Valuation Office Agency
1.1 This section covers leisure caravans and camping sites comprising caravan parks, caravan sites and touring & tenting sites. It does not cover land used for storing caravans unless that land forms part of a larger caravan relatedhereditament(such as a caravan site).
1.2 A caravan may be used for a variety of uses, the main uses being:
a. as holiday or periodic accommodation
b. for residential purposes; and
c. for touring
1.3 The first of these uses will be situated mainly on caravan sites. The second group consists of caravans situated primarily on organised residential sites. However, some residential caravans may be found on mixed leisure and residential parks whereas others will be in isolated situations, for example, on a farm and occupied by a farm worker or placed within the curtilage of dwelling house and used by a member of the occupiers family.
1.4 Most caravan sites fall into one of the following categories:
a. Fleet parks, with licences for use for less than one year, where the site operator lets out his or her own caravans for short periods, and frequently having ancillary buildings such as site offices, shops, amusement halls, swimming pools, restaurants etc.
b. Leisure caravan parks where a caravan owner can rent a pitch for his or her caravan on a continuing tenancy but use of the caravan is restricted to the summer months. Individual pitches with or without their caravans together with any communal buildings, form the subject of a single assessment by virtue of theNon-Domestic Rating(Caravan Sites) Regulations 1990 (SI1990/673) (see para 5.4 below).
c. Residential sites, with licences for all the year use, where caravans may be occupied on a permanent basis. The pitches and vans will be domestic property (see para 5.2 below) but communal buildings, will be non-domestic property.
d. Isolated caravans where the assessment will be in respect of either the caravan together with its pitch or of the pitch alone, dependent upon the degree of permanence and annexation.
e. Gypsy / traveller encampment sites established in areas designated by local authorities. Pitches occupied by caravans which are sole or main residences will be domestic property and left out ofnon-domestic rating.
f. Touring and/or camping sites where mobile caravans or tents can be pitched overnight or for a few nights. The facilities provided by the owner vary but can often be minimal. Some sites may include yurts, tipis, shepherds huts, camping pods, tree houses and similar provided for hire by the site owner.
In addition, there will be cases of a combination of (a) (b) (c) and (f). Holiday caravans will also be found in conjunction with other holiday accommodation such as chalets.