Static caravan hidden costs: the charges to establish before you pay a deposit

Why buyers get caught out

Very few owners are misled by one enormous surprise. What happens instead is that a dozen modest charges arrive from different directions across the first two years, and the total quietly exceeds what the buyer had budgeted.

The purchase conversation covers the caravan. The pitch agreement covers the pitch. Utilities come from a meter, insurance from a policy schedule, servicing from a contractor, and resale terms from a clause nobody read on the day. None of it is secret, but it is rarely gathered into one number for you.

The fix is unglamorous. Before any deposit, ask for each charge below in writing, with the figure that applies to the exact holiday home on the exact pitch you are being shown.

What the purchase price does and does not include

Start by asking what the advertised figure actually buys. Two parks quoting similar prices can be including very different things.

• Is the price inclusive of VAT, and is anything quoted separately?
• Which furnishings, white goods, soft furnishings and outdoor furniture are included?
• Is delivery to the park included, and is siting and levelling included?
• Are gas, electricity, water and drainage connections included, or charged separately?
• Is decking, steps or a ramp included, and is the base or groundwork included with it?
• Are skirting, a gas bottle store, a shed or a parking space charged as extras?
• Is the first year's pitch fee included, part-included or payable on completion?
• What deposit is required, and in what circumstances is it refundable?

Siting, connection and decking

Siting and connection are the charges most often assumed rather than confirmed. They can also recur. If the park moves your holiday home to another pitch, or you upgrade later, siting may be charged again.

Decking is its own decision. Parks frequently specify the design, the supplier and the safety standard, which limits your ability to shop around. Ask whether decking is required at all on your pitch, who may fit it, and whether it must be removed or left behind at the end.

• The one-off cost of siting, levelling and connecting on the pitch you are buying
• Whether a fresh siting charge applies if the park relocates you
• Whether decking is required, optional or effectively expected
• Who may supply and fit decking, and what standard it must meet
• Whether decking stays with the pitch or the caravan when you sell

The annual pitch fee and how it moves

The pitch fee is the largest recurring cost for most owners, and the one with the greatest long-term effect because increases compound. A quoted figure for this season tells you very little on its own.

Ask for the actual fee charged on that pitch for each of the last five years rather than an average or a percentage. The pattern is the answer.

• The exact current fee for that pitch, not a park-wide starting figure
• The fee charged in each of the last five years
• How increases are calculated, and whether any cap applies
• When the fee is invoiced, and whether instalments carry a charge
• Whether the fee changes when the holiday home is sold or transferred

• Static caravan site fees explained

Utilities, rates and waste

Gas, electricity and water are normally metered and billed by the park rather than by a supplier you choose. Ask how the tariff is set, how often it is reviewed and whether a standing charge applies across the closed season when you are not there.

Business rates, council charges and waste collection are handled differently from park to park. On some they sit inside the pitch fee, on others they arrive as separate annual invoices. Confirm which, in writing.

• How gas, electricity and water are metered and what tariff applies
• Whether standing charges continue outside the season
• Whether rates, waste and grounds charges are inside or outside the pitch fee
• Whether any levy applies for site improvements or facilities

Insurance requirements

Parks usually require insurance to a specified standard. That is reasonable. What matters commercially is whether you may arrange your own cover, or whether the park requires or strongly steers you towards its own scheme.

Ask for the minimum cover requirements in writing so you can obtain independent quotes and compare like with like.

• The minimum cover the park requires
• Whether you may use your own insurer, and what evidence is needed
• Whether any administration charge applies for using external cover
• Whether cover requirements change if you sublet

Servicing, safety checks and winter drain-down

Annual gas safety and servicing work is a recurring cost and is often a condition of the pitch agreement. Some parks require their own engineers, which affects the price you will pay.

Winter drain-down, re-commissioning in spring and any storage or protection arrangements during the closed period are separate again. These are small individually and add up reliably.

• Annual gas safety check and boiler or heating service
• Any required electrical or habitation inspection
• Whether the park's own contractor must be used
• Winter drain-down and spring re-commissioning charges
• Any storage, covering or protection charges during the closed period

Subletting and managed letting deductions

If you intend to let the holiday home, the figure that matters is what reaches your bank account, not the headline weekly rate. Commission, cleaning, laundry, booking fees, linen, extra wear and higher insurance all sit between the two.

