Residential park homes
Park home pitch fees and your rights.
If you live in a park home as your main home, the law protects you far more than a holiday caravan owner. Here is how pitch fee rises work, and where the two sets of rules are often confused.
Park home or holiday caravan?
A residential park home is one you are allowed to live in all year as your only or main home, on a site licensed for residential use. That is what brings in the Mobile Homes Act 1983. A static caravan on a holiday park is a holiday home, and none of the protections below apply to it. For those, see holiday caravan owners' rights and holiday site fees.
How pitch fees can rise (England)
- Once a year, at the review date in your written statement.
- On the prescribed form. The site owner must use the official pitch fee review form. A review on the wrong form is not valid.
- Presumed to be no more than CPI. Since 2 July 2023 the inflation index is the Consumer Prices Index, not RPI. An increase above that has to be justified.
- Disputes go to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). Until it decides, you keep paying the old fee.
Selling a park home
In England, the site owner can take commission on a sale of up to 10 per cent of the price, and for homes bought or gifted since 26 May 2013 you do not need the site owner to approve your buyer. GOV.UK's park homes guide sets out the process.
Wales and Scotland
Wales has its own law for residential sites, the Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013, and Scotland has its own rules too. The protections are similar in spirit but the details differ, so check the Welsh or Scottish government guidance rather than relying on the English rules above.
Common questions
How much can a park home pitch fee go up?
In England, the Mobile Homes Act 1983 presumes the annual increase will be no more than inflation, measured by the Consumer Prices Index since the Mobile Homes (Pitch Fees) Act 2023 came into force on 2 July 2023. A site owner wanting more must justify it, and a disputed review goes to the First-tier Tribunal.
What is a pitch fee review form?
In England, a site owner proposing a new pitch fee must use the prescribed pitch fee review form. A review on the wrong form, including the old RPI form after 2 July 2023, is not valid, and you do not have to pay the proposed increase.
Do these rules apply to holiday caravans?
No. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 covers residential park homes, where you live on the site as your only or main home. A holiday caravan on a holiday park has none of these protections: its fees are set by the holiday agreement, with no inflation cap.