Living in a caravan in the drive

[fairycakes69]

Hey folks wondered if anyone knows if you need permission to live in a caravan in the drive. We live in a three bedroom house, five older kids, 3 moved out so plenty of room, then 2 moved back, left with 1 girl and 3 lads. Not big rooms, so have a small caravan in the drive, son sleeps there, but uses our bathroom and does not cook in it. Is this legal ?

cheers

[bednobs]

no, you need planning permission

[pauln90]

A previous answer from Chris which seems to cover this

http://www.theanswerb...n/Question224524.html

[Buenchico]

Déjà vu ;-)
http://www.theanswerb...n/Question224524.html

Chris

PS: If you click through to the Hansard link, click on 'Previous section' to see the start of the relevant Parliamentary reply.

[Buenchico]

Oh, thank you, Paul ;-)

[society]

If he's only sleeping in there, how will anyone except the house people know?

[buildersmate]

The neighbours will tell.

[bushbaby_de]

I actually don't agree with the Telegraph's take on the 28 day rule as that explicitly excludes uses within the curtilage of a building. The article also concludes that the siting of the caravan for use a playroom would be accetpable because it would be akin to an ancillary outbuilding. That class of permitted development expressly excludes any structures forward of the principal elevation of the dwelling, which would rule out the front drive.

If the caravan is sited so that it would be within the permitted development rights as an outbuilding, and if one of the children only slept in their but carried out all other activities in the main house, it would be classed as an ancillary building to the dwelling and would be acceptable.

So the answer is - maybe! I'm a planning officer so this is not just my opinion, its how it would be assessed if your neighbours reported you!