Campervan holiday on your own land

Eliza_2

I heard today about someone who bought a piece of land in the Peak District so they could holiday in their campervan whenever they liked.

I know there was a thread a bit ago about staying in a caravan in someone's drive and that that was allowed as long as you used the main services in the house (loo etc) but what would the rules be if you bought a bit of land in the country and then camped there whenever you wanted to? Would it be allowed perhaps for so many weeks of the year? Or could you come and go whenever you liked?

The idea has great appeal! Would be interested to know if anyone's done it. Or maybe long term rented a field from a farmer?

Thanks

Eliza

lincroft1710

28 days in a period of 12 months is allowed without planning permission.

Margot123

There may be covenants on the use of the land. If it's a field, it may state 'agricultural or horticultural use only'.
Check this with the Land Registry first. Most deeds are available online for £3 a copy.

Davesnave

Agricultural land can be used under the 28 day rule.

You are not changing the fundamental use of the land by camping 28 days out of 365.

ProDave

lincroft1710 wrote: »

28 days in a period of 12 months is allowed without planning permission.

You could cunningly double that if a couple by fencing it as 2 "fields" one in each of your ownership and using each for no more than 28 days per year.

Keep a log of the days you use it so if challenged you can prove you have not used it more than 28 days

Cornucopia

So.... if you divided it into 12 campervan sized "fields", could you use the 11 you weren't using for the van for other recreational purposes?

I've always wondered whether there might be a feasible way around our restrictive planning laws (that are one of the main reasons why property is so expensive).

EachPenny

ProDave wrote: »

You could cunningly double that if a couple by fencing it as 2 "fields" one in each of your ownership and using each for no more than 28 days per year.

I'm not sure you'd necessarily get away with artificially sub-dividing a plot of land and using that to overcome the 28 day rule.

Otherwise you could simply put a fence around the caravan/motorhome and then move the fence/caravan combination to a different part of the plot on a regular basis to enable permanent occupation.

I think if you tried this, and somebody complained, the Council would soon find a way of stopping you.

chappers

ProDave wrote: »

You could cunningly double that if a couple by fencing it as 2 "fields" one in each of your ownership and using each for no more than 28 days per year.

Keep a log of the days you use it so if challenged you can prove you have not used it more than 28 days

Only applies to established recognised enclosures and then even that has never been tested in court.
some quite large campsites operate under the 28 day rule on this premise and have never been challenged and I don't think you will find anyone willing to state the definitive law on this.
to be honest its pretty low on the councils list of priorities, as I equally suspect would be a family turning up every now and then with a camper van.
There was talk in the Welsh government of introducing a periodic mandatory inspection scheme for all licensed sites. most councils rebelled against it as they said they didn't have the resources nor the inclination to carry it out.

Davesnave

EachPenny wrote: »

I'm not sure you'd necessarily get away with artificially sub-dividing a plot of land and using that to overcome the 28 day rule.

People can do what they like in the way of fencing, but fields have numbers.Unless they are registered officially as seperate fields, any extra fencing dividing up the land is disregarded.

In AONBs people parking a touring caravan or pitching a tent would probably be regarded differently from those attempting to keep permanently sited caravan.

Elsewhere, it depends.....Near me there's a few permanently sited small vans, discretely sited, which no one seems concerned about.

Indeed, we have a small van by our barn which a family member uses about 10 days in a year. It's plumbed into the barn electrics, water and septic tank, so maybe we should have applied for formal permission, but it's not very visible and no one's ever commented on it.

Margot123

Putting aside the issues with the 28 day rule, it doesn't take into account an aggrieved local and what action they might take.

Davesnave

Margot123 wrote: »

Putting aside the issues with the 28 day rule, it doesn't take into account an aggrieved local and what action they might take.

That's true, as the chain of reporting usually starts there, goes to the parish council, who take a look, then pass on any concerns to the district council.

This is far more likely to happen with something permanently left in full view, rather than a van which comes for the odd weekend and disappears again. It's also far more likely to happen in places like The Peak District than more workaday environments, such as where I live.

We do have a couple of curtain twitchers living within100m of our van, but although they've reported local people for all manner of things, they can't see it, so for them it might as well not exist.

We had some people living permanently in vans on their own land on the village boundary until a few years ago. It took the council 10 years to deal with that, although I see a neighbouring one has acted more swiftly regarding the mud hut which has been in the national press this year:

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