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    Definition of caravan/mobile home

    The Caravan Sites Act and Mobile Homes Act provide the definition of 'caravan' and 'mobile home'.

    This content applies to Scotland

    Definition of caravan or mobile home

    The terms caravan and mobile home are interchangeable. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 interprets 'mobile home' as having the same meaning as Part 1 of the caravan Sites and Control and Development Act 1960. [1]

    The legislation defines a 'caravan' as 'any structure designed or adapted for human habitation which is capable of being moved by road from one place to another (whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer), and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted'. [2]

    Tents, and railway stocks on rails forming part of the railway system, are excluded from the definition. Large twin units and units classed as 'chalets' can be classed as a caravan, if they are physically capable of being moved as one unit. [3] It does not matter whether it would be lawful to transport a large caravan on the road. The maximum size of a caravan/mobile home is 20 metres in length (exclusive of any draw-bar), 6.8 meters in width and 3.05 meters in internal height. [4]

    Last updated: 20 November 2019

    Footnotes

    • [1]

      s.5 Mobile Homes Act 1983

    • [2]

      s.29(1) Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, as amended by s.13 Caravan Sites Act 1968

    • [3]

      Carter and Another v Secretary of State for the Environment and Another [1984] EGCS 58

    • [4]

      s.13(2) Caravan Sites Act 1968