Living in a caravan parked on your drive during renovations - certificate of lawfulness?

[BrightGoldenHazeintheMeadow]

We're considering living in a caravan parked on our drive during renovations to our house. I called the local council to enquire about doing this. They don't seem to know. I've finally been advise to apply for a certificate of lawfulness. Has anyone ever had to do this and if so can I ask what the outcome was? Thank you.

You need to check for covenants, we cannot

We live in a static in the back garden while renovating and have for over 2 years. We have no certificate or permission from the council and building control have never raised an issue.

Not to put a dampner on your plans but just be very aware that while it seems fine as a temporary measure. It is often not as temporary as first planned (we planned for 12 months, 26months ago and have at least another 6 months to go). They are also very difficult to keep warm and bottled gas costs a fortune. Cabin fever is very real and while we have a great relationship and get on very well... there is no escape in a 35x12foot box.
Wind is 100 times worse, as is the rain. Nothing dries out in the winter and our dehumidifier runs 24/7. We are coming into winter no.3 and I cannot bring myself to do another so no matter what state the house is in... I'm moving!!

With that said, it has been a great experience, proven that our relationship is strong and I wouldn't change it for the world. I am however very ready to live in a house again!

We lived in a static in our back garden whilst renovating. for what was supposed to be 6m and ended up being 18m. Like yours, our council were very vague on whether we were allowed to do this, whether we needed a certificate of lawfulness etc etc.

We ended up taking the view that local government moved so slowly (ok, this was when we were on the 6m timescales!) that by the time someone complained, by the time the Council did anything and wrote a letter, we then (faffed) and replied to said letter - we were going to be coming to the end of the build anyway and could procrastinate some more to get us through to the end.

As it happened, even though our neighbours weren't amused as they were trying to sell their place at the same time and a static in the back wasn't quite the image they were trying to convey, even they could see that if they made us move out of it, and paid more money in rent, then the build would have lasted even longer.

I'd agree with the previous poster though, we had an insulated and double glazed one, and it was COLD. You will run out of gas once, and then be paranoid about it, there is no space, drying clothes which don't go in the tumble dryer is a nightmare, and you will never be warm. We went through one winter in ours, (with 2 kids and a cat), it was not something we wanted to do again, our greatest achievement was coming out of that period still married with everyone alive and well, just living in such a small inconvenient cold place puts a lot of strain on relationships.

It did however save us a fortune compared to renting locally and meant that we were on site 24/7, which did help with the builders.

@throwa we had the same theory regards the council... 2 years later and nothing so I don't worry about it.

It's an interesting existence isn't it. We have no kids thankfully which has made it slightly easier. While we have enjoyed the experience we long for the house to be done. Insulated, double glazed and secondary heating and it's still never truly warm. The recent storm reminded me why we all live in brick houses!

It couldn't be more true regards running out of gas. We rely on it for heating, hot water and cooking so can't do without. We were using a bottle (£80 at current rates) every 10 days, ran with 3 bottles but even then the supplier couldn't deliver quick enough. I remember a discussion with them on a Friday, during -2 daytime temperatures, after the 4th failed delivery, trying to explain that if they did not get a bottle to us that day we would have no heating or cooking all weekend. 14 day lead times when you use a bottle in less time is stressful!

But that said.... being onsite 24/7 is invaluable. We pop out after work and potter. We are here to keep an eye on contractors (although we have fine most of the work so have few contractors onsite) and being in the van means we hear everything so would hopefully hear any thieves.

@van34 £80 a bottle! It was £47 when we were in ours, and that was pricy enough I thought!

Completely agree with you re the convenience on being onsite, it meant I could wander round the build when I got back from work (and play musical washing, I was never sure where I'd find the washing machine and tumble dryer, particular if there had been a lot of progress that day, but the builders did always make sure that they were plumbed in for me somewhere!) My husband was always on site if there was any query or question, which saved us time and has meant he knows how the thing was built, e.g. which way the rafters run, where the electrics are, if we need to change things in the future.

When we first moved back into the house and the underfloor heating came on, the cat and children just lay down and baked... it was lovely to see!

Fingers crossed winter #3 is the last one for you!

Thanks very much everyone.