Selling a Static Caravan at a Darwin Escapes Park

If you own a static caravan or lodge at a Darwin Escapes resort and you are thinking about selling, the good news is that Darwin publishes its holiday home licence agreements online, resort by resort. That means a lot of the rules that usually stay hidden in a drawer are there to read before you pick up the phone.

This guide walks through what those published agreements say about selling, what is not published and needs checking, and the questions worth asking the park office. It is general guidance from a cash buyer, not legal advice. Your own signed agreement is the document that counts, and older agreements may differ from the current version.

Quick answers for Darwin Escapes sellers

• Can I sell my Darwin holiday home? Yes. The May 2026 published licence allows three routes: to Darwin (if it agrees), on the pitch to an approved buyer, or off the park.
• Can it stay on the park? Yes, if Darwin approves your buyer under the clause 6 procedure. Darwin has five working days to buy it itself at your agreed price instead.
• Will the park charge commission? On an on-pitch sale, yes, at the rate in Part 1 of your agreement plus VAT. The published templates leave that box blank, so no standard rate is published.
• Can a trader or cash buyer collect it? Yes. An off-park sale is written into the agreement, but de-siting and removal on the park must be done by Darwin or its contractors, at your cost.
• What is it worth? On the pitch, it depends heavily on time left on your Agreement Period. Off the park, make, age, size and condition, less Darwin's removal charge.
• What if it is old? At the end of the Agreement Period you must remove it unless Darwin agrees an annual extension. An older caravan may still have value off-site or through export to Europe.
• What fees and costs apply? Commission on an on-pitch sale (rate in your agreement), Darwin's removal and de-siting charge on an off-park sale (quoted per job, with an independent-quote cap), and the pitch fee refund scale if you terminate.

Who Darwin Escapes are

Darwin Escapes is a UK holiday park operator founded in 2008. In February 2026 it was bought by ABT Capital from the Darwin Leisure Property Fund, with trade press reporting a portfolio of 18 parks. The deal announcements said the existing management team and the Darwin Escapes brand would stay in place, so day to day you are still dealing with Darwin.

Not every Darwin park sells holiday homes. Darwin's ownership resorts page, checked 10 October 2026, shows 13 resorts:

• North Wales: Talacre Beach Resort, Aberconwy Resort & Spa, New Pines Holiday Home Park and Seaview Holiday Home Park
• Cornwall: Piran Meadows Resort and Mullion Cove Coastal Retreat
• Devon: Hawkchurch Resort & Spa
• Somerset: Cheddar Woods Resort & Spa and Bath Mill Lodge Retreat
• Dorset: Wareham Forest Lodge Retreat
• Isle of Wight: Woodside Coastal Retreat
• Lake District: Keswick Reach Lodge Retreat and Thanet Well Lodge Retreat

The FAQ on the same page still says Darwin has 11 holiday home resorts and lists 11 names, leaving out Bath Mill Lodge Retreat and Wareham Forest Lodge Retreat. We have used the 13 resort listings because they are the current ones on the page; the FAQ appears not to have been updated. Darwin says lodges are sold at all of its ownership resorts, while static caravans are only sold at five of them: four on the North Wales coast and one in Cornwall. So if you own a traditional static with Darwin, there is a good chance it sits on one of the North Wales parks. Many of the newer resorts are lodge-led, often in countryside or woodland settings. Darwin also operates other holiday resorts outside the ownership list (for example Canterbury Reach and Sandymouth have published licence agreements); ownership of a holiday home is not available at every Darwin resort.

What the Darwin licence agreement says about selling

Darwin's May 2026 published licence template, checked for this guide against the Woodside Coastal Retreat, Cheddar Woods, Sandymouth, Seaview and Canterbury Reach PDFs, uses the same selling wording. Clause 6 says you may sell your holiday home in one of three ways:

1. To Darwin, if Darwin agrees.
2. On the pitch, to a buyer Darwin has approved.
3. Off the park, as long as you arrange the removal through Darwin and pay its charges for de-siting and removing the holiday home.

That third option matters. It means selling to someone who will take the caravan away, such as a cash buyer, is a route the agreement itself recognises. It is not a loophole or a favour.

Selling on the pitch to a private buyer

If you want your buyer to keep the holiday home where it is, the agreement sets out a fixed procedure:

• Write to Darwin to say you are putting the holiday home on the market, and tell them in writing whether there is finance on it.
• Arrange the relevant safety checks (gas and electrics, for example) with competent contractors and produce the certificates if asked.
• Find your own buyer, then write to Darwin with the price you intend to sell at.
• Darwin then has five working days to buy the holiday home itself at that same price, with no commission. If it does, it can only deduct sums lawfully due under the agreement and anything needed to clear finance.
• If Darwin does not buy, it can vet your buyer, take references and ask to meet them. The agreement says approval will only be withheld on reasonable grounds.
• The sale goes through Darwin as your agent. Darwin receives the money, settles any notified finance, takes its commission plus VAT and pays you the balance.

The commission rate is written into Part 1 of each owner's agreement. In the published templates that box is left blank, so Darwin does not publish a standard figure. Check your own copy rather than relying on what someone else on the park pays.

