Law & Regulations

The Lazio administrative court upheld a mayor's order to stop using a motorhome as a home. Permanent residential use needs a building permit, the judges said.

Since late October, gas cylinders in motorhomes and caravans in Germany may be filled with LPG at public filling stations. Previously this was banned and users had to find rare dedicated filling points. The cylinder must be installed to DVGW rules and have an external filling connection. Retrofit at a workshop costs around €300 to €500 including the gas inspection. A full workshop conversion starts at €900, while a DIY kit costs from €370 plus €40 to €80 for the inspection. The cylinder must not be removed from the vehicle, and the plastic seal on the quick coupling must remain intact.

Cella council has definitively approved new regulations for its municipal motorhome area, with the full text published in the provincial official gazette on 9 November 2026. The rules, ratified at the council meeting on 4 November, define the site solely as temporary parking for habitable vehicles and prohibit any camping activity. Stays are capped at 72 consecutive hours, with a 48-hour wait before returning, and parking remains free. Motorhomes, caravans, camper vans and certified habitable vehicles are allowed; caravans may be unhitched to occupy one space, but the towing car must park outside the area. Tables, chairs, awnings, barbecues and cookers are banned outside vehicles, as are washing and repairs, occupying green areas, reserving spaces and noise between 23:00 and 8:00. Violations can lead to fines, immediate expulsion or a temporary ban from the site.

Decree 170/2026, approved on 30 October, was published on 9 November and takes effect on 9 February 2027. It separates parking from camping and caps stays at motorhome stopovers at 72 hours.

In the Czech Republic, a motorhome with a maximum permissible weight over 3.5 tonnes may not park on the pavement even where passenger cars are allowed. Without the relevant blue sign, pavement parking is prohibited for all vehicles. When parking along the edge of the road, at least 3 metres of free carriageway must remain for each direction of travel, so a two-way street must be at least 8.35 metres wide for a motorhome 2.35 metres wide. The fine for pavement parking is up to CZK 1,500 on the spot and CZK 2,000 to 5,000 in administrative proceedings. If the vehicle obstructs traffic, the fine rises to CZK 3,500 on the spot and up to CZK 10,000 in administrative proceedings, with possible towing.

Councillors in Redcar and Cleveland have been told that dedicated spaces for motorcaravans should be considered in future business planning, though not currently feasible. A council officer reported that no businesses or landowners contacted wished to explore motorhome parking further. Barriers cited include unsuitable car park layouts, limited capacity for existing customers and potential costs of hard-standing areas. Earlier this year the council introduced an experimental traffic regulation order on Saltburn's Marine Parade after complaints about long-term free parking and anti-social behaviour. Motorhome owners are encouraged to use the existing Cat Nab car park, which offers overnight parking, toilets, chemical waste facilities and fresh water.

A court in 's-Hertogenbosch upheld second-home tax for a man with a static caravan on a campsite in Hilvarenbeek. For 2026 the rate is €382.40 or €792.40 depending on value.

The operating committee of Herzebrock-Clarholz approved a parking fee for motorhomes at the Herzebrock lido at its meeting on Tuesday. The site, currently free for tourists, will cost 5 euros per day. The municipal council is due to take the final decision at its meeting on 16 December.

The Vietnam Register has proposed additional regulations for residential trailers. The proposal covers electrical systems, fire safety and gas use. The aim is to reduce the risk of incidents during operation.

A magistrates' court in Medway has fined a landowner in Swale £2,025 for failing to comply with an enforcement notice to remove a mobile home and a motorhome from his plot. Swale Borough Council ordered him in December 2022 to stop using the land for residential purposes and to remove unauthorised installations, fencing and paving. An planning inspector upheld the notice in July 2023 and set a six-month deadline. The owner did not comply, and on 23 September 2026 the court imposed a £375 fine, a £150 surcharge and £1,500 in costs. The night before the hearing he moved the mobile home and motorhome to an access track beside the plot, but they were not permanently removed; the council says it will continue to monitor the site.

