Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,786
Club RR Member Number: 34
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its kind of sort-of possible, you have to be very careful what you tell them though. ive done it, and legally too, but it wasnt easy and it was only really down to the fact my LL had already converted existing outbuildings into a dwelling for his daughter + hubby, and there was other statics already on site. forget about trying to get business rated property converted to mixed use, they just see it as a loss of revenue and will pretty much always say no. if you find a suitable ex-business property thats already been converted over to residential, in leu of building flats/knocking it down/barn conversion, etc. you can live there then 'work from home'- there will probably be some caveats on noise/working hours/amount of visible vehicles though. i found an awesome place locally that would have been ideal for this, but i couldnt get a deposit together quick enough and it sold :-( it was a 6-car size small twin-height barn on the edge of a local farm, already had consent as a barn conversion so was signed over as residential, big double doors downstairs, with half the upstairs converted into a small flat(totally separate not just mazzanined), accessed by a seperate external staircase. it went for something silly cheap for round here too, about £90k or something. no doubt some knob will rip it all out and make it into a normal house :-( the big loophole is agricultural sites with 'seasonal agricultural use'. this is basically limited to farms, nurseries and growers. you can stop on site in a temporary dwelling (not necessarily a static caravan, if its made of wood or metal and doesnt have foundations, its temporary) for up to 48wks a year, not dissimilar to people who live on static caravan holiday sites them have a months holiday abroad every year. this does mean that technically my business is a second job, as I'm actually a live-in emergency agricultural engineer on call 24hrs a day, I just don't get many calls the tricky bit is finding an understanding landlord who knows how to play the council at their own game. tbh I think its stupid the laws about living in business properties, wind back 100 years, maybe even as few as 50 in some areas, and most people would have lived above/behind their place of business- its only the industrial revolution and the change to factory work that changed this conception. oh, and each service- water/gas/leccy is between 3k 5k to install depending on difficulty of install and distance to existing services, so try to find somewhere thats already got em!
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Last Edit: Jan 20, 2012 9:54:51 GMT by Dez
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c20xxe
Part of things
Posts: 35
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Jan 20, 2012 10:29:48 GMT
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I went to see a Evo6 years ago and guy was from down south (i live north Scotland) he had sold up and moved north, bought a decent bit of land in middle of nowhere, put up a massive steel shed and had his caravan inside it, a couple more out side, and garage was filled with all his possesions inc a few nice cars/bikes/quads, had a dirt bike track built out back for kids to play on there bikes/quads, and was building a rather large house "slowly over summer months" as he told me, said he moves caravans all out side in summer and back in winter, kids could play inside on bad days and outside when weather permitted, seemed like an ideal set up and to say the evo "Was" clean at time would be an understatment
Have to admit i was jealous of fact he could walk out his front door "caravan" and work on his car in any weather with out having to travel any where or be away from his family, plus have barbien Q in any weather, over cooked meat galore !!!!!!!!!
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bryn
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,913
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Jan 20, 2012 12:17:27 GMT
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they have a word for those types, gypsys Nice attitude and constructive input, congratulations. As has been said it's all down to planning, I've looked at this a number of times from an 18th century chapel to garage buildings. Different authorities have different approaches, so if you want to do it legally (which I would recommend) then seek advice first. You can go for retrospective, but it can be risky. Services (water, electric etc) can be hugely expensive dependant on your location. 15K for water to be connected is not unheard of. If it was a short term thing I'd just get on and do it, be subtle and respectful. Long term, buy a building and prepare for a slog. This comes from somebody who has lived on wheels for five years now
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Volvo, Buggy, Discovery and an old tractor.
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Jan 20, 2012 16:36:47 GMT
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remember planning law is one area where the maxim "It is better to ask forgiveness than permission" does not hold true.
once you have got into an enforcement situation you really can't get anyone to back down, the train is moving and that's it.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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sama
Part of things
Posts: 51
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Jan 20, 2012 18:56:15 GMT
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I built a detached garage in my garden fits 6 cars all my stuff and more, all planning was passed. A council busy body turned up as i was building it (iam a bricklayer) told me to stop what i was doing as they have reason to believe i was building a granny flat!! I told him all planning was passed, but he had a letter from a NEIGHBOUR saying i was running a business from my house and building a granny flat not a garage. So another 1k and more site meetings with planning and building regs people they told me finish the garage but if we have reason to believe you are using it for any other than a garage we will make you pull it down. So check with planners then check again before you decide to do anything because every council is different
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Jan 20, 2012 19:09:14 GMT
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You fell foul of the "what would anyone want a garage that big for?" thing where civilians just don't get what we do...
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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sama
Part of things
Posts: 51
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Jan 20, 2012 19:51:54 GMT
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^^^^^^ Your bang on , 1 neighbour said "can you not just be happy with what you have got" 1 of my replys apart from the obvious was the garage that was there before was made of asbestos would yourather breath that in for years to come or have it replaced with a brick 1
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Jan 20, 2012 20:42:45 GMT
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You fell foul of the "what would anyone want a garage that big for?" thing where civilians just don't get what we do... I had council officiaL say I had too many cars (complaint). I asked where in the town and contry planning act it stipulated the max number you were allowed and they just muttered and went away ! Another time a letter came telling me to remove the scrap cars from my property so I replied that they were in fact a 1956 Austin A35 & 1966 Volvo Amazon plus were 100% road legal so I was going to park them on the road. Basically neighbours can be a PIA. Paul H
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richr
Part of things
Posts: 119
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Jan 20, 2012 21:10:47 GMT
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its allways the green eyed monsters called neighbours that are the pita
when i had my ccm 710cc bike i had to warm it up a bit because its a big single cylinder neighbour comes across and asks do i have to warm it up as it makes too much noise i told hime it was well down on db,s and then he says what about polllution so i just reminded him how he warms up his 4 cylinder merc for at least 5 mins and told him to go do one
ps hes a retired civil servant (w*nker)
sorry slight thread drift
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Jan 20, 2012 21:45:33 GMT
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A mate of mine lives in one of those coach houses that you find on modern developments. Only one of the 3 garages below his gaff is his, but I've often thought how ideal they are if you could buy one and convince your neighbours they don't need their garages!
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@pistonbroker on Twitter
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Jan 20, 2012 22:01:23 GMT
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Someone on here (could have been the late Dave W201chap) did get stuck with an enforcement saying how many cars per person he was allowed to have. You never can tell what odd precident councils and so on can find. I had a car of mine parked outside my house on the street. When it haddent moved for a month I got a letter telling me unless there were signs the car was in use it would be towed away. It was taxed, MOTd, Insured but some law or bylaw defines street parking as "temporary vehicle storage only" and after 28 days it becomes long term storage and is illegal.
I had some fun with that as car in question had a blown engine...
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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I also would love joined living/workshop space.I dream about building a house with huge garage underneath, and living quarters above. Ive got a seperate unit now, but I did consider for a while taking the window and small bit of wall out from my house, driving my car into the living room, and replacing wall/window, for central heated long term resto storage! ;D Kinda like the guy on Top Gear ages ago did.Built a kit car in his kitchen, then took window/wall out to remove the car, helped by Richard hammond!
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