Also establish whether letting is permitted at all for your holiday home and pitch, whether it must go through the park's scheme, and whether those terms can change during your agreement.

• Whether private letting is permitted, or only through the park's scheme
• The commission and fixed deductions applied to each booking
• Cleaning, laundry, linen and booking charges
• Additional safety certification or insurance required for letting
• Whether the park controls pricing, guest rules and available weeks

• Can you sublet a static caravan on a holiday park?

Resale commission, removal and transport

The exit costs are the least discussed and often the most expensive surprise. Ask about them on the way in, when you still have leverage, rather than on the way out when you do not.

If the park sells on your behalf, commission applies. If you sell privately, there may be conditions, transfer charges or restrictions. If the holiday home leaves the park, disconnection, removal and transport are chargeable, and so is making good the pitch.

• Commission charged if the park sells the holiday home for you
• Whether private sale on the pitch is permitted, and on what terms
• Any transfer or administration fee on a change of ownership
• Disconnection, removal and transport charges
• Any charge for clearing decking, bases or the pitch itself
• What happens to the holiday home at the end of the licence period

• How long can you keep a static caravan on a holiday park?

Upgrade and replacement implications

Upgrading sounds like a straightforward part-exchange. In practice it can reset siting charges, change the pitch fee, change the licence period and change the pitch you occupy.

Ask what an upgrade in three or five years would involve before you assume it is an easy option.

• How a part-exchange valuation would be calculated
• Whether a fresh siting and connection charge applies
• Whether the pitch fee band changes with a larger holiday home
• What licence period a replacement holiday home would receive
• Whether you keep the same pitch

What UK price transparency law says

There is a general consumer protection point worth knowing, though it is about how prices are advertised rather than about holiday parks specifically.

Under UK consumer law, businesses that sell, advertise, market or otherwise promote products to consumers must present mandatory fees clearly and include unavoidable charges in the total price shown upfront. Hiding unavoidable mandatory fees until later in the process, sometimes called drip pricing, is illegal. The Competition and Markets Authority has said breaches can attract fines of up to 10 per cent of turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater. This reflects official CMA and GOV.UK guidance updated on 7 January 2026.

Two cautions, because the detail matters. This is general price transparency law, not a ruling about static caravan parks. And it does not mean every future or variable ownership cost, such as a pitch fee that changes each year or metered utilities, must be folded into an advertised purchase price. It does mean that unavoidable mandatory charges should not be revealed only once you are deep into the process.

If a charge appears late and you were never told about it, that is worth questioning rather than accepting.

• CMA guidance: providing clear and accurate information about prices

Before you pay a deposit: the checklist

Work through this in one sitting, with the park, and ask for the answers in writing. A park that is comfortable with its own numbers will not mind.

• Get a written breakdown of the purchase price and everything it includes
• Confirm siting, connection, decking and groundwork costs separately
• Get the exact pitch fee for that pitch, plus the last five years of actual fees
• Confirm how increases are calculated and whether they are capped
• Ask which charges sit outside the pitch fee entirely
• Establish utility metering, tariffs and out-of-season standing charges
• Confirm whether rates and waste charges are separate
• Get the insurance requirement in writing and obtain your own quotes
• Confirm annual servicing, safety checks and who must carry them out
• Confirm drain-down, re-commissioning and any closed-season charges
• If letting matters, get the permission and every deduction in writing
• Get resale commission, transfer fees, removal and transport costs now
• Confirm the licence length and what happens at the end of it
• Ask what an upgrade in five years would cost and change
• Add every figure into a total for the years you expect to own
• Take at least a week to decide, whatever the offer on the day

• Open the free viewing checklist
• Run the true ownership cost calculator

Turn the answers into one number

Individually, none of these charges looks decisive. Together, across ten years, they routinely exceed the purchase price. That is not an argument against buying. It is an argument for knowing the figure before you commit rather than discovering it in instalments.

Put your written answers into the ownership cost calculator, include the compounding pitch fee increase, and divide the net total by the number of nights you will realistically use. That single number is the one worth sleeping on.

• How much does a static caravan really cost?
• Questions to ask before buying a holiday home