Can anyone throw some light on the subject of moving into a touring caravan.
Our house is on the market , and we don’t want to lose a sale if someone puts in an offer.
Therefore we have decided to move into our touring caravan, if we accept an offer.
It will only be until we find somewhere to live. How do we stand with the legalities of having no place of abode, as such. We will be using our daughters address for post and parcels, but what about council tax.
We will using the caravan as our main residence, until we find somewhere to live.
I’m sure there’s other implications which I have overlooked, but would be grateful for your input.
One of the biggest handicaps is touring sites are only allowed to have you stay for 21 or 28 days in any continuous period, it's part of their local authority licence to operate terms, and designed to stop residential occupation. You have to move off site for at least 24 hours before being able to start another 21/28 day period. Not unknown for a few sites to overlook this, but no guaranty and risk of being asked to leave at no notice if authorities become aware. Less of an issue if you have a roadworthy tow car and caravan, you can simply flip between convenient sites for as long as you need, with the caveat that many sites close down for the winter months!
We did this some years ago, but only as a stop-gap between selling one house and completing on the other. We also had a touring holiday in the meantime. We camped on a local farm.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
Should not be an issue. We stayed on the same site for 10 months of the year no problem and we live din our touring caravan for 2 1/2 years. In that time we did not have to pay council tax as we were not permanent on site. The council have better things to do than checking to see if you have stayed too long. It is only the clubs that impose the 28 rule.
The two and a half years on site was wonderful and so relaxed. We would have continued to stay on site for a lot longer, but unfortunately medical issues got in the way and we had to move back under brick and tile.
Hopefully you have a large caravan with as full size awning. Go for it!
As far as legalities go, my understanding is that it is perfectly legal to live in a touring caravan with "no fixed abode".
The legal bit applies to the land the caravan is on, hence the reason for (probably) having to move around every so often if the site is proactive about complying with terms of the site licence.
You will still be paying a form of council tax, as whenever you stay on any caravan site the site itself pays business rates, which your pitch fee will contribute to.
As said above, there are plenty of threads here and elsewhere about living full time in a touring van/motorhome, and it is not unusual for people in between selling and buying, or working away from home, to be living in a tourer. Your biggest problem is likely to be if you have not found anywhere by winter, when a lot of sites close.
IF you need to set up anything like a PO box, diverted post etc., do it while you still live in your house - most of these need to know your "proper" address to be set up.
So you get a buyer and sale goes through then you move out. All your furniture etc goes into storage which you pay for.
At some stage you find somewhere you like and agree to buy. You apply for a mortgage and then have to wait for the seller to find somewhere they want to buy . That could be quite a while as you are still in a chain which could grow quite large.
Unless you buy new and wait for it to be built which can still have holdups.
Quote: Originally posted by 123SIMON on 07/6/2025
Hi there, many thanks for reply. I will look into a PO BOX.
We tour most of the year anyway, so we should be hardened to the great British weather. 😂
Insurance companies and the DVLA do not take kindly to a PO Box as it could be registered to anyone and any address. I would forget about a PO Box address as it will probably cause hassles.
When insuring anything you can always state the caravan site address as the place where the car is kept over night.
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Topic: Living in a touring caravan
via mobile 06/6/2025 at 9:41pm
