Changes to the UK camper van conversion laws.

[Jet Cash]

The British government has just introduced some changed to the requirements for reregistering a vehicle as a camper van, There are some interesting new requirements.

- You have to have camper van decals on both sides of the van, and this is to allow the police to recognise it as a campervan.
- You have to have at least two windows on one side, and, no doubt, this is to allow the police to look at the interior.
- No "pop tops", and this would appear to be designed to stop camping in restricted height parking lots.
- You have to have an external awning rail, again this is probably for ease of identification.
- It has to be a high top van

There are obviously a number of interior changes required to make it habitable, and there are some restrictions on the vehicles that can be converted - not buses for example. With the increasing numbers of people moving out of standard housing to adopt a mobile lifestyle, I wonder if the gov. is panning to introduce restrictions on camper van parking in the future.

btw - pensioners selling their houses, and moving into camper vans are called "snowbirds".

[KingScorpio]

The British government has just introduced some changed to the requirements for reregistering a vehicle as a camper van, There are some interesting new requirements.

- You have to have camper van decals on both sides of the van, and this is to allow the police to recognise it as a campervan.
- You have to have at least two windows on one side, and, no doubt, this is to allow the police to look at the interior.
- No "pop tops", and this would appear to be designed to stop camping in restricted height parking lots.
- You have to have an external awning rail, again this is probably for ease of identification.
- It has to be a high top van

There are obviously a number of interior changes required to make it habitable, and there are some restrictions on the vehicles that can be converted - not buses for example. With the increasing numbers of people moving out of standard housing to adopt a mobile lifestyle, I wonder if the gov. is panning to introduce restrictions on camper van parking in the future.

btw - pensioners selling their houses, and moving into camper vans are called "snowbirds".

no one really cares about what is going on on that island, post that in a british forum

[DaveF]

The British government has just introduced some changed to the requirements for reregistering a vehicle as a camper van, There are some interesting new requirements.

- You have to have camper van decals on both sides of the van, and this is to allow the police to recognise it as a campervan.
- You have to have at least two windows on one side, and, no doubt, this is to allow the police to look at the interior.
- No "pop tops", and this would appear to be designed to stop camping in restricted height parking lots.
- You have to have an external awning rail, again this is probably for ease of identification.
- It has to be a high top van

There are obviously a number of interior changes required to make it habitable, and there are some restrictions on the vehicles that can be converted - not buses for example. With the increasing numbers of people moving out of standard housing to adopt a mobile lifestyle, I wonder if the gov. is panning to introduce restrictions on camper van parking in the future.

btw - pensioners selling their houses, and moving into camper vans are called "snowbirds".

Since my knowledge of British motoring comes from Top Gear. Are "camper vans" more like this:



or this?




It seems to be a generic term kind of like all copiers used to be "Xerox"

Just kind of interested, they have been getting regulated here for a while. Mostly because of shoddy construction has been killing people as they overloaded the frame and brakes. But when they 1st tried to stop people from putting 3 tons of crap on a frame built for 1 ton everyone freaked out. Then when you could not get insurance to cover them the industry relented a bit. Still a lot of them on the road are dangerous as hell.

And snowbirds in the US are people who move from the north to the south for the winter and then back north for the summer. 2 houses, you guys went the other way. 0 houses.

-Dave

[franky1]

yes its to stop people with 'low headroom' vans from using car parks for months on end parking illegally while pretending they are 'travellers'

yes its for identifying the vehicle. that way if the van is speeding they can easily state its a camper van and not a tank or a batmobile

its also because i believe that even camper vans would have their own vehicle tax(car tax) code that also includes an element of council tax in it, in the future

many people do move out of bricks end mortar housing to then move into 'mobile homes' even when the mobile home is stationary for 1-10 years. while not paying council tax. i see this changing in the future where even 'mobile homes' will be charged council tax in the same way car tax is paid

[styca]

btw - pensioners selling their houses, and moving into camper vans are called "snowbirds".

