Where you can park a caravan
Each council sets its own rule.
Street, verge, driveway and back yard are all covered by your own council's parking local law.
Published limits run from one hour to 28 days, and some councils restrict an unhitched van outright.
Published . 11 min read • Lifestyle
Your own council's local law sets where a caravan may park, so the rule changes from one council to the next.
That covers the street outside your house, the verge, your driveway and your own back yard.
- The rule that applies - heavy or long vehicle limits (commonly over 4.5 tonnes or 7.5 metres, often not written as a caravan rule)
- Published time limits - one hour to 28 days (varies by council, and some restrict an unhitched van outright)
Parking it and living in it are two different questions
Where a registered caravan may sit is a parking question, written into your council's parking local law or by-law. It covers the street outside your house, the verge, your driveway and your back yard.
Whether somebody may sleep or live in that van is a separate question, handled through planning and land-use rules, and often by a different team inside the same council.
The two answers do not travel together. A council can be relaxed about a van sitting on a driveway for years and strict about anyone staying in it, or the reverse. Ask them as two questions and you get two usable answers; ask them as one and you often get a confident answer to the question you did not mean.
Both are set locally. Two councils on opposite sides of the same road can land in genuinely different places on the same van, because each writes its own definitions and its own limits.
What this page is, and when we read it
Every council rule below was read from that council's own published material in August 2026, and local laws get amended. Western Australia rewrote its caravan and camping rules in September 2024, so check the date on anything you read elsewhere. This is a starting point and a set of questions to ask, not advice about your block or your van. Confirm the current rule with your own council before you act on it.
Most councils limit parking under one of four rules
Local laws use the same four shapes again and again. Knowing which one your council uses tells you what to look for and what to ask.
Length and weight thresholds
Most councils write their street rules around a heavy vehicle or long vehicle definition rather than around caravans. The common lines are 4.5 tonnes GVM and 7.5 metres including any load, and a van either crosses them or it does not. Some councils name caravans and trailers in the rule directly, and some write it around the vehicle definition alone, so the definition is the part to read first.
Hitched or unhitched
In some local laws the van's status matters more than its size. The three Perth councils on this page each restrict a caravan or trailer that is not attached to a motor vehicle from a verge or a road, with no hours attached to it. Hitch it to a registered tow vehicle and the ordinary parking rules apply again.
The verge is usually its own rule
Parking on a footpath or nature strip is restricted by state road rules across much of the country, separately from anything to do with caravans, and plenty of councils restate it in their own words. Landscaping or gravelling the strip does not change it. Treat the verge as a separate question from the road it sits beside.
Home storage can be a planning matter
Whether the van may live on your own block might be handled by a permit, by an exemption written into a local approvals policy, or by development consent. Conditions that show up in councils' own published rules include a cap on how many vans, where on the block it may sit, screening so it is not visible from the street, and consulting the neighbours first.
How to check your own council in twenty minutes
Your council's parking local law is on its website, and twenty minutes finds the clause that covers a caravan. It works the same way wherever you live, including the states and territories not shown in the examples further down.
Work out which council you are in
Your rates notice names it. If you are on a boundary street, confirm it rather than assume, because the council next door may run a different rule.
Find the local law itself rather than a summary
Search your council's own site for its parking local law or by-law, and search separately for the word caravan. The answer usually sits in a local law PDF or a dedicated parking page rather than in general news content.
Read the definitions before the rule
Find how that council defines a heavy vehicle and a long vehicle, then measure your van against them. Length means the whole thing including the drawbar, and the mass figure is on the compliance plate.
Ask about your own block separately
Keeping the van on your driveway can be handled by a permit, by an exemption in a local approvals policy, or by development consent, depending on the council. The street rule and the driveway rule are separate, so ask about the driveway separately.
If someone will sleep in it, ask the planning team
Occupying a caravan is generally a land-use question. Ringing the parking line about it can get you an answer from the wrong part of council.
Get the answer in writing
Ask for the clause reference and the officer's name, and keep the date. A local law can be amended, and a dated written answer is what you will want if the question ever comes up again.
Know your numbers before you ring
Step three is the one people guess at. Our caravan weights guide explains which mass figure is which, and public weighbridges covers where to get the loaded rig weighed if you want the real figure rather than the plate maximum.
