'illegal' mock-Tudor castle he tried to hide behind 40ft hay bales

lostinrates

Has it stood the day? Or did they arrive to knock it down yet?


I'm so desperate to know!

MrsE_2

lostinrates wrote: »

Has it stood the day? Or did they arrive to knock it down yet?


I'm so desperate to know!

Forgot to look (its not easy to spot from the road while driving).

Will look tomorrow.

There is road resurfacing going on down there, so its all gravely & slippery.

RDB

Wheres that inspecter guy, whats going on why is the castle still there?

Nylontokyo

While we are waiting to see if it gets demolished or not, can I ask some related questions about the 4 year thing?

I am interested in what planning_officer and anyone else has to say.


My family owns some land in the countryside, a few years ago we got permission to build a comercial building, its like offices with kitchen and bathroom etc. My friends say it looks just like a bungalow

We have been getting water and electricity bills there for a few years now. We dont live there all the time but most of the time and even if we dont stay there over night we are there working almost everyday.

Here is my question-

Its been more than 4 years now, how do we go about getting a change of use to residential?
What proof do I need that we have been living there for 4 years? Are the bills enough?
Also should we start paying council tax?

We didnt hide it behind hay bales or anything you can see it from the road no problem, no one has complained at all. Most of the time during the winter there is smoke coming from the chimney so everyone just asumes there are people living there.

RDB

Nylontokyo wrote: »

While we are waiting to see if it gets demolished or not, can I ask some related questions about the 4 year thing?

I am interested in what planning_officer and anyone else has to say.


My family owns some land in the countryside, a few years ago we got permission to build a comercial building, its like offices with kitchen and bathroom etc. My friends say it looks just like a bungalow

We have been getting water and electricity bills there for a few years now. We dont live there all the time but most of the time and even if we dont stay there over night we are there working almost everyday.

Here is my question-

Its been more than 4 years now, how do we go about getting a change of use to residential?
What proof do I need that we have been living there for 4 years? Are the bills enough?
Also should we start paying council tax?

We didnt hide it behind hay bales or anything you can see it from the road no problem, no one has complained at all. Most of the time during the winter there is smoke coming from the chimney so everyone just asumes there are people living there.

You could get permission to live there now as long as you have proof of living there for 4 years.

But you wouldnt be able to sell it, because you cant get a H.I.P done.

Yes you would have to start paying council tax, you should be paying it now if you are living there.

Nenen

Well, I've just read all four pages of this thread and am dying to know what happens next! Any news?

Yoshua

planning_officer wrote: »

Where do you get this rubbish from? Do you not understand that Mr Fidler lost his enforcement appeals and will be forced to demolish it? It's pointless just saying 'it's still standing' - of course it is, he doesn't have to demolish it yet! His deadline is 7 May 2009.

Planning_officer with all due respect you have been proved wrong.

You were very strongly calling what I said rubbish but actually I was right and you were wrong. I wish I had put money on it.

I had it on good authority that it is indeed still standing.



As for Nylontokyo yes as above you can apply for change of use now, you just need proof of living there for 4 years, I dont know if the bills are enough because you would have been getting them anyway for comercial use. I dont know how else you could prove it though. I am very interested to see how you get. Please keep us informed.

RDB

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Not so, I'm afraid. A caravan is "a residence" so you have to apply for the same change of use permission.

You would probably get permission to put a caravan on agricultural land for storage, but it would have to be such that the caravan would not be capable of inhabiting i.e. the inside would need to be effectively ripped out leaving just a shell, which is all you need for storage.

And if it's in an AONB or National Park, the visible impact on the surrounding area would be taken into account, too.

Not the best kind of storage either for farm machinery/equipment - and not at all secure. I doubt "the story" would weather with the local planners.



Not if you build on agricultural land. You need 10 years of continuous uninterrupted residential use. Four years is simply for development, not for change of use.

Are you sure about what you say here, can others please confirm if this is right?

I understood it that if you either build a building or put a caravan on your land after 4 yrs of uninteruped use you can keep it there.


A local company selling and delivering luxury park homes that I had a chat to claimed you are talking B.S:*!t.

This company said they have delivered many of these caravans all over the country, then they just write a bogus reciept saying they delivered it 4 years ago. This is the only proof needed to be allowed to live there.

These park home cost up to 12K but they are great. Like being in 5star hotel.

Is that correct about proving 4 yrs then you are allowed to live there for good?

crazygaijin

This is a very very interesting thread.

Please can someone update is the castle still there? If it is how long before the council demolish it?


Also can someone please clarify these points about the 4 year rule?

Is it right that you can keep a caravan or building to live in after 4 years of living in it illegally?
If this is right how do you prove it? How do you go about proving it/getting permission to live there?

Any good links with good info please?

lostinrates

crazygaijin wrote: »

Is it right that you can keep a caravan or building to live in after 4 years of living in it illegally?
If this is right how do you prove it? How do you go about proving it/getting permission to live there?

Any good links with good info please?

I keep coming across conflivting information re caravans. for example I read locally that agricultural/farm workers can live in wooden accomodation built temporarily or on wheels without planning permission on the land they are working. Someone locally claims to have got planning permission originating from their occupation on this basis. But I can find nothing else about this.

Having found a plot and been quite serious (and had lots of help from planning officer and planner with focusing our minds) and abut chose not to go ahead with that so are still looking, but the planning issue, before we've even found a farm, is keeping me awake at nights. Its not sufficient with stock: both from the point of needing to be there to care for them and check them reglarly, and, crucially, be around to be a deterrant to theft of valuable animals/equipment, to ''hope'' you can get permission to be on site: but for most young nrew entrants into farming/agricultural enterprise buying a farm with a home, et alone a nice home, and agricultural buildings etc is prohibitively expensive.