Monthly RV park sites for temporary housing: rules, hookups and how the pad is paid

Key facts

• 78 percent of 699 active units are towables; 89.4 percent of units offer delivery (measured 2026-09-18).
• Only 10 of 699 listings publish a per-mile delivery price; the median among them is $3.50 a mile. Get a written quote.
• Two of the largest resorts in one Florida metro cap a stay at 14 days per site from April 15 to September 15.
• Florida stops transient rentals tax after six months, or from day one under a written lease longer than six months. Other states differ.

When does a pad beat the driveway?

When the lot fails on wastewater, debris clearance, setbacks, the HOA or power. The pad already has the hookups, and the permit questions are the park's.

Who brings the unit to the pad?

Usually the operator. Seventy-eight percent of units are towables and nine in ten offer delivery. Only 10 of 699 listings publish a per-mile delivery price, so get the fee as a written quote for your distance.

What to ask the park, in writing

1. Monthly rate, deposit, and any surcharge after a regional disaster.
2. Amp service at the pad, and whether water and sewer are at the pad or shared.
3. Minimum stay, maximum stay, and early-exit terms if the home is ready sooner.
4. Whether the park issues a monthly invoice in your name with the pad fee shown separately.
5. Pet rules, guest rules for contractors, and quiet hours.
6. Whether the operator's driver can place a delivered unit.

Can the park hold you for the whole rebuild?

This is the question that is almost never asked, and it is the one that ends stays. A park can be right on hookups, price, length and location, and still be unable to keep you past a fortnight.

Two of the largest resorts in the Orlando metro publish the rule on their own pages. Thousand Trails Orlando in Clermont lists 1,017 sites and a maximum of 14 days per site from April 15 to September 15. Tropical Palms in Kissimmee, with 343 sites, publishes the same summer rule. An insurance placement is rarely shorter than 90 days.

So the order of questions matters. Maximum stay first, in writing. Rate second. A pad booked on the rate alone can end on day 15, and the unit then moves at the operator's rate, in the season the cap exists to protect.

What changes if the rebuild runs past six months?

Two things change at once, and in some states they change on the same day.

In Florida, transient rentals tax stops after six months of continuous residence, or from the first night under a bona fide written lease longer than six months. Separately, the state's RV park statute stops treating a guest as transient at that same six-month mark, which changes the process a park must use if it ever wants the site back.

Those thresholds are Florida's. Other states set their own, and we have not compiled them. If the contractor's schedule says six months or more, ask the park for a written lease longer than six months before the first night, and confirm the tax position with your own state revenue department. Getting it right at the start removes a tax line from every invoice the adjuster has to approve.

Will a park take an insurance-funded booking?

Probably, but almost none of them say so in public. Of the parks whose pages we could read, not one states whether it accepts an insurance-funded stay, invoices in a guest's name, or will hold a pad while a claim decision is pending.

That absence is the finding. There is nothing to look up, so each of these is a phone call, and each answer belongs in writing:

• Will you invoice monthly, in my name, with the pad fee shown as its own line?
• Will you hold a pad for a stated number of days while my adjuster decides?
• What happens to the deposit and the remaining month if the house is ready early?
• Do you add tax, and does it come off after a set number of months?

How is a pad documented for ALE?

Two invoices, one packet: the unit's monthly price from the operator and the pad fee from the park. Both go in the housing line of the monthly ALE packet, with the park's rule sheet attached the first month.

Keep the tax on its own line rather than folded into the pad fee. An adjuster approves a figure, and a figure that quietly grows by a tax percentage is the most common reason a housing line gets queried in month two.

We name two parks on this page because both publish their stay rules where anyone can read them. We still quote no pad rates, because none was sourced. When one is, it appears with its URL and the date it was read.

Questions people ask

When is a park pad better than my own driveway?

When the lot fails on wastewater, debris clearance, setbacks, the HOA or power. The pad already has the hookups and the permit questions are the park's, not yours.

What do I ask the park before booking?

Monthly rate and deposit, any surcharge after a regional disaster, amp service and whether water and sewer are at the pad, minimum and maximum stay, early-exit terms, whether they invoice monthly in your name, pet and guest rules, and whether the operator's driver can place the unit.

Who brings the RV to the pad?

Usually the operator: nine in ten units offer delivery and most households do not own a tow vehicle. The delivery fee is almost never on the listing, so ask for it in writing for your exact distance.

How is a pad documented for ALE?

Two invoices in one packet: the unit's monthly price from the operator and the pad fee from the park, both in your name, with the park's rule sheet attached the first month.

Can a park refuse to hold me for a whole rebuild?

Yes, and two of the largest resorts in one Florida metro publish exactly that: a maximum of 14 days per site between April 15 and September 15. Ask for the maximum stay in writing before you discuss the rate.

What changes if the rebuild runs past six months?

In Florida, transient rentals tax stops after six months of continuous residence, and the park statute stops treating you as a transient guest at the same point. A written lease longer than six months, signed before the first night, removes the tax from the start. Other states set their own thresholds, so ask the park and your own state revenue department.

What to do next

1. Ask for the maximum stay in writing before you ask for the rate.
2. Book the pad first, in writing, with hookups and length limit confirmed.
3. Choose a unit that fits the pad from the RV fleet page.
4. Get the delivery quote in writing for your distance.
5. If the rebuild may run past six months, ask for a written lease longer than six months.
6. Put both invoices in the monthly ALE packet.

Contact us

How we know

Each finding below names its source, what we did to it, what it means for you and what it costs to ignore. Figures marked measured decay and are re-measured before they are 60 days old.

Reviewed by Ben Kiser, long-term RV placement specialist. Published 2026-09-06. Updated 2026-09-14.