What to ask when you ring the council
Take this list with you. It keeps the call to one phone call, and it separates the questions the council answers in different places.
- How does your local law define a heavy vehicle and a long vehicle, and does my van cross either line?
- Is there a time limit on how long a caravan can stay parked in one spot on a public street here?
- Does the answer change if the van is hitched to a registered car?
- Can I park or store it on the verge or nature strip outside my house, at any time?
- Can I keep it on my own property, and does that need a permit or any approval?
- If a permit exists, what does it cost, how long does it run, and does it renew?
- Are there conditions such as screening, a distance from the boundary, or a limit on how many vans?
- Do I need to talk to my neighbours first, or does council notify them?
- Is a different rule set applied if somebody sleeps in it on the property, and who handles that?
- How long can someone sleep in the van on my own block before a permit is needed?
- Does that answer change because there is already a house here, or while we are building one?
- If an occupancy permit exists, how long can it run, and can it be renewed?
- What is the clause reference, so I can read the wording myself?
What some councils publish, state by state
The rule that applies to you is your own council's. What follows is a set of examples read directly from councils' own published material in August 2026, so you can see the shape of the rules near you before you make the call.
None of these carries across to a neighbouring council, and none of them is a statement about how any council behaves. They are here to show you what a rule looks like and what to go looking for in yours.
Queensland
Queensland road rules restrict stopping on a footpath or nature strip in a built-up area, and councils restate that. On top of it, each council writes its own heavy vehicle rule, and the definitions are where the differences live.
- Gold Coast City Council. Names caravans, trailers and boats directly: heavy and long vehicles must not stop on a residential road or in a commercial built-up area for longer than one hour. A long vehicle is 7.5 metres or longer including any load. Storing a heavy vehicle at a residential address needs a permit, which carries no fee, and the van must sit in a Class 10 building such as a shed or be screened so it cannot be seen from a public place or from residential premises within 50 metres. The applicant has to show they have consulted the neighbours within that 50 metres.
- Ipswich City Council. A heavy vehicle cannot stop or park in a residential area for more than one hour. The trailer threshold is notably low: 3 tonnes GVM or 5 metres in length, which is inside the range of a lot of mid-size vans. Residents can apply for a heavy vehicle parking permit to keep a single such vehicle on a residential property, assessed case by case and renewed each financial year.
- Logan City Council. Heavy vehicles cannot park longer than one hour on roads in built-up areas or public places, with exceptions for deliveries and for signed streets. Heavy vehicle here means more than 4.5 tonnes GVM, with no separate length trigger. Its residential storage rule exempts a motorhome, caravan or similar vehicle for private use from needing a permit where it is the only heavy vehicle on the site.
- Brisbane City Council. Parking on a footpath or nature strip is prohibited. Its heavy and long vehicle definitions set the lines at 4.5 tonnes GVM alone, or 3 tonnes as part of a combination, and 7.5 metres for a vehicle, trailer or combination, with any single component of 5 metres also counting.
Checking your own council
Queensland councils hang most of their street rules off a heavy or long vehicle definition, so find your council's parking local law, read the definitions before the rule, and measure your van against them.
New South Wales
Two of the NSW councils we read point at the same state law for the headline figure rather than writing their own, which makes NSW the most consistent state on this page. The rules still differ council by council.
- City of Parramatta. Publishes that registered vehicles are permitted to stay parked in one spot for 28 days, provided they are in good order and parked in line with the NSW road rules, citing the Public Spaces (Unattended Property) Act 2021. Unregistered vehicles cannot be parked on a public road at any time. It also applies the one hour built-up-area limit to heavy vehicles of 4.5 tonnes or more and long vehicles of 7.5 metres or longer including any load or projection, and states that the long vehicle definition takes in boats and trailers.
- City of Wollongong. Publishes the same 28 day figure, under the same Act read together with the NSW Road Rules 2014: a caravan, boat or trailer left in a public place for more than 28 days can be reported to council. Heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes GVM and long vehicles of 7.5 metres or longer generally cannot be parked on a street in a built-up area for more than an hour.
Checking your own council
In NSW, ask your council which Act or road rule it works from and what figure it applies, and ask the home storage question separately, because that side can sit in a local approvals policy rather than the parking rules.
