The short answer to this is simply “no” it isn’t!

However, let’s examine it in a little more detail. To begin with, it’s important not to get confused about these two categories of accommodation.

Park homes and estates

Broadly speaking, a park home is a permanent dwelling place located on a site specifically designed for residence.

Residence here means your place of domicile. In other words, this is the address that you’ll use on your official documents, where your post will be delivered to, and also perhaps the area where you’re registered on the electoral role for voting purposes.

Park home estates are legally registered with the local authorities and licenced as being suitable for permanent occupation 52 weeks per year. The style of the dwellings may vary considerably but they’ll typically be of a fixed and permanent appearance and of a chalet or smaller home nature.

Static caravans and parks

Static caravans are usually very clearly recognisable as caravans. They may have wheels but they’re not designed to be easily or regularly towed, being usually located on a pitch semi-permanently.

Normally, such caravans are located on a caravan site park which is typically NOT licenced by the local authorities for permanent occupation. Both in terms of such regulations and indeed the conditions of static caravan insurance, these caravans are not considered to be permanent residences but instead, leisure and recreational accommodation to be occupied during a few weeks or months of each year.

Visual characteristics and facilities

It’s important to note that it is the location and usage that differentiates between a park home and a static caravan. It isn’t appearance or facilities as such.

Many static caravans are large and impressive caravans which are magnificently equipped and a real home-from-home. Visually, there may be little to distinguish them from a park home.

What this means for insurance

As you might imagine, the above factors mean that there are two different types of policy to suit to the two different situations. For example, in the case of a park home:

• it may, apart from holidays, be occupied virtually full-time;
• as it is a permanent residence, it may have a higher value of furnishings and personal possessions than a typical static being used for holiday purposes only;
• many park home estates have 24×365 onsite supervision and security. By contrast, many caravan sites are unsupervised (or only infrequently) during the winter months and their facilities may also be closed or reduced.

So, separate policies are required.

A specific issue for static caravan owners

It’s worth noting that a static caravan insurance policy may explicitly prohibit a permanent occupation of your caravan as your main place of residence.

In addition, insurance policies typically make a condition of cover being that you’re obeying the law. As many static caravan sites are not licenced for permanent occupation or are in areas where such is forbidden by local regulations, you may be in contravention of that policy condition if you occupy your caravan permanently.

If you’re in any doubt, make sure you openly declare and discuss your situation with an expert provider of static caravan insurance.