Age and type of house
The unit stands on a holiday park. Why might a residential home survey be the wrong product until a solicitor has said what you are actually buying?
The holiday-park unit may make a residential home survey the wrong product until a solicitor has said what you are actually buying. GOV.UK's how-to-buy guidance treats park homes and mobile homes as a special case and says to take specific advice. A residential survey assumes a home. A holiday-park unit can be a different contract. The survey does not replace the written agreement or the site licence, does not set a pitch fee, and must not call the unit a bungalow.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Booking a house survey because the unit has a kitchen does not answer what the park allows you to occupy. That answer sits in the papers a solicitor reads, not in a condition rating. If you still want the shell and chassis looked at, the instruction should say what the unit is, and what the visit will not decide. A refusal by a firm is not a verdict that the unit is unsound.
Do not summarise the legislation on this page, and do not invent a fee. Specific advice is the step GOV.UK is pointing to, and it comes before you pay for a report of the wrong kind. If a survey does go ahead, it still only describes the condition it could see. It does not turn a holiday-park unit into a residential purchase.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Has anyone confirmed this is a residential purchase, or only that it stands on a holiday park?
- Will you decline a normal house survey until the solicitor has named what is being bought?
- If you do inspect, will the report avoid the word bungalow and avoid the pitch fee?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask a solicitor what this holiday-park unit actually allows you to buy.
- Do not commission a residential home survey until that answer is in writing.
- Take the specific advice GOV.UK's how-to-buy guidance asks for in this special case.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the unit looks like a small house, is a house survey the right product?
Not yet. Looks do not decide the contract. Until a solicitor says what you are buying, a residential survey may be the wrong product.
Can the survey convert a holiday unit into a home?
No. The survey does not replace the agreement or the site licence, and it does not change what the park allows you to occupy.