What a pitch fee or site fee generally covers
Buy a static caravan or lodge that’s going onto a holiday park, and on top of the price of the unit itself you’ll usually pay the park an annual pitch fee (sometimes called a site fee or ground rent). Broadly, that fee is what keeps your plot usable and the park running as a whole: the ground your unit sits on, upkeep of communal facilities such as roads, drainage and any shared amenities, and site services like refuse collection, grounds maintenance and security.
What’s actually bundled into that figure varies a great deal from one park to the next — some fold in things like water, gas or insurance, others bill those separately, and some parks have quite different fee structures depending on plot size or position. We’d be doing you a disservice if we quoted a typical figure or a typical inclusions list here, because there genuinely isn’t one that holds true park to park. Treat this section as a general shape of what you’re paying for, not a number to budget against.
Fees are usually reviewed annually — always ask for the current figure and the history
Most parks review their pitch fees once a year, and it’s common for the fee to rise at each review rather than stay flat. That’s worth planning around, not just accepting on faith — before you commit to a unit on a particular park, ask the park directly for the current pitch fee in writing, and ask how it’s moved over the last few years. A park that’s happy to show you a clear history of modest, predictable increases tells you something useful; one that’s cagey about the question tells you something too.
It’s also worth asking what triggers a review, and whether there’s any cap or formula involved, or whether it’s entirely at the park’s discretion. Every park sets its own approach, so there’s no universal rule we can give you here that would actually be reliable — the only way to know is to ask the specific park you’re considering, and to get the answer in writing rather than relying on what you’re told verbally on the day.
What “licence length” means, and why it matters for resale and inheritance
Alongside the pitch fee, every park operates under its own site licence, which sets out how long a given unit is allowed to remain in place — sometimes expressed as a fixed number of years from the unit’s manufacture date, sometimes tied to the age or condition of the unit itself. In plain terms: “years remaining on licence” is roughly how much time is left before that particular caravan or lodge needs to be removed from that particular pitch, under that park’s own rules.
This matters more than it might first seem. A unit with plenty of years left on its licence is generally easier to sell on and holds its position on the park for longer, which matters if you’re planning to pass it on to family or leave it as part of an estate. A unit nearing the end of its licence may still have years of good use in it, but a buyer — or an executor — will need to know exactly how long, and what happens next: whether the park allows an extension, a like-for-like replacement, or requires the unit to come off site entirely. None of that is something we can generalise for you, because licence terms are set individually by each park and can differ significantly even between parks a few miles apart.
Questions worth asking the park operator directly
Before you commit to a pitch, it’s worth speaking to the park’s office or site manager yourself — not relying on secondhand information — and asking for the answers in writing wherever possible, so there’s something to refer back to later. Useful questions include:
- What is the current annual pitch fee, and what does it include?
- How has the fee changed over the last five years or so?
- How many years remain on this particular unit’s licence?
- What happens when the licence expires — can it be renewed, extended, or does the unit need to be replaced or removed?
- Is the pitch for holiday use only, or does it allow longer or year-round stays?
- Are there restrictions that would affect resale or passing the unit on to family?
A park with nothing to hide will generally be happy to put straightforward answers to straightforward questions in writing. If you’re not getting clear answers, that’s worth weighing up before you commit.
Showground stock versus a unit already sited on a park
It’s worth being clear about where our own stock fits into all this. The preloved static caravans and lodges on our showground at Wainhouse Corner, near Bude, are typically not yet sited on a park when you view and buy them — you’re buying the unit itself, viewable and walkable on the ground with us, and delivery and siting can be arranged separately once you’ve chosen where it’s going.
That’s a different situation to buying a unit that’s already sited and trading on a specific park, where the pitch fee, licence terms and site rules are already fixed by that park and effectively come with the purchase. If you’ve already got a pitch or a park in mind for a unit from our showground, everything above still applies — it’s simply a conversation you’ll have directly with that park’s operator, rather than something we set or control. We’re always happy to talk through how siting typically works if it’s new to you.
This guide is general background, not legal or financial advice, and pitch fees, licence terms and park rules vary widely from one park to another — always confirm the specifics with the park in question before you buy.