Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To shop my friend into the council?

161 replies

Nesssie · 27/02/2018 16:45

First time poster...
Not sure whether I would be doing it out of spite or not.

A 'friend' has bought a field, built a huge barn and hidden a mobile home inside it. She lives there with her partner, occasionally his child, and 5 dogs, 3 cats.

They think that if they live there for a certain period of time (10years I think) then the council have to let them build and live there. Its illegal and they don't pay council tax etc.

She has quit her job, sold her house and moved into the middle of nowhere. I think she is depressed and isolated and her only way of getting attention is to buy more and more puppies.

Despite having all the land, the dogs are kept in a tiny room and I feel really bad for them. I have tried talking to her about it but it has just led to arguments and I have chosen to end the friendship.

I also worry what would happen if they have an emergency, the mobile home is completely hidden so no one would know if there was a fire etc.

AIBU to tell the council they are living there illegally? They will eventually be found out anyway so I think is it better it happens now, rather than a couple of years down the line when they have used all their money and have no options? I really don't know how else to help her.

I know that she will assume it was me that told, but the friendship is over anyway.

OP posts:
Jackie219 · 28/02/2018 19:39

I wouldn't report someone for living like this.

I absolutely would report someone who was neglecting their animals.

ichifanny · 28/02/2018 19:40

If it’s a mobile home and concealed it won’t make one bit of difference to getting planning permission . I’d leave her to her quite frankly strange life of squalor .

Mydaddysgirl · 28/02/2018 21:35

Those dogs have emotions, feelings & needs.

They didn’t ask for this.

I’d report her.

user1499722317 · 28/02/2018 23:19

Caravans burn remarkably quickly and leaving lit candles is ridiculous. We live in a rural area and have people living nearby in a caravan. They had to get permission from the council.

madein1995 · 28/02/2018 23:34

Those poor poor animals. Makes me so angry when people mistreat their animals like that. Why have them if she can't look after them properly? Report the cruel cow

Mummyontherun86 · 28/02/2018 23:40

She is tragically misinformed about getting planning permission, she won’t.

I would let it runs it course but tell her that if she doesn’t exercise her animals you would feel compelled to report her to the RSPCA.

Jackie219 · 01/03/2018 00:08

It isn't illegal to not walk dogs unfortunately.But neglecting them to the point their health is affected is :(

catfishsally · 01/03/2018 00:52

who needs enemies
karma

Ariela · 01/03/2018 01:09

I would buy her a smoke alarm and a CO2 alarm (reckon Maplin will be cheap right now), and leave it at that, sort her sort her own problems

Kursk · 01/03/2018 03:53

We live in a nasty society where you need permission to breath.

^This with bells on.

They are living in their mobile home, in their barn which is on their field. Who are they hurting? It wouldn't be my choice of abode, but each to their own. It's not causing any harm. quite right!

As for the fire risk, so what? It’s her choice if she wants to be responsible for her own fire safety.

Kursk · 01/03/2018 03:54

Blimey a lot of posters are ok with people choosing not to pay council tax.

Tax is theft

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 01/03/2018 04:22

Tax is theft

Kursk Really? Tax is theft? How do you work that out? And where do you think the money should come from to maintain upkeep of roads, schools, hospitals etc. if not from tax?

Because if you’re hiding an infinite money tree, now would be a great time to share it.

YimminiYoudar · 01/03/2018 04:49

Not paying tax is theft - from the rest of us. Obviously each person who does it is only stealing a tiny amount from each tax payer but that doesn't make it a victimless crime.

Obviously the dogs and the child are also victims here and if you do not report you are colluding in this. Not reporting is the same as supporting and approving.

I think you should report. The friendship is over anyway. It doesn't matter if she knows it was you. You don't need her to like you if you are not part of each other's lives. you are letting your fear of being disliked outweigh the wellbeing of the voiceless dogs and vulnerable child who have no one else to look out for them.

MerryShitmas · 01/03/2018 05:11

Weird to be concerned for fire risk OP?
I've lived somewhere where my nearest neighbours were 9km away. Nothing and no one around.
That was a "fire risk" like any other home (mobile or otherwise) my home was perfectly legal but if it had caught fire no one would've seen it then...
What's the difference?
Very weird to dob her in wrt fire risk I think you're just making up something to report her for to justify it in your mind...
Report the dogs to rspca I wouldn't report to the council so long as they're living ok (and by that I mean don't have buckets of faeces strewn everywhere which you no doubt would've mentioned).

JudasPriestley · 01/03/2018 05:39

I just dont get people who want to dob people in it for anything like bebefits, tax, housing

We tend to be people who are fed up to the back teeth of paying our taxes like sheep for other people to take the piss.

Being a 'net contributor' is no fucking picnic, let me tell you.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 01/03/2018 13:17

I just dont get people who want to dob people in it for anything like bebefits, tax, housing

I would happily and with a clear conscious alert the council to anyone fiddling or falsifying those things.

Those people who claim benefits or housing when they’re not meant to, or evade paying tax, are being extremely selfish, as they are the ones who create problems for the rest of us (lack of housing, stigma surrounding benefits etc).

If they don’t want to live within the laws of our society, they are well within their rights to find somewhere they don’t have to abide by them. But while they’re here, they either follow the rules or they’re selfish and taking the risk of losing everything, and they have nobody to blame but themselves.

MissBartlettsconscience · 01/03/2018 13:40

I wouldn't bother reporting to the Council on the basis that it won't work anyway. The Council can prosecute in cases of concealment and it is very unlikely to be valid for a change of use.

She'd probably be able to live in the caravan permanently, but would need planning permission if she wanted to put in proper water/sewage/hardstanding etc - that's where most of the traveller cases have come unstuck.

The dogs are another matter though.

QuackPorridgeBacon · 01/03/2018 19:28

I actually don’t understand the land thing. If someone could explain I’d be grateful. If you have bought your own land and on it is a barn why are you not allowed to live in a caravan on your own land for which you have paid for? I don’t get that at all.

specialsubject · 01/03/2018 19:33

Planning permission needed for change of use. You cant do what you want with your land. That is why land with permission for the usual overcrowded houses is worth so much.

ItMadeMyEyesWater · 01/03/2018 19:33

Why should the dogs suffer. Ring the RSPCA.....ASAP

ichifanny · 01/03/2018 19:36

As far as I know you don’t pay council tax on a mobile home or non fixed abode or temporary structure .

MoreCheerfulMonica · 01/03/2018 19:45

Quack - Because land use is determined by how it is classified under planning law and local plans. If land is designated as farm land (say) then it can have a barn for animals on it but not necessarily a dwelling. Ownership of the land doesn't affect that.

EJonesx · 01/03/2018 19:52

Phone RSPCA. Shouldn't even have to say this!

Kpo58 · 01/03/2018 20:24

That was a "fire risk" like any other home (mobile or otherwise) my home was perfectly legal but if it had caught fire no one would've seen it then...
What's the difference?

The difference is that you don't have a highly flammable building around your house (possibly filled with hay bales). This means that you are far less likely to survive as you are unlikely to escape 2 burning buildings at the same time. It won't be the case that once you have escaped through a ground floor window, you are safe.

DalekDalekDalek · 01/03/2018 20:36

Tax is theft

So @Kursk how do you propose we pay for schools, hospitals, roads, rubbish collections, social care, road gritting etc?