Two smaller points catch people out. The sale price is treated as including whatever is left of the pitch fee you have already paid for the year, so the buyer is not charged again for that year. And any discounted site fee deal you were given when you bought does not transfer to your buyer, who moves to the standard fee on the agreement plus later increases. That can affect how attractive your caravan looks to a private buyer.

If you have already had a private sale knocked back, our guide to what to do when a park refuses a private sale covers your options in more detail.

Selling off the park

If the holiday home is leaving, the agreement says any de-siting or removal work on the park must be done by Darwin or its contractors, and you pay for it. The charges must be reasonable and Darwin should give you a written quotation. Helpfully, if you get a written quote for the same work from a competent independent contractor within 14 days of receiving Darwin's quote, Darwin agrees to charge no more than that independent figure.

So factor the removal cost into any off-park sale. If you want to know what happens on the day, see the secret life of a caravan haulier. A good buyer will ask about it up front rather than surprise you on collection day.

Agreement periods and the age of your holiday home

Darwin's agreements run for a fixed Agreement Period with a start and end date written into Part 1. At the end of that period you are required to remove the holiday home and pay the associated costs, which the agreement says can include disconnection, removal, disposal, taking away decking and crane hire if needed.

There is some flexibility. The summary page says that if the holiday home is in a satisfactory state of repair, visually and structurally, you may be able to continue after the period ends, subject to review each year. Darwin does not publish a single age limit for all resorts, so the end date on your own agreement is the figure to work from. For the bigger picture on how parks use age rules, see our guide to static caravan park age limits.

A buyer staying on the pitch only gets the time left on your agreement, so the closer you are to the end date, the harder a private on-park sale tends to become.

Pitch fees, notice and refunds

In the published templates, pitch fees are reviewed each year on 1 November. Darwin says it will try to give at least two months' written notice of any increase, with reasons, and the review looks at factors including RPI inflation, third-party costs, investment in the park and operating costs. The payment date itself is filled in per agreement, so check yours.

Darwin's published agreement contains a sliding refund provision for certain pitch fees and charges paid for a period after the agreement ends. The percentage depends on how much of the licence agreement remains. It also normally requires at least two months' written notice to terminate. Ask the resort to calculate the refund and effective termination date under your own agreement before committing to a sale.

In the published wording, after termination Darwin repays qualifying pitch fees and charges (excluding rates) paid for a period after the agreement ends:

• 80% where the licence agreement still has 11 or more months to run
• 40% where it still has 9 or more months to run
• nothing where it has less than 9 months to run

That scale is tied to how much of the licence agreement remains, not to a simple "sell before the next annual pitch fee falls due" rule. Your own signed agreement may differ if you bought under an earlier version. Our article on how site fees affect selling goes into the wider site-fee picture.

Part exchange and upgrades

Darwin's part-exchange offer is aimed at moving you into another Darwin holiday home. Its upgrade page promises existing owners its best available upgrade price, and its sales pages say it accepts part exchange on holiday homes from other parks as well as tourers, motorhomes and even boats. Darwin also says it does not allow you to "bring on" a caravan from another park.

We could not find a published buy-back price list or a standalone cash buy-back scheme for owners who simply want to leave. The nearest thing in the agreement is the right to sell to Darwin if it agrees, and its five-day right to match your private buyer's price.

Questions to ask your Darwin park office

• Which version of the licence agreement am I on, and can I have a copy?
• What commission rate is in Part 1 of my agreement?
• When does my Agreement Period end, and how is the annual condition review done?
• What is your written quotation for disconnecting and removing my holiday home, including decking and any crane?
• If I give not less than two months' written notice now, what refund would I get and what is the effective termination date?
• Would Darwin like to buy the holiday home, or offer a part exchange?

For a broader overview of the steps, see how to sell your static caravan.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell my Darwin caravan privately?

Yes, on the pitch, provided you follow the clause 6 procedure and Darwin approves your buyer. Darwin can choose to buy it at the same price within five working days, and the sale runs through Darwin with commission payable at the rate in your agreement.

Can I sell to a dealer or cash buyer who removes it?

Yes. The published agreement allows a sale off the park, as long as removal is arranged through Darwin and you pay its reasonable de-siting and removal charges.

Does Darwin charge commission if I sell off the park?

The commission clause in the published agreement applies to sales where the holiday home stays on the pitch and the buyer gets a new agreement. For an off-park sale, the cost to plan for is the removal charge. Confirm both with your park office.

Has anything changed since the ABT Capital takeover?

The deal announcements said the brand and management team were staying, and the published licence agreements are dated May 2026. Always check the version you signed.

If you are weighing up a private sale against a quicker exit, our comparison of a cash buyer, private sale and park sale sets out the trade-offs honestly.

When you are ready to talk it through, call 0800 644 5000 or visit staticcaravanbuyer.com for a free, no-obligation valuation. We buy static caravans and lodges across the UK, help with the park paperwork, work around Darwin's removal process, and payment is made on collection day before the caravan is loaded. There is no commission on a Static Caravan Buyer purchase.