Victoria
Victoria is the clearest illustration of the whole problem. The published limits across the councils we read run from one hour to a fortnight, all in the same state.
- Whitehorse City Council. 14 continuous days. A resident must not store, keep or place a caravan on council land, a road or in a public place for longer than 14 continuous days without a permit. Layered on top, a vehicle over 7.5 metres or over 4.5 tonnes GVM is a heavy vehicle and can only park in a built-up area for up to an hour. On private land, no more than one caravan may be stored without a permit, and the permit allows a second van for up to six months.
- Yarra City Council. One hour. A permit is required to place or leave a boat, trailer, caravan or similar on council land, a road or a footway for longer than an hour, unless it is attached to a registered motor vehicle. The rule applies regardless of the van's size.
- City of Casey. Classes a vehicle over 7.5 metres long or over 4.5 tonnes GVM as a long or heavy vehicle, then states that registered motorhomes, caravans and boat trailers are not included in that rule.
- City of Greater Geelong. Its nature strip guidance restates the state position plainly: the Victorian road rules do not allow vehicles to park on a nature strip in urban areas, and gravelling the strip does not change that.
Checking your own council
Because Victorian councils set their own numbers, the only figure that matters to you is the one in your own council's local law. Search its site for the local law document itself rather than a summary page.
South Australia
South Australian councils differ widely on street parking, so take the figures below as one council's rules and nothing more.
- City of Marion. Publishes that under the Australian Road Rules, vehicles over 7.5 metres in length including a trailer attached, or with a GVM over 4.5 tonnes, can only be parked on a road for a maximum of one hour. Vehicles must not be parked with any part on a footpath or footway, and council states that this includes the grass verge outside your home. On private land, an owner wanting to park a vehicle of 3 tonnes or over on a residential property requires development consent.
- City of Salisbury. Takes the same position on the verge: you cannot park or stop on a verge, nature strip or reserve, which are for pedestrian use.
Checking your own council
In South Australia the verge answer and the street answer can come from different places, so ask your council for both, and ask whether keeping the van on your own block is treated as a development question.
Western Australia
The three Perth councils we read work to a different model from the eastern states. The question is not how many hours, it is whether the van is hitched.
- City of Joondalup. States it plainly: unattached caravans, boats and trailers cannot be stopped or parked on a road, verge or car park at any time. Once attached to a motor vehicle, caravans and trailers may stop or park in accordance with the normal restrictions. Heavy vehicles over 4.5 tonnes GVM and long vehicles over 7.5 metres are separately limited to an hour.
- City of Perth. Its parking local law prohibits stopping or parking a trailer or caravan unattached to a motor vehicle so that any portion of it is on a verge, and there is no owner consent exception for that category. Heavy and long vehicles, over 4.5 tonnes GVM or over 7.5 metres, get one hour on a carriageway in a built-up area.
- City of Stirling. Its local law prohibits unattached caravans and trailers on verges, and its own resident FAQ answers the question flatly: a caravan cannot be stored on the verge. Its residential parking permits cover time restrictions, so they do not reach a rule that is not a time limit in the first place.
Checking your own council
In Perth, ask your council how its parking local law treats a trailer or caravan that is not attached to a motor vehicle, and ask about the verge and the carriageway separately.
If someone is going to sleep in it
Whether someone may live in the van is a separate rule from where it may sit, and who writes that rule changes at each state border. In some states the state sets the terms. In others there is no state number, and your council writes it.
New South Wales
The state sets the rule. One caravan on land that already has a home, lived in by that household, needs no approval and carries no day limit. A separate exemption allows up to two caravans on any land, two days at a time and 60 days a year. Anything outside those lines is a council approval.
Victoria
There is no state number. Each council writes its own occupancy clause, and the councils we read gave answers from 28 days beside an existing home to no time limit at all. The figure that binds you is your own council's.
Queensland
Council local laws decide it, and they disagree with each other. Fraser Coast allows family or friends to occupy a caravan beside a home for six months in twelve with no approval; Gympie allows two weeks in any eight. Read your own council's local law before planning anything.
South Australia
There is no day count. The state asks a planning question instead: is there a home on the block, is the person in the van an occupant of that home, and is the van parked rather than fixed down. Put your own block to the council's planning team against that test.
