FreeCamps

Is it illegal to sleep in your car in Western Australia?

Western Australia has the shortest answer of any state, and the strictest. In these regulations camping includes camping in a vehicle, so sleeping in a car, van or motorhome is covered by the same rule as pitching a tent. In Western Australia a person may camp only at a site in a licensed caravan park or camping ground, or in accordance with regulation 11. If a council officer gives you an infringement notice, the amount is $200 and paying it ends the matter; the officer may instead prosecute, and a court can fine up to $2 000.

Signs override this page. Whatever is signed at the site is the rule that applies, no matter what is written here.

The general rule

Camping outside a licensed caravan park or camping ground is only lawful in the situations regulation 11 sets out. Sleeping in a vehicle is camping for this purpose, so the question is always which part of regulation 11 you are relying on.

The road side rest area exception

One of the situations regulation 11 allows is camping for up to 24 consecutive hours in a caravan or other vehicle on a road side rest area.

The regulations define a road side rest area as an area designated by a traffic sign, erected in accordance with a written law, as an area that may be used for 24 hours for resting, stopping or camping in a vehicle. The traffic sign is what brings a place within the exception.

This is the part that gets lost. A place is not a road side rest area because a map calls it one, or because there is a picnic table. It is one because a traffic sign, erected under a written law, designates it as usable for 24 hours. Main Roads records which of its stopping places allow a 24-hour stay, and the answer is 44 of 1,673.

See those 44 sites

The emergency exception

Regulation 11 also allows up to 24 consecutive hours in a caravan or other vehicle on a road reserve in an emergency, unless doing so would cause a hazard to other road users or contravene another written law about the use of the road reserve.

This is genuinely narrow. The regulations define the emergency as a situation where moving the vehicle would itself be an immediate and serious hazard — because of the state of the vehicle, or of the driver or passengers. Being tired at the end of a long day is what a rest area is for; this provision is for when driving on is the dangerous option.

Everywhere else

Regulation 11 also allows camping for up to 5 nights in any period of 28 consecutive days on land the person owns or has a legal right to occupy, and for more than 5 nights in that period only with the written approval of the local government or the Minister.

It also allows camping on land held by, or placed under the care, control or management of, a State instrumentality, in accordance with that instrumentality's permission; and on unallocated Crown land or an unmanaged reserve, in accordance with the permission of the Minister or a person the Minister has authorised to give it.

Apart from up to 5 nights in any period of 28 consecutive days on land you own or have a legal right to occupy, each of these turns on an approval or a permission this site cannot check for you, so none of them is presented here as a place to stay.

Of Western Australia's councils, only one has had its local laws read for this site: Stirling. Every other council's are unknown. Local laws sit on top of the state regulations, not instead of them, and they can be stricter. This site publishes legal information, not legal advice.

The practical rule of thumb

  1. Park legally first — every parking rule applies whether or not anyone is asleep inside.
  2. Look for the sign. In WA the sign is not a footnote to the rule; for a road side rest area it is the rule.
  3. If the site is not signed for a 24-hour stay, treat it as a place to pull over, not to stay the night.
  4. A licensed caravan park or camping ground is always the answer the regulations point to.

Where this comes from

  • “camp when used as a verb, includes to camp in a vehicle.” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “A person may camp only — (a) at a site in a caravan park or camping ground, as appropriate, licensed under the Act; or (b) in accordance with regulation 11. Penalty: a fine of $2 000.” “PART 2 — REGULATIONS” “2. Regulation 10 ......................................................................... 200” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “statutory penalty, in relation to an offence, means the penalty specified by a written law for the offence;” “If the statutory penalty for an offence is a fine of a particular amount or a particular term of imprisonment, then that penalty is the maximum penalty that may be imposed for that offence and, unless the statutory penalty — (a) is a mandatory penalty; or (b) includes a minimum penalty, a lesser penalty of the same kind may be imposed.” — Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), compilation 10-ag0-00, as at 31 December 2025 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “The offences set out in column 1 of Schedule 4 are prescribed to be offences in respect of which an infringement notice may be given under section 23 of the Act.” “The modified penalty set out in column 2 of Schedule 4 opposite an offence referred to in column 1 is the prescribed modified penalty for that offence for the purposes of section 23(4) of the Act.” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “Every proceeding for an offence under this Act may be taken by an authorised person.” “A reference in subsection (2), (3), (5) or (7) to an authorised person is a reference to a person appointed to be an authorised person under the Local Government Act 1995 section 9.10(2) for the purposes of the subsection in which the term is used.” “An authorised person who has reason to believe that a person has committed a prescribed offence against this Act may, within 21 days after the alleged offence is believed to have been committed, give an infringement notice to the alleged offender.” “to advise that if the alleged offender does not wish to be prosecuted for the alleged offence in a court, the amount of money as specified in the notice as being the modified penalty for the offence may be paid to an authorised person within a period of 28 days after the giving of the notice;” “If the modified penalty specified in an infringement notice has been paid within 28 days or such further time as is allowed and the notice has not been withdrawn, the bringing of proceedings and the imposition of penalties are prevented to the same extent as they would be if the alleged offender had been convicted by a court of, and punished for, the alleged offence.” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Act 1995 (WA), compilation 03-e0-00, as at 7 November 2020 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “for up to 24 consecutive hours in a caravan or other vehicle on a road side rest area” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “road side rest area means an area designated by a traffic sign erected in accordance with a written law, as an area which may be used for 24 hours for — (a) resting; or (b) stopping; or (c) camping, in a vehicle;” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “for up to 24 consecutive hours in a caravan or other vehicle on a road reserve in an emergency, unless to do so would cause a hazard to other road users or contravene any other written law with respect to the use of the road reserve” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “(a) for up to 5 nights in any period of 28 consecutive days on land the person owns or has a legal right to occupy;” “(aa) for more than 5 nights in any period of 28 consecutive days on land the person owns or has a legal right to occupy, with the written approval of — (i) a local government under regulation 11A; or (ii) the Minister under regulation 11B;” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.
  • “(d) on any land which is — (i) held by a State instrumentality in freehold or leasehold; or (ii) dedicated, reserved, or set apart under the Land Administration Act 1997 or any other written law, and placed under the care, control or management of a State instrumentality, in accordance with the permission of that instrumentality;” “(e) on any unallocated Crown land or unmanaged reserve, in accordance with the permission of the Minister within the meaning of the Land Administration Act 1997, or a person authorised by the Minister to give permission under this paragraph.” — Caravan Parks and Camping Grounds Regulations 1997 (WA), compilation 02-i0-00, as at 1 September 2024 (official version), Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel's Office. Retrieved 12 Oct 2026.