It's not just pensioners selling houses - more and more people in the UK are living in cars and vans because they can't afford proper accommodation.
21,000 people in the UK applied to convert their vehicle into a dwelling last year
It's a pretty savage indictment of modern society that inequality has reached this level.

[coolcoinz]

It's because real estate prices are skyrocketing in the UK. I saw a number of videos of people making strange micro apartments in London. Like one guy made an apartment that's just 2m wide or so to fit it between other buildings and another guy built it down instead of up and he's now sleeping in a modern basement because it was cheaper.
I've also seen documentaries about whores and homeless people in the UK. They're even living in old public bathrooms. That's not all. One woman bought such public bathroom and turned it into an apartment, so it's completely normal for people to live in their vans.
Why can't the government simply tel these people be. They are already living in poor conditions to make ends meet and save up for a flat of their own. Are their vans really such a problem for the city?

[franky1]

It's because real estate prices are skyrocketing in the UK. I saw a number of videos of people making strange micro apartments in London. Like one guy made an apartment that's just 2m wide or so to fit it between other buildings and another guy built it down instead of up and he's now sleeping in a modern basement because it was cheaper.
I've also seen documentaries about whores and homeless people in the UK. They're even living in old public bathrooms. That's not all. One woman bought such public bathroom and turned it into an apartment, so it's completely normal for people to live in their vans.
Why can't the government simply tel these people be. They are already living in poor conditions to make ends meet and save up for a flat of their own. Are their vans really such a problem for the city?

UK real estate prices in cities are artificially inflated. there is no actual NEED to do all this stuff apart from the fact that landowners buy up land, but dont build on 9of10 plots.. they sell the first plot high. and then build the next making the resell value of the first drop while strangely the initial first sell itself is used as a marker for value for the next plots sell.

by not just building it all in one go, they get to inflate the price and create more demand by limiting supply.

funny part is smart people work out rents/mortgages increase by hundreds a month so they just move to cheaper towns and commute in.

the cases of a guy making a 2m wide apartment or a woman converting a public bathroom is 1 case in a few million. and done so to make it appear like demand is high when reality its not.

as for the camper van scenario. its not really for living 24/7/365 its more like just somewhere to rest your head in a carpark 5 business nights a week and then drive to hometown for the weekend to save on travel costs

real estate agents hate it because no on is renting the 'buy to rent' listings they have so yea they want to make mobile living/camping uncomfortable by trying to get governments to force council tax on mobile homes and temporary homes so that people are swayed back into renting houses.
what happens next is requiring mobile homes to have extended MOT/safety reg checks fr carbon monoxide and electrical fault and fire risk tests. EG things like it cant be a panel van but a vehicle with multiple doors(exits) and windows

[Mometaskers]

I've always liked the idea of living in one as a kid and seems this is becoming more common in the West. It just follows that they'd put on more regulations on these as they become even more numerous.

I understand the concern with privacy with the window regulations and but then again that's part and parcel of living in a van.

many people do move out of bricks end mortar housing to then move into 'mobile homes' even when the mobile home is stationary for 1-10 years. while not paying council tax. i see this changing in the future where even 'mobile homes' will be charged council tax in the same way car tax is paid

Yeah. Can't let all that money fly away like migrating snow birds. These things don't exist in my country, are there designated parking spaces for these vehicles and are the owners charged for parking there?

[Jet Cash]

It is a myth that people living in camper vans do not own property. I know of several people who own two or more houses which they let for the income, and they have adopted a mobile lifestyle in camper vans. I'm considering doing it, and I own property in Surrey.

Another myth is their impact on the environment, and on local economies. A camper van resident has less of an impact on the emvironment than a house dweller, and may well use less fuel than a guy driving to work and heating a house. They are often healthier as well, and thus don't place as many demands on the misnamed health service.

Most parking areas have hourly charges, and this remuneration is levied by the local council. Failure to pay these charges results in a fine, and this goes to the council as well.