A caravan or mobile home on your own land

Some families put a caravan or a mobile home in the garden. It might be a spare room for visitors, or somewhere for a relative to stay close by.

The rules turn on how the caravan is used, as much as on the caravan itself. These notes follow the law in England and Wales. The rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland are different.

What counts as a caravan

In law, a caravan is a structure designed or adapted for people to live in that can be moved from place to place. It can be towed, or carried on a vehicle or trailer. A motor vehicle designed or adapted in the same way also counts. A tent does not.

A twin-unit mobile home, built in no more than two sections and bolted together on site, can still be a caravan. When assembled it must be no more than 20 metres long and 6.8 metres wide. The height inside, from the lowest floor to the highest ceiling, must be no more than 3.05 metres. Anything bigger is not a caravan in law.

One council's guide warns that porches, extensions, decking and similar additions can conflict with a structure's status as a caravan. It suggests asking the council before any work starts.

A caravan in the garden of your home

Planning law says some uses of land are not development at all. One of them is using land within the grounds of a house for any purpose incidental to enjoying that house. The law calls those grounds the curtilage.

A site licence is not needed either, when the caravan's use is incidental to enjoying the house whose grounds it stands in. The law does not list what counts as incidental. That depends on the facts of each case.

When the use goes further

A caravan is not a house in planning law. The same council guide explains that caravans do not get the permitted development rights that houses have. So a porch, a garage or decking beside one is likely to need permission.

Using land as a caravan site is itself a use of land. The council guide counts it as development, which needs planning permission. For a breach of planning control in England on or after 25 April 2024, a council generally has ten years to take action.

A caravan on a field or other land

Away from a house, the usual rule is that you need planning permission first and then a caravan site licence from the council. GOV.UK lists some cases where no licence is needed.

A site of 5 acres or more, with no more than 3 caravans there for 28 days or less a year.
Caravans for seasonal farm workers, forestry workers or people working on a building site.
A site approved by an organisation that holds a caravan exemption certificate.

A person travelling with a caravan can also stop on land for up to two nights without a licence. That only applies if no other caravan is there, and if caravans were on the land for no more than 28 days in the past twelve months.

Building regulations

Caravans are not covered by building regulations in the way buildings are. One council's guide explains that caravan site licensing controls the standards and safety of caravan accommodation instead.

Asking the council first

Anyone can ask the local planning authority whether a proposed use of land would be lawful. If it agrees, it grants a lawful development certificate. A certificate is not the same as planning permission.

A certificate covers only the use it describes. If the use later changes in a material way, the certificate does not protect it. Your local council deals with both planning and caravan site licences.