The auto camping site in Yuldong Park in Seongnam, opened last year, is at the centre of a dispute over administrative procedures. Its 96 pitches sit in a park created after land was bought for 264.3 billion won under measures against the expiry of urban parks. The dispute concerns whether the site must register as a campsite under the Tourism Promotion Act and meet area standards in a conservation green zone. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism says no exemption applies to park facilities. The campsite occupies about 2.5% of the 887,516 sq m park.

The owner of Gateway Resort in Bynea, Llanelli, Ken Strelley, has been ordered to remove glamping pods, clubhouse extensions and an underpass, and to stop using land for touring and static caravans in certain areas. Carmarthenshire Council issued four enforcement notices in March 2025 with a 17-month compliance deadline. Strelley appealed on the grounds that the required steps were excessive, but a Welsh Government-appointed planning inspector upheld the notices with amendments clarifying unauthorised changes of land use. The inspector's report said the appellant had not proposed specific lesser measures to remedy the breaches, and that waiting for planning applications to be determined was not in itself such a measure.

The town councils of Staßfurt and Hecklingen have approved the drafting of a development plan for the Löderburger See tourism centre. The plan is also intended to secure pitches for permanent caravaners. Staßfurt received council approval after the same issue of a missing development plan arose at the former Großer Schachtsee campsite in Wolmirsleben. Staßfurt can now follow the neighbouring town.

The Baden-Württemberg tax court examined whether a motorhome can qualify as a second home for tax deduction purposes. An employee stayed in his motorhome at the workplace during the week but drove the same vehicle home at weekends. The court rejected the deduction because the accommodation was not permanently separated from the main household. The court confirmed that a motorhome can in principle serve as a second home. For working pensioners, motorhome costs can reduce taxable income only if the use is professionally required.

Italian law does not prohibit permanent residence in a motorhome, but requires three parking conditions under Article 185 of the 1992 Highway Code. The vehicle must rest on the road only on its wheels, without auxiliary jacks, must not discharge any waste other than exhaust, and must not extend beyond its own dimensions with awnings, steps or open windows. Discharging wastewater onto roads or public areas carries a fine of 87 to 344 euros, with Article 255 of the Environmental Code applied in serious cases. To register a residence, a person must obtain no-fixed-abode status in the municipality where their main interests are centred.

The economic, tourism and social committee of the Südharz municipal council has recommended changing the current parking fee schedule. The new rules could take effect as early as January and would make parking more expensive for motorhomes. The municipal council must make the final decision. Several parking ticket machines have been installed in the municipality in recent months.

Christchurch City Council has begun trialling a number plate recognition system to check whether freedom campers on council land are certified self-contained. Vehicle plates are automatically recorded and matched against an online database of certified motorhomes and campervans. Non-certified vehicles breaching the Freedom Camping Bylaw face infringement fines of up to $800. The New Zealand Motor Caravan Association welcomed the trial and is introducing similar camera checks at its more than 65 private campsites, at a cost of over $1 million.

Several coastal municipalities in Spain have banned motorhomes from their beaches. Motorhomers expect to regain access to their favourite seaside spots following a reform of traffic regulations. Over a decade, annual new motorhome registrations in Spain rose from 3,000 to 9,000, and the number of motorhome stopovers grew from 150 to more than 1,000.

The municipal council of Noirétable approved pricing for motorhomes at its meeting on Monday 2 November. The token-based payment system is being abandoned. Other details of the new charging scheme are not given in the available part of the article.

The Medicine Bow Town Council in Wyoming is considering an amendment to allow residents to live permanently in campers, RVs and motorhomes. At the 12 October meeting, Councilwoman Kristi Wickizer proposed repealing the current prohibition, citing a fire department member who was permitted to live in a camper. Councilman Trevor Strauch said the ban had been disregarded in the past to secure additional impact assistance funding from nearby energy projects. Town Attorney Cameron Smith warned that the change may conflict with International Building Codes recently adopted by the town. The council voted to table the issue until the Planning and Zoning Commission reviews it.