Residential mobile home licensing

The Mobile Homes Act 2013 enables a local authority to reclaim costs for administering and monitoring site licences, but prevents the authority from:

• Making a profit.
• Recovering enforcement costs for a breach of condition etc. (separate provisions are provided for under the Mobile Homes Act 2013).
• Recovering costs associated with unlicensed sites.

Each application type and annual inspection has been broken down into its constituent parts to clearly identify:

• Each task involved in the process.
• The average amount of time taken to complete each task and the job roles of the officers completing the tasks.

The ‘on-costs’ (salary of post holder plus any additional costs incurred by the employer for employing a person in that position) for each job role have also been applied to determine the overall fee associated with each application type and to calculate the annual fees.

These fees are based on the number of units located on each site and are split into individual bandings.

Below is a table stating the fee associated with each application type within each banding for 2026-2027:

The fees stated above are subject to change for the reason outlined in the paragraph below with revised fees published on the council’s website on an annual basis.

Single unit sites and single-family sites

The following sites are, as a policy decision, exempt from having to pay an annual fee:

• Site consisting of one unit.
• Sites occupied solely by the owner and their family and not run for financial gain.

The above sites have been exempted to not unduly burden individual households. The decision to apply the exemption will be reviewed on an annual basis.

If the applicant claims to qualify for the above exemption due to being a single-family site, officers may request additional information to verify this claim. If there is any doubt as to the legitimacy of the claim, the matter will be referred to the Environmental Health Service Manager to determine what banding the site falls into, therefore the appropriate fee that needs to accompany any application.

The annual fee will be due on Tuesday 7 April 2026, for any existing sites and annually thereafter. Any sites licensed for the first time after the implementation date will attract an annual fee on the anniversary of the granting of the site licence.

The council will write to site owners in advance of the due date, setting out the fee for the year.

If an annual fee is not paid, the local authority is entitled to apply to a tribunal for an order requiring it to be paid. If that order is breached, the local authority can enforce the order in the county court. If, after three months from the order the arrears have still not been paid, the local authority can apply for an order to revoke the site licence.

In order to apply for a Residential Mobile Home Site Licence,  you will need to complete an application form which can be obtained by emailing residential.services@rbwm.gov.uk.  

Along with the application you will need to pay a fee, details of which can be found on our fees section above. You will also need to provide the following information:

• The maximum number of caravans that are proposed to be on site at any one time for the purpose of human habitation.
• A layout plan of the site, to a scale of not less than 1/500, showing the boundaries of the site, the positions of caravan standings, and, where appropriate, the positions of roads and footpaths, toilet blocks, stores and other buildings, food and surface water drainage, water supply, recreation space and parking spaces.
• Evidence of the right to occupy the site (land registry deed/lease).
• Details of the arrangements for refuse disposal and for sewage and waste water disposal.
• A copy of the planning permission or certificate of lawfulness for the proposed activity.
• A copy of electrical test certificates.
• A copy of gas safety/LPG certificates (where applicable).
• A copy of fire safety certificates.
• A fire safety risk assessment.
• A copy of valid public liability insurance for the site.
• A copy of the management structure and financial standing information are required for residential site applications.

Following submission of the application, the council may request further information from you.  Information about how the application is determine can be found in our Mobile Home Site Licensing Policy.

Request an application

Site rules are different to the site licence conditions. Site rules are put in place by the owner of a site to ensure acceptable standards are maintained which will be of benefit to occupiers or will promote and maintain community cohesion on the site. The council must keep an up-to-date register of site rules on relevant protected sites and publish the register online.

Before publishing the site rules, the council must ensure that the rules deposited with them have been made in accordance with the statutory procedure. A fee can be charged for this function £200.

Any site rules deposited with the local authority for the first time or applications to vary or delete existing site rules must be accompanied by the appropriate fee. The fee is the same for either a first deposit or for a subsequent amendment or deletion. This is because the process is similar for all three types of deposits.

(Fees as at April 2026)

Where a breach in a site licence condition comes to the attention of the council, we may serve a compliance notice. The 2013 Act has amended the 1960 Act so that it details the elements which a local authority may include when imposing a charge for enforcement action. These include the time involved in deciding to serve and prepare the notice.

A detailed breakdown of the relevant expenses will be provided with the compliance notice. Charges will be based on an hourly rate in addition to any other costs incurred (for example legal costs).

Charges for enforcement costs cannot be passed on to the resident’s pitch fee.

If any works in the compliance notice are not carried out, the licence holder commits an offence, and the local authority may consider taking legal proceedings. 

Any costs associated with this process would be awarded at the discretion of the court. If a prosecution were successfully taken, the council would have the power to carry out the works in default of the licence holder and to recover all costs incurred in doing so. 

A review of the fee structure will be conducted annually, and it will be revised if necessary. Any adjustments will consider variations in officer and administration time to those used in calculating the fees set out in this policy document, along with any changes to other costs incurred in providing the licensing function.

Any surpluses/deficits arising from the annual fee collection for the year, will be considered when fixing the fees for the following year. For example, the annual fee for 2025-2026 is £400. The council determines the cost of licensing was actually £350. 

The Local Authority anticipates the cost for 2026-2027 will be £375 the fee for 2026-2027 will be set as £375-£50= £325.

In setting annual fees each year, the council will inform the site owner of the extent to which they have had regard to any surpluses/deficits from the previous year and will confirm to the site owner the annual fee for the forthcoming year. 

Surpluses and deficits are calculated based on the totality of costs. Fees will not vary on an a cases by case basis.