Age and type of house
The brochure calls a static caravan a bungalow. What should a survey refuse to do with that word?
The survey should refuse to adopt the word bungalow for this static caravan. A brochure that uses the word does not change what is being sold, and the report must not tidy the brochure up by copying it. GOV.UK's how-to-buy guidance treats park homes and mobile homes as a special case and tells you to take specific advice. The survey can describe the unit it was asked to see. It cannot rename a static caravan as 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?
A bungalow, in ordinary house-buying speech, is a one-storey building. A static caravan is a different object, usually on a chassis, sold with a different set of papers. Using the brochure's word in the construction line would send a lender, a solicitor and a later reader to the wrong guide. Refusal is a correction of language, not an insult and not a valuation.
Say what the unit is, or say that its legal character is for the solicitor, and stop. Do not set a pitch fee, do not replace the written agreement or the site licence, and do not summarise the legislation. Specific advice is the step GOV.UK points to. The survey's job, if one is instructed, remains the condition of the shell and chassis it could actually reach.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Will you describe this unit as a static caravan, and not as a bungalow?
- What could you see of the shell and chassis, as against the word in the brochure?
- Are you leaving the legal name of the purchase with the solicitor?
What are the typical next steps?
- Refuse the word bungalow for this static caravan in every paper you control.
- Do not let the brochure's wording into the construction description.
- 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 has one floor, is it a bungalow in the survey?
No. One floor does not make a static caravan a bungalow. The survey should refuse that word and describe the unit that was there.
Does refusing the word bungalow mean the unit is defective?
No. It means the brochure's word is not a construction type. Condition of the shell is a separate comment from the name.