Making money from your Caravan/ Rent out your Caravan

If your Park allows it and you want to rent out your caravan when you aren’t using it yourself, why not consider making your caravan work for you?

In high season i.e school holidays your caravan could attract a rental income of hundreds of pounds per week depending on the location and type of caravan. This could be a significant income to cover some of your costs such as site fees and electricity. The Park will often organise bookings and collect the rent for you. They will dictate the rent amount that will be charged and this is likely to vary depending on the season. They will also deal with keys and make sure the caravan is cleaned and checked before and after each rental period. The Park will take a proportion of the rent as a management fee so you need to check how much this will be before you decide. Or if your Park allows, you can organise the rentals yourself by advertising the caravan and dealing direct with the holiday makers renting your caravan. You will need to do some research on how much to charge and don’t forget to factor in electricity costs and also wear and tear on your caravan. You will probably want to charge a refundable breakages fee to cover any incidents. This option is only really viable if you live near your Park or have someone close by that can check the van between rentals, clean it and change bedding. You will also need a system for getting the keys to the renters. Parks can recommend companies that can offer cleaning and key services or speaker to full owners that rent their caravan out. Make sure any correspondence with your renters is in writing – e-mail is fine – so that you know exactly who is staying in your caravan. Lastly but very importantly, you have to make sure your gas and electric appliances are safe and get them tested, plus your caravan must have smoke and CO detectors and fire extinguisher. And tell your insurer you are letting out your caravan too. If you do decide to rent out your static caravan please don’t forget that the rental income must be declared to the tax man! Contact HMRC to find out about this.