Property types
What can a survey say about a park home?
A park home is not a bungalow under another name. GOV.UK treats park homes as a special case and says to take specific advice. If you instruct a RICS survey, it can describe the shell and chassis it was able to see. It does not set a pitch fee or replace the written agreement.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless a source says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What should you do if the particulars use the wrong name for the unit?
A bungalow is a building of one storey, of whatever construction the survey finds. A static caravan or park home is sold under a different set of papers. GOV.UK’s how-to-buy guidance lists park homes, houseboats and mobile homes as special cases and tells you to seek specific advice. If the brochure uses the word bungalow, the report should say what the unit actually is, or say that the legal character is for the solicitor. It should not tidy the brochure up.
Refusing the word is not an insult and not a valuation. It stops a later reader treating a chassis survey as if it were the bungalow guide.
What if the skirting hides the chassis?
Then the chassis was not inspected. A condition rating cannot be invented for steel the surveyor could not see. The honest line is a limit: skirting, no access, no comment on corrosion, supports or the ground under the unit. Ask whether a hatch can be opened before the visit if the chassis is the point of the instruction.
Damp staining on the shell, soft flooring and failed seals are still reportable from inside. They do not stand in for the hidden frame.
Does the site licence or the pitch agreement belong in the rating?
No. A seller may put the site licence in the same envelope as the report. The licence is a site document. The pitch agreement and the fee are the solicitor’s reading, not a condition rating of the shell. This page does not summarise the park-home legislation and does not quote a fee. GOV.UK’s point is that these purchases need their own advice.
A holiday-park unit may not be the residential purchase you think you are making. Ask the solicitor what the papers allow before you pay for a house survey of the wrong product. If the firm does inspect, the report still only describes condition.
Common questions
Will the survey tell you if the pitch fee is fair?
No. The visit does not set, review or audit a pitch fee. Fairness is a legal and site question. Nothing in the condition ratings is a fee.
The unit is on a holiday park. Is a house survey the right product?
Not until you know what you are allowed to buy and occupy. A residential Level 2 or Level 3 assumes a home. A holiday-park unit can be a different contract. Ask the solicitor first. If you still want condition comments, agree a scope that says what the unit is.
Can the survey make the unit mortgageable?
No. Lenders decide what they will secure. MoneyHelper’s point is that a mortgage valuation is not a structural survey. The converse holds here: this report is not an offer of mortgage.
Does the survey include a gas check?
No. Gas work belongs with an engineer on the Gas Safe Register. The survey can note an appliance it could see. It does not service it.
There is mould on an outside wall of the unit. Is that rising damp?
Not from the mould alone. Park homes are not masonry on a damp-proof course. Cold surfaces, condensation and a failed seal are the sorts of things to ask about. Do not import a brick-house damp diagnosis.
The licence was stapled to the report. Is it part of the survey?
Only as a document the seller supplied. The surveyor does not issue site licences and does not rate them 1, 2 or 3. Read it with your solicitor.
Which RICS level should you book?
Ask the firm whether they inspect park homes at all. Unusual construction is a reason RICS gives for considering Level 3, and some firms will decline. A refusal is not a verdict that the unit is unsound. It means that firm will not take the job.
Should you use the bungalow guide instead?
Use it only if the building is actually a bungalow. This page is for park homes, static caravans and holiday-park units. The bungalow page assumes a one-storey building on its own site, which is a different purchase.
Sources
Key facts
- Not a bungalow label
- Calling a static caravan or park home a bungalow in a brochure does not change what is being sold. The survey should not adopt that word as a construction type.
- What a visit can see
- If the firm agrees to inspect, it can record the shell, openings, damp staining, and as much of the chassis as it could actually reach. A skirt that blocks the crawl is a limit, not a pass.
- What it does not decide
- Pitch fee, the written agreement, site rules and the site licence are not condition ratings. GOV.UK points buyers of these homes to specific advice. That advice is not this inspection.
- Services
- A home survey does not service a boiler, test the electrics, or certify a gas installation. Those remain separate appointments, as on any other house the firm inspects.
- Lending
- Whether a lender will treat the unit as security is the lender’s question. A mortgage valuation is not a structural survey, and this survey is not a mortgage offer.