licence from the local council (section 1 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960). A council can only issue a licence if the land has planning permission for use as a caravan site, and once that permission exists it must normally issue the licence within two months.
The council can attach conditions to the licence (section 5), including:
- limits on when caravans may be stationed on the land for people to live in — in other words, the opening season;
- the total number and types of caravans;
- layout and spacing, and landscaping;
- fire precautions and sanitary facilities.
In England and Wales, conditions can’t duplicate fire safety matters already covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005; in Scotland the equivalent law is the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005.
Breaking a licence condition is an offence. After two or more previous convictions a court can revoke the licence on the council’s application, and the council can carry out the required work itself and recover the cost.
For holiday parks in England, councils setting conditions must have regard to the government’s Model Standards 1989: Holiday Caravan Sites, which cover things like the spacing between caravans, roads and fire points — see safety. Northern Ireland licenses caravan sites under its own law, the Caravans Act (Northern Ireland) 1963 as amended in 2011 — see Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The opening season
The longest a park may open each year is set by its planning permission and/or site licence. The NCC says many parks have permission for 12 months, but it is more common to open for 10 or 11, and a park may choose a shorter season — for example to carry out maintenance while it is closed. HARPA (formerly BH&HPA) says some parks are open all year and many close for two or three months in winter. The open dates must be in your licence agreement.
Some parks also limit how long you can stay in one go. The NCC gives “no longer than 60 consecutive days” as an example; a limit like that may come from the site licence or from your agreement.
Don’t confuse the season (the months each year you can use the caravan) with the agreement period (the number of years you can keep it on the pitch) — see the licence agreement.
The holiday-use rule: you can’t live there
Planning permissions for holiday parks commonly carry holiday occupancy conditions: units are for holidays only, mustn’t be anyone’s sole or main home, and the operator must keep an up-to-date register of owners and occupiers and their main home addresses for the council to inspect. These standard conditions came from government planning guidance published in 2006 (withdrawn in 2014) and are still widely used by councils.
The NCC is clear about what that means for you:
- you must have a main home to return to;
- you can’t move in temporarily while you sell or renovate your house;
- retiring doesn’t change the rule;
- downsizing your house to pay for a holiday caravan is fine — but only if you still keep a main home.
HARPA adds that owners shouldn’t commute to a local job from the caravan, register with a local GP or put children in local schools, and should be registered to vote at their main home. A “paper” postal address isn’t enough. It also says that a salesperson who tells you that you can live on a holiday park is misleading you — and that doing so is illegal.
Councils treat things like working locally, permanent GP registration, children at local schools and family living there as evidence that the rule is being broken. Even retired people must have a main home elsewhere, and leaving for one closed month a year doesn’t make living there lawful.
If your main home is abroad, the NCC says it can count as your main residence as long as it genuinely is your main home (not a holiday let) and you can show you own it or have the right to live there.
How parks check
NCC member parks should check your permanent address when you buy and at least once a year after that, keeping records and copies of the evidence. The register should be available to the council’s site licensing officer.
The park will usually ask for three documents. The NCC’s list of acceptable proof includes:
- a council tax bill (or the overseas equivalent);
- an electoral roll entry at another address;
- a utility bill less than three months old;
- an insurance document or a benefits book;
- a bank, building society or credit card statement showing transactions in the last three months;
- a housing association or assured shorthold tenancy agreement;
- confirmation from the Land Registry, or an original letter from HMRC.
Mobile phone bills, passports, birth certificates and out-of-date bills or statements aren’t normally accepted. A relative’s address only counts if you genuinely live there.
Paying council tax on the caravan, or claiming housing benefit towards the pitch fee, suggests you are living there — and would break a holiday agreement.
What happens if the rule is broken
- The park can treat it as a breach of your licence agreement: normally a warning first, then ending the agreement and requiring you to remove the caravan if it isn’t put right.
- The council can take planning enforcement action against the park and the occupier, for example an enforcement notice, and can use planning contravention notices to demand information.
- You get no residential protection. Holiday parks aren’t “protected sites”, so someone living in a holiday caravan has none of the rights of the Mobile Homes Act 1983. The NCC warns that people who do this risk becoming homeless.
Sources
Checked 6 October 2026. We wrote this guide from these sources, in our own words:
- Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, section 1 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, section 3 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, section 5 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, section 9 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Model Standards 1989: Holiday Caravan Sites (council-hosted copy) (wirral.gov.uk)
- Caravans Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (legislation.gov.uk)
- NCC: Making the best use of your holiday caravan (2025) (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC Best Practice Guidance for Holiday Parks (February 2025) (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC: guidance for consumers thinking of buying a holiday caravan or lodge (thencc.org.uk)
- NCC: 10 things to know before buying (thencc.org.uk)
- HARPA: Thinking of buying a caravan? (harpa.org.uk)
- UK Parks (HARPA): Buying a holiday caravan FAQs (ukparks.com)
- GOV.UK: Good Practice Guide on Planning for Tourism (withdrawn) (gov.uk)
- Cotswold District Council: guidance for holiday accommodation (cotswold.gov.uk)
- Caravan Sites Act 1968, section 1 (protected sites) (legislation.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.