Western Australia
The state sets both ends. Five nights in any 28 days on your own land needs no approval; past that, a council approval can run up to 24 consecutive months on state-set conditions. These rules were rewritten in September 2024, so check the date on anything else you read.
Tasmania
The state's exemption reaches only inside caravan parks. On ordinary land it is a temporary occupancy permit plus your council's own policy, and the councils we read run separate licensing schemes - one licenses a caravan while an approved home is built, six months at a time.
Northern Territory
The territory's tenancy law treats a caravan someone lives in as residential premises like any other. The land-use side is a council question, so ask it separately.
Australian Capital Territory
A standard residential block is a Crown lease limited to one dwelling, and the planning law counts a mobile home as a dwelling. The question is about your lease, and the planning authority answers it.
Staying long enough to become a park resident
Caravan parks run on a separate clock. Stay long enough and the law stops treating you as a holidaymaker and starts treating you as a resident, with different rights, and the trigger is set state by state.
- Queensland: 42 days, marked by a written statement of the parties' intention, with one 42-day extension.
- Victoria: 60 days lived in the park without a break.
- South Australia: 60 days brings a presumption that the park is your principal place of residence. It is a different test from Victoria's simple count.
- Western Australia: three months.
- Northern Territory: twelve months, and stacking shorter agreements does not reset it.
- New South Wales: no day figure. The law splits by purpose instead - occasional holiday use or permanent residence.
One more thing for the phone call: the rules are written about camping in and occupying a caravan rather than living in one. Ask with the council's own words and you reach the right team first time.
Parking questions, answered
Can I park my caravan on the street outside my house?
That is your council's rule, and it usually depends on whether your van crosses that council's heavy vehicle or long vehicle definition. Some councils publish a limit measured in hours, some in days, and some restrict an unhitched caravan on the road regardless of how long it is there. Find your council's parking local law, read its definitions, then measure your van against them.
Is parking the van the same question as living in it?
No, and treating them as one question is the most common way people get a wrong answer. Where a caravan may be parked or stored is a parking and local-law question. Whether somebody may sleep or live in it is usually a planning and land-use question, often handled by a different team at the same council. A council can answer one way on the first and a different way on the second, so ask both separately.
How long can a caravan stay parked in one spot?
There is no national figure. The published limits we read range from one hour to 28 days depending on the council and on what triggers the rule. City of Parramatta publishes 28 days for a registered vehicle in good order, Whitehorse City Council publishes 14 continuous days for a caravan on council land or a road without a permit, and several councils apply a one hour limit once a vehicle crosses a heavy or long vehicle threshold.
Can I keep the caravan on the nature strip?
Across much of the country, parking on a footpath or nature strip is restricted by state road rules whatever the vehicle is, and councils including Brisbane City Council, City of Marion and City of Salisbury restate that in their own words. Some go further for caravans specifically: City of Perth and City of Stirling both prohibit an unattached caravan or trailer on a verge in their own local law. Check with your council before you put a wheel on the grass.
Does it help if the van is hitched to the car?
In some local laws it changes the answer completely, which makes it one of the first things worth asking. Yarra City Council's one hour rule applies to a caravan left on a road or footway unless it is attached to a registered motor vehicle, and City of Perth, City of Stirling and City of Joondalup each restrict an unattached caravan or trailer on a verge. Hitching up does not override a separate heavy or long vehicle rule that your combination crosses.
Do I need a permit to keep the van at home?
Some councils run one and the conditions vary. Gold Coast City Council issues a heavy vehicle parking permit for residential premises with no fee, with conditions covering a Class 10 building or screening and consultation with neighbours within 50 metres. Ipswich City Council runs an annual permit for a single heavy vehicle on a residential property. City of Marion publishes that a vehicle of 3 tonnes or over on a residential property requires development consent. Ask your council whether a permit exists, what it costs, and what conditions come with it.
Most of these rules turn on length and weight
Before you ring the council, know what your van actually measures and what it actually weighs. Those two numbers decide which rule you are reading.
Still working out the car and van pairing? Read car first or caravan first or run your car through the tow calculator.
Council rules read in August 2026. Local laws change, so confirm with your council.