Off grid living

Davesnave · 19 February 2018 at 11:14AM

I know of two ways that a ten year rule might have relevance to a dwelling, or a proposed dwelling.

Firstly, if there is a restrictive planning condition on a property which should be complied with, and it isn't, then after 10 years, the non-compliant owner may ask for a Certificate of Lawful Development.

Years ago, councils would take non-compliance seriously, and even force people to sell if they discovered it. Now, in most places, they just don't have the resources to check-up.

If granted, a Certificate of Lawful Development will mean that the owner can sell the property to whoever they like, not just a restricted pool of people who would qualify to buy the property. As a result, the value of the property would increase by perhaps 25-30% and it would become more mortgageable.

There is also relatively new legislation which allows redundant farm buildings to gain planning permission if they have been out of agricultural use for 10+ years. You can find out about this by Googling "Class Q Planning."

It's fairly complicated, but what it means is that redundant barns may now be worth considerably more than they were 5 years ago.

None of this is especially good news for those with few funds hoping to get a country property on the cheap.

martindow · 19 February 2018 at 11:59AM

No matter how remote and out of the way the site is, locals notice any change and are incurably nosey about new people in the area. It would undoubtedly be noticed and it would be a lottery whether the local authority are tipped off or not. It's a big risk to take.

Where locals have been unable to build on their land or convert agricultural dwellings they are not going to be inclined to help others evade the rules.

AG47 · 19 February 2018 at 7:12PM

If you buy several hectares then you can easily build a place far enough away from the beaten track, and camo roof or earth sheltered so invisible from air

catshark88 · 19 February 2018 at 7:29PM

I have not got mains gas or drainage and my internet and even electricity go down when the weather is bad. Does that count??:rotfl:

DaftyDuck · 19 February 2018 at 7:47PM

AG47 wrote: »

If you buy several hectares then you can easily build a place far enough away from the beaten track, and camo roof or earth sheltered so invisible from air

No, no you really, really can't. I have plenty of land away from the beaten track. I am not trying to build anything, or hide anything, but I am about to become a release site for reintroduction of butterflies and a couple of plants.... innocuous or what?

A few questions were asked by the Council prior to approval as to changes I had made to a ditch. A two-foot wide ditch, if that. I thought I had made none worthy of mention. An inspector turned up, and pointed out I'd dug it lopsided... more off one side than another, moving the field division by as much as six inches. He really didn't care, just wanted to note it. There was the slightest concern that it altered the location of the IDB drainage border, but he didn't mind that. They had aerial photographs in enough detail to show this, and you could tell not just that there were sheep there,but which breed of sheep were in that field, and which in the other.

I had dug that by hand, so there wasn't exactly much moved, and it's no problem, the Council are happy, and the butterflies will still come. But, they knew, and they commented, and that was for a positive and universally popular thing like butterfly release.

Try and get away with any dodgy business, and you are almost certainly going to lose out, and face the consequences. Around here, there's no sign of Councils being lacadaisical owing to cash shortage. In fact, many officials just seem more p1ssed off, more likely to chase.

Edit to add: every time I hear of an "off grid" planner like this, I fondly remember the Fast Show sketches for "Off roading..."

sleepymans · 19 February 2018 at 8:10PM

Annie35 wrote: »

,,,,,

I like the idea of canal boats too. You can be as off grid as you like but with access to town/facilities when you want.

Deluded......realistically very very different. Canal boat living is expesive andfar from the of grid dream you are dreaming of?q

AG47 · 19 February 2018 at 9:26PM

Davesnave wrote: »

"Now get ready for all the doubters adamant that you just can't (do) that......"

So far, all you have done is introduce a You Tube video, where a guy who has succeeded in using the 4 year rule explains the basics of how he did it. Of course there are going to be people who examine this critically, which isn't 'doubting' at all.

Mr Ironthumper appears to be an intelligent guy with a degree of competency in practical work, an aptitude for living with very basic facilities, and he seems to possess some astuteness in the way he deals with others.

Unfortunately, many people seeing the video will not be as well adapted to the way of life he proposes. He even suggests this himself, saying that it's better that it's not easy for everyone to follow his lead. This implies many will fail.

One thing Mr Ironthumper didn't explain is how he repaid the loans he used, so we have to assume he did some form of paid work whilst also living off-grid. This introduces a problem, because the places where land is cheap and relatively uninhabited are mainly those where employment opportunities are limited. So, the off-grid aspirant becomes a commuter.....

Where I live, there are a few people living off-grid in temporary dwellings, but this seems to be mainly to avoid the costs of renting and, possibly, to save MSE-style towards something more permanent. One group have just sold off their land on a guide price of £60k, which I'm sure they got, because it went quickly. Land can be a good investment, for sure.

The only people I'm aware of who have made a permanent structure in this area are the mud hut couple, now well publicised, who chose a very prominent place to build! The council told them to be out by Christmas. They're still there, or they were last week:

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/mud-hut-couple-allergic-modern-932655

I wonder what will happen to the mud hut couple

AG47 · 19 February 2018 at 9:38PM

If only the mud hut couple had kept a low profile for the 4 years

https://youtu.be/-9ooNQxW9x4

AG47 · 19 February 2018 at 9:42PM

What I would like to know is if somebody builds an off grid house on their land and keeps it hidden but not like the hay bales Tudor castle, but keeps it secret but qualifying for the 4 year rule, then after 4 years they get found out about, can they then apply retrospectively?

Should they apply for lawful development straight away on the 4 year anniversary which would mean they then have to start paying council tax?

Or should they wait as long as they can living there until somebody questions them and then apply for lawful development saying they have lived here for more than the 4 years?

EachPenny · 19 February 2018 at 10:17PM

AG47 wrote: »

What I would like to know is if somebody builds an off grid house on their land and keeps it hidden but not like the hay bales Tudor castle, but keeps it secret but qualifying for the 4 year rule, then after 4 years they get found out about, can they then apply retrospectively?

How would you keep it hidden, but not like the hay bales example?

Keeping it hidden implies concealment.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Off grid living

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free