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Transportable home rules in Victoria

From Modular Living Australia — the independent knowledge base Last updated: 8 Oct 2026

In Victoria a transportable home in a caravan park is regulated under Part 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and the 2024 caravan parks and movable dwellings regulations, under which the resident typically owns the dwelling and rents the site.^[1][2] A dwelling used by a resident must have at least 15 m² of enclosed floor area, including any annexe, with roof insulation of at least R3.3 and wall insulation of at least R1.5.^[3]

Victoria regulates transportable dwellings from an unexpected direction. Where New South Wales places them under local government law, Victoria places them largely under tenancy law — the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 — because the state's framework was built around caravan parks and the people living long-term in them. The consequence is a system that works well for a dwelling inside a registered park and much less well for the same dwelling on an ordinary block.

The regulation sits in tenancy law §

Caravan parks in Victoria are regulated under Part 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and the Residential Tenancies (Caravan Parks and Movable Dwellings Registration and Standards) Regulations 2024. The Act and Regulations provide for the safety and amenity of people who use caravan parks, and are administered by the Minister for Housing and Building. The Regulations set standards for the construction of dwellings within caravan parks — but they do not cover the manufacture of caravans or campervans, which are road vehicles covered by separate legislation and standards^[1].

Two boundaries are worth fixing in mind. The Regulations govern dwellings within caravan parks, and they stop where road vehicle law begins. A dwelling that is registrable as a vehicle is outside this framework; a dwelling that is not registrable, and sits in a park, is squarely inside it.

Part 4A: you own the dwelling, you rent the site §

The arrangement that most Victorian transportable home owners are actually in has its own name.

Caravan park owners commonly lease sites to people who own the unregistrable movable dwelling installed on the site. In that arrangement the Part 4A site is the site leased by the park owner, and the Part 4A dwelling is the privately owned dwelling placed on it. Many long-term residents live in unregistrable movable dwellings of a similar size and complexity to a free-standing house^[2].

Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes a guide summarising the rights and responsibilities of people who own a Part 4A dwelling — formerly called a movable dwelling — and rent the land where it is located, for example in a residential park or residential village^[4].

The significance for a buyer is the split of what is owned. The building is an asset the resident owns outright; the land underneath it is not, and the terms of the site agreement govern the cost of occupying it and what happens on sale. That is the same structural position described in Land lease communities and manufactured home estates, and the resale consequences are set out in Valuation and resale of modular homes.

The construction standards that apply §

Schedule 3 of the 2024 Regulations sets minimum standards for unregistrable movable dwellings. The requirements most relevant to a buyer are^[3]:

Three observations for anyone comparing products.

The chassis requirement is expressed as covering transportation and installation, not just the settled state^[3]. A structure adequate once levelled but distressed by the journey does not meet it, which is why the chassis specification is worth asking about explicitly.

The insulation minimums are a floor, not a target. R3.3 and R1.5^[3] are materially below what a Class 1a house must achieve to reach the 7-star NatHERS requirement now applying in Victoria — see Energy efficiency and sustainability in modular homes. A dwelling built to the movable dwelling standard is a legal dwelling and a comparatively poor thermal performer, and the running cost difference is borne by the occupant.

The thermal break requirement for metal framing^[3] exists because steel conducts heat straight through the wall assembly. Its presence in the Regulations is a useful signal: it is the kind of detail that distinguishes a compliant manufacturer from one working to a lower spec.

Outside a park, the position is harder §

The framework above assumes a registered caravan park. On ordinary private land the picture is less settled, and the Victorian Government has said so.

The Regulatory Impact Statement for the 2024 Regulations records that tiny houses — which it describes as permanent residences that may be on wheels, on skids, or a relocatable prefabricated house or container — often do not fit existing Victorian planning schemes such as the granny flat or temporary dwelling provisions, and instead fall under camping on private land, which triggers restrictive regulations^[5].

The same document notes an enforcement gap: although councils are the primary oversight body for caravan park regulatory requirements, the Residential Tenancies Act does not presently include council officers within the definition of authorised officer^[5].

For a buyer this is the most important section on the page. A transportable dwelling placed on a private Victorian block may not have a clean category to sit in, and the fallback category is one written for camping. Anyone planning that should establish the pathway with the council before purchase — not after delivery, when the options narrow to relocation or a retrospective application.

Where the dwelling is instead intended as a second home on a block with an existing house, the small second dwelling provisions may be the better route; those are covered in Granny flat rules in Victoria.

What is not covered here §

This guide does not reproduce the full Schedule 3 standards, the caravan park registration requirements, or the site agreement provisions of Part 4A; the Act, the Regulations and the Consumer Affairs Victoria guide are the authorities. Fire safety and emergency requirements within parks, park closure and relocation rights, and dispute resolution through VCAT are not covered by the sources compiled here. Council-level variation in how a transportable dwelling on private land is assessed is significant and is not covered.

References §