Where the law on private parking actually stands

Last reviewed: 18 July 2026. We update this page when the position changes; the date above tells you how current it is.

The rules governing private parking in the UK have been in motion for seven years, and the consumer press regularly reports that they are about to change again. Most of that coverage is written for drivers. This page tracks the same story for landowners and property managers, the people the sector actually runs on, and what each step means for how your site is managed.

The timeline

2019: Parliament legislates. The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 requires the government to prepare a code of practice for private parking operators, with real teeth: operators that breach it can lose access to DVLA keeper data, without which the enforcement model cannot function.

February 2022: the government’s code arrives… A statutory Private Parking Code of Practice is published, promising caps on charge amounts, restrictions on aggressive debt recovery practices and a single appeals system.

June 2022: …and is withdrawn. Operators and debt recovery firms bring legal challenges over the caps and debt fees, and the code is formally withdrawn for reconsideration. For landowners the practical effect is that the industry keeps regulating itself while the government regroups.

October 2024: the industry writes its own rulebook. The two operator trade associations, the BPA and the IPC, bring a joint single Code of Practice into effect across the sector: a cap on charge amounts with a prompt-payment discount, a mandatory 10-minute grace period, consistent signage and a common appeals charter. It binds operators, not landowners, but it sets the standard for what happens on your land.

July–September 2025: the government comes back. MHCLG consults on a new statutory Private Parking Code of Practice under the 2019 Act, alongside a compliance framework: an independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board and a UKAS-accredited certification scheme for operators. The consultation closed in September 2025.

Now: the response is awaited. As at our last review, the government has not yet published its response to the consultation. When it does, the statutory code and its oversight machinery will begin to displace pure self-regulation, and operators will be answering to a regulator-backed standard, not just their own trade bodies.

Ahead: 31 December 2026, the industry’s compliance deadline. Whatever the government does next, operators belonging to the trade associations must meet the single Code’s standards in full by the end of 2026. If an operator manages your site, the second half of 2026 is when its compliance, or the gap in it, becomes visible on your land.

What this means for landowners and property managers

Through every stage of this story, one thing has not changed: the rules bind operators, and the consequences land on the people who run the sites. An operator that falls foul of whichever code applies can lose DVLA access and, with it, the ability to run your site’s arrangement at all. A statutory code will raise that stake: losing certification will mean losing the market, and anyone mid-contract will want to know their agreement anticipated it.

What we’d do now

1. Know which code your operator answers to today, and get its compliance confirmed in writing against the December 2026 deadline.
2. Check your contract for a compliance clause: the well-drafted ones bind the operator to “the applicable code from time to time” and attach termination rights to losing accreditation. Older agreements are usually silent.
3. Assume the rules will move again, and build that into anything you sign now: favour agreements flexible enough to survive the next change without a renegotiation.

If you’d rather have the position checked than track it yourself, that is what a free site review is for.