The 20-Year Rule on Holiday Parks: What Caravan Owners Should Know

It usually arrives as a letter. Your caravan has reached the end of its permitted life on the park, and it needs to be replaced or removed by the end of the season. Often there's an upgrade offer attached, with a part-exchange figure for your current van.

Owners tend to call this the "20-year rule", though the actual limit varies from park to park and agreement to agreement. Some parks set a maximum age in years, others tie it to a model year. Whatever yours says, it's worth understanding what the rule really is before you agree to anything.

The 20-year rule isn't a law

There's no law that says a holiday caravan must leave a park once it reaches a certain age. The rule comes from your own licence agreement or the park rules, so its force depends entirely on what your paperwork says and whether that term is fair.

That matters because holiday caravans generally don't have the statutory protection that residential park homes get under the Mobile Homes Act 1983. For most holiday owners, the main protection is the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which says a term in a consumer contract isn't binding on you if it's unfair.

Why parks have age limits

To be fair to parks, there are genuine reasons for an age policy. Older units can look tired, need more maintenance, and put pressure on shared services. Parks also have duties under their own site licence to keep the site in good order.

There's a commercial side too. When an older caravan leaves, the pitch becomes free for a new unit, usually sold by the park. Both things can be true at once, which is why the useful question isn't whether age limits are allowed in general. It's whether the way the rule is being applied to you is fair.

When an age limit may be unfair

Under the Consumer Rights Act, a term can be unfair if it creates a significant imbalance between you and the park, to your detriment, contrary to good faith. Written terms must also be transparent, which means plain, intelligible language that a reasonable person could understand.

The Act includes a list of terms that may be regarded as unfair. Two are especially relevant here:

- Terms that let the business change the contract on its own without a valid reason that's set out in the contract. An age limit introduced or shortened after you bought could fall into this territory.

- Terms that let the business end the contract at its discretion, or without reasonable notice.

Older guidance from the Office of Fair Trading, written specifically about holiday caravan agreements, took the view that a caravan's actual condition should matter more than its age alone. That guidance was withdrawn in 2017 and replaced by the CMA's general guidance on unfair terms, so treat it as background rather than the current legal position. The principle behind it is still a useful one to test your own situation against.

Questions worth asking about your own situation

Was the age limit there when you bought?

Check your original agreement. If the limit wasn't in it, or has been tightened since, that's significant. Changes often follow a new park owner or a new agreement issued at renewal.

Were you told about it at the point of sale?

If you were told the caravan would last 20 years or more and the park's policy says otherwise, that gap between the sales pitch and the paperwork is worth noting. What you were told, and what was left out, can matter as much as the contract itself.

Is it about condition or just age?

Has anyone inspected your caravan, or is the date on the logbook the only test? A well-kept van being removed purely because of its age is a different situation from one with a documented safety problem.

Is the rule applied consistently?

If older vans elsewhere on the park are being allowed to stay, ask why yours isn't.

What are your real options?

Can you sell privately and leave the caravan on the pitch for the buyer, or move it to another park? Or is the park's own part-exchange or sell-back offer the only practical route?

If you've already been told your van has to go

Don't rush. Ask the park, in writing, which clause it's relying on, and ask for a copy of any condition assessment. Keep every letter and email, and note the dates of any conversations.

Before accepting a figure for your caravan, get an independent idea of its value. If you're offered a part-exchange price against a new van, ask whether the park would buy your caravan outright at that same figure with no new purchase. The answer tells you a lot about how much the part-exchange figure is really worth.

If it's already happened and you sold up some time ago, the same questions still apply. How the rule was explained, and how it was enforced, can still be relevant after the fact.

Want the full picture?

Age limits often connect to other issues: how the caravan was sold, resale restrictions, commission, and how part-exchange values are worked out. Mis-Sold or Misled? covers all of these in plain English, with checklists to work through your own paperwork.

Get Mis-Sold or Misled?

Sources:

- Consumer Rights Act 2015, Schedule 2 (legislation.gov.uk) – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/schedule/2

- Unfair contract terms (CMA37) (GOV.UK) – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-contract-terms-cma37

- Unfair terms in holiday caravan agreements: OFT734, withdrawn (GOV.UK) – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-terms-in-holiday-caravan-agreements--2

This article is general information only and reflects the position as at October 2026. It is not legal, financial or professional advice. For advice on your own agreement, speak to a qualified solicitor.

Insider Edge is a trading name of Axis Edge Ltd Registered in England & Wales with registration no. 17062550 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ

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