Static caravans?

[robgil]

Good idea guys? We are considering one for next winter, the house is going to take much much longer than we first anticipated and with a wee baby we reckon a static would be a good idea.
Whats the story with planning? Its going to be a none permanent thing so we are unsure about all this , also council tax ,as daft as it sounds do you pay it on a caravan?

 

[MdB]

For winter usage, one with double glazing and good insulation is a must. Most available down here are considered summer caravans with single glazing and minimal insulation. We moved out of ours (single glazed) when it was -9°C outside and -2°C inside. The toilet bowl, dog bowl and pipes under the caravan froze which was too much for us. I guess DWB would call us wimps...

Our neighbours lived in a caravan with a new baby for a number of months whilst their house was unliveable in. They couldn't wait to move out but then their caravan wasn't the best.

We easily got planning on our caravan as there was already one on site that had been there for years, otherwise I've heard it can be difficult depending on your location. According to our caravan deliverer, only about 50% of the caravans he delivered had planning, the rest just had one delivered anyway. I've been told it takes a couple of years for planning to get around to actually enforcing the removal of an illegal caravan and that might be long enough for what you want to do anyway. In the meantime you get a lot of letters but you just ignore them until it looks like they will actually send someone around to remove the caravan.

My understanding about council tax is that if it is used as an extension to a house (as extra rooms for example or for use whilst rebuilding the main house) then the council tax for the house covers the caravan. If the caravan is used separately from the house with a different family in it on separate electricity/water etc or if it is rented out then additional council tax does apply. I could be very wrong on this.

 

[Ixia]

Lived in one for 3yrs as a child, no running water, the skylight used to blow off when it was windy and we had gas wall lamps that went pop....I'm guessing you are thinking of something a little more modern? :lol:

 

[robgil]

So , tell no one and only live in it on an on and off basis.
I guess if I kept my bathroom in the house I could call it an unplanned extension of my living quarters, does it matter that you dont need planning permission for an extension these days?.
I take it they get cold in the winter time then. Also , the plumbing will be easy but what about leccy? Do I run a cable from the house CU to a CU in the caravan? I suppose I would need a sparky to do that.

 

[Moo]

Wait until Penners comes on-line - He and the redoubtable Mrs P did the caravan thing with small children and a menagerie of pets and lived to tell the tale.



And in those days caravans weren't the des res's they are now!

 

[MdB]

I take it they get cold in the winter time then. Also , the plumbing will be easy but what about leccy? Do I run a cable from the house CU to a CU in the caravan? I suppose I would need a sparky to do that.

The caravan side of ours was easy as it came with a 32A plug built in. I just needed to put a similar socket on the end of suitable piece of cable that could carry the current. This then goes to its own MCB on the house CU. It isn't difficult to do but you do need to rate the cable and connectors correctly and there needs to be an RCB at the house end.

 

[Penners]

Wait until Penners comes on-line - He and the redoubtable Mrs P did the caravan thing with small children and a menagerie of pets and lived to tell the tale.

She's so diplomatic. For "comes online" substitute "wakes up from his after-lunch snooze".

Yes, we lived in a 30ft caravan for four years with the aforesaid menagerie. And if I'm honest we were never really cold. During the famously cold winter of 1976-77 the place was hung with huge icicles - a testament to its ability to lose heat - but thanks to one small solid-fuel stove we were toasty inside. (Warning - CO alarm required!).

We obtained temporary PP for our caravan, because it was going to be there for some years - we had to renew this once or twice. But I must say that, were I going to use one for a few months, I wouldn't bother. I can't remember whether we paid any rates (as Council Tax was called in those days) but if we did, it wasn't much.

We were wired into the house mains pretty much as described by MdB, and I positioned the caravan in such a way that I could run the waste from its bathroom and kitchen via 110mm pipe into a manhole. I also took a branchline from the rising main for water.

There was a sitting room/main bedroom, a small bedroom (very small - two nippers in bunk-beds), a kitchen and a bathroom. The water was heated by an immersion heater and we cooked with bottled gas (Warning - CO alarm required!). The caravan was old - it cost us £300, we lived in it for four years and then sold it for £200! Cheap living, eh?

It was crowded. Mrs P and I had to make up our sofa-bed every night, which was tedious. And a caravan doesn't have much in the way of noise attenuation in its internal (or external!) walls. So prepare to be woken if your baby so much as sneezes! But all in all it wasn't a bad way to spend four years.

 

[MatthewC]

council tax ,as daft as it sounds do you pay it on a caravan?

If your proper house is uninhabitable, then you can avoid paying council tax on that, so it would seem fair if you then do pay it on the temporary caravan.

I asked for this exemption as I didn't see why I should pay it on a rented house and a renovation project at the same time. When they asked for builder's estimates etc to prove it, I sent them 24 photos of the inside of the house, showing especially the kitchen and bathroom, and the falling plaster on walls and ceilings. Originally it was from last October to this April, and it's just been automatically extended to April 2012, so hopefully I'll have the pleasure of telling them in July that it's now habitable.

Matthew
http://houseintheenchantedforest.blogspot.com/

 

[robgil]

Ive tried that , they said we can only get it for 6 months habitable or not, a very unfair situation if you ask me. Council tax is not really a tax , more a way to extort money from people , its one of the most unfair taxes ever thought of.The3 way its implemented is nothing short of criminal.
Even if your house is empty and unfurnished they will only exempt you for 6 months.
To pay it on a caravan would be ridiculous, what if your caravan was built after they drove by houses guessing how much they were worth to ascertain how much tax you pay?
I got this thing about council tax , sorry.

 

[Penners]

I got this thing about council tax , sorry.

Gedaway! :wink:

 

[robgil]

Ha ha , yeah sorry , its just that we got our break down not too long ago and apparently we are paying for a community centre in Stowmarket, which is a town half an hour away! Meanwhile our village really needs money spending in it.
Also, 22k bonus to a plumber?
Ive worked with tradesmen who charge the council twice their normal rate simply because the council will pay it with no questions asked.
Boils my pee it does Penners.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6036424.ece

It would be different if it was their own money they were throwing away , but it isnt , its ours.
Anyhow , rant over.
God damn them , GOD DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsbYx6hevoQ

 

[Penners]

God damn them , GOD DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!

Planet Of The Apes, if I'm not much mistaken. :wink:

Or it could be his last speech to the US gun control lobby.

 

[robgil]

Charlton Heston (put your vest on, and get up out of the sea), classic scene.