# Would/has anyone brought land and lived in a mobile home?



## NeedNewHorse (4 February 2010)

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has brought land (or would buy land?) and has lived (or would live) in a mobile home? As you can build your own home after ten years of living on the property!!

I would never afford to buy some land and a house (unless I move up north as it does tend to be cheaper up there)

But I don't think I could live in a mobile home for ten years, I mean a few years maybe.. lol But on the other hand it could be my only way of owning my own land to have horses at home (or live with the horses more like!!)
So has anyone done it? Would you do it?


xx


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## JVB (4 February 2010)

I could prob do it but doubt the OH would ever consider it! Then again... 10 years, maybe not on thinking about it, like my creature comforts too much....

How would it work if you had a mobile home on some land and only stayed there weekends though, I guess you would have to be a bit sly about it and live unknown in another property....


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## NeedNewHorse (4 February 2010)

Yeah, I mean that could work, but there would no way i could afford the two ie. pay for the land and then rent somewhere. Yes, OH would be a problem but I am sure I would talk him around.. lol


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## Barneykins (4 February 2010)

Hi my mate bought land &amp; lived in a mobile while the house was being built. She has a husband &amp; 2 kids &amp; found it really really hard going. She was only in it for about 12 months. Prob be easier if you were single or had no kids, but she was on the edge by the time the house was livable  - then she was overcome with all the work that the house still needed lol. It is a lot of work. 

But maybe worth it to see lil horses faces in the morning?


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## JVB (4 February 2010)

Was thinking may be live with parents or family, suppose depends on how well you get on with them though... and how much room!


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## jendie (4 February 2010)

Some mobile homoes are quite luxurious....but they come at a cost. And don't forget you need planning permission to site a mobile home.


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## BBH (4 February 2010)

Yeah I've done this and I absolutely love it. Once the doors are shut its no different to living in a flat. Being on site far outweighs in every way imaginable any downside of living in a mobile. The only downside is the stigma some people have as it has connotations of '****'.

I have too say though I am doing it as I love developing and I have other property which I rent out so if I got to the stage of hating it 
( which I can't imagine tbh ) I could move into one of my rental properties.The other plus is that to buy a house with circa 7 acres, stable yard, river bank, pond etc in Hants would cost in excess of £800,000 and If I can get planning in a few years I could have all that for £150,000. So to me any small inconvenience is worth it for my longer term goals.


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## Carsmore (4 February 2010)

Might be wrong here, apologies if I am, but I thought that you have to apply for planning permission for living in a mobile home? The other thing is, you would have to apply for a postal adress from the council to get your mail (Royal Mail wont deliver without) so the council would then know that you are there, therefore get you for no planning? not explained myself very well there sorry! If you used another adress for your mail would you then have trouble proving that you have lived there for long enough?


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## 4leggedfurries (4 February 2010)

I am currently doing that and it is not fun. Been in it nearly 2 years.  Its extreemly hard going esp when we had the very cold weather as we were without water for 5 days, and pipes cracked.  We had to live out of tubs.  heating is rubbish so it pretty much cold all the time, the windows and doors froze so you couldnt open them. Also to live in a mobile home full time you need planning permission which is difficult to get, i'm having issues with planning as we speak.  Its pretty cramped if more than one of you live in it and esp difficult if you struggle to get on with one of the people you are living with (theres no where to escape)  All in all i wouldnt recommend it, so much so we are now looking for somewhere to rent as we just cant cope any more.  Its lovely having the horses right outside the door, but not worth the stresses, strains and ill health it brings.


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## NeedNewHorse (4 February 2010)

Yeah actually, planning is more of a bugger than I thought. Oh well, dream over!! lol

I guess I will just have to buy something that is derelict. So at least it has the property all ready there and just build it up as time goes on. That is my only affordle option. 

Thanks eveyone.x


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## BBH (4 February 2010)

The only problem with that is that the world and his wife are after project properties to do up and IME the ones that came up weren't significantly cheaper than something you could move into.

Also IME when you set a budget for a renovation, double it and double it again.


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## Embob1 (4 February 2010)

I lived in a mobile home for 18 months to a year on site whilst we had a house built.  It was fab to live on site and see the house pretty much grow day by day, and it was worth every minute because I love my house now.. But it was not easy.

Most of the time my sister was away at uni, so it was just me and my parents, which was okay, but still cramped so when sister was home my parents had to sleep in the lounge on a pull out bed.

It was small inside; 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and lounge.. The kitchen was the hallway between one side of it to the other.

It was boiling in the summer, mum describes it as living in a tin can and literally nothing could cool it down.  And winter it was freezing and nothing we could do would warm it up.  I went to bed with an electric blanket, wearing tracksuit bottoms, a pair of socks and another pair of thick socks, a vest, a long sleeve shirt and a hoody.. Still cold.

Showers were not nice in winter either, was freezing when you got out.  And sometimes we would run out of gas, so would have no hot water and would have to either shower in cold water, or boil a kettle and have a strip wash and wash hair in the sink.  We'd have to wait for the gas to be delivered.. I remember when we ran out on the Friday eve of a bank holiday weekend, so couldn't order it until the Tuesday, then had to wait for the delivery.. Bad times!

I didn't really enjoy it when I was living in it, but looking back, it wasn't all that bad, and it really was worth it.
Parents would like to do it again and are always on the look out for land, so can't be that bad eh 
	
	
		
		
	


	





This is our dear old 'mobile home', or as we called it, the caravan 
	
	
		
		
	


	




(If anyone has ever been on a Haven holiday.. It's one of those 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 )







We had two options after the house was built;
- Get a crane and lift the caravan over the house (caravan at back of site, house at front, no other way to get it out)
- Smash it up and sell for scrap metal.

We went for the second option, if we'd have gone for the first there was a possibilty the caravan could knock/fall on the house, then we'd have no house, and no caravan 
	
	
		
		
	


	






Sorry, that turned into a bit of an essay


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## marmalade76 (4 February 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
The only problem with that is that the world and his wife are after project properties to do up and IME the ones that came up weren't significantly cheaper than something you could move into.

Also IME when you set a budget for a renovation, double it and double it again. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree with this, anywhere that needs renovating or land that has PP is not much cheaper than somewhere with a habitable house already.

Personally, I would live in a shed if it meant that I could have my own land and my OH would do the same!


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## lachlanandmarcus (4 February 2010)

I lived in one for 11 months while our derelict house was renovated, temporary PP for the caravan was part of the PP for the house renovation, but it will have to go once we do all the phases of the house (currently the old house done but attached barn not). 

If you want to live in it and its not part of an existing house renovation on the site (ie theres no obvious way you are going to be leaving it for a house on the site that already has PP for you to do that), then you def need PP and are unlikely to get it!

It was OK living in it....but ideally do it somewhere less windy and less cold than NE Scotland!!! It was tethered down and staked with angle iron driven into ground, but I was still scared it would blow over. OH didnt help by saying that wouldnt happen, what would happen is that the roof would peel off and then the walls collapse (He was working down south so wasnt even living there!!) Beast!


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## MiJodsR2BlinkinTite (4 February 2010)

You need to be careful with Planning Permission coz where I live the council are really funny about it.


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## HazellB (4 February 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
Might be wrong here, apologies if I am, but I thought that you have to apply for planning permission for living in a mobile home? The other thing is, you would have to apply for a postal adress from the council to get your mail (Royal Mail wont deliver without) so the council would then know that you are there, therefore get you for no planning?  

[/ QUOTE ]

You're not far from right.

We looked at the chance of building on our land via legal routes and failed, so looked at sneaking a mobile on there and trying the 'five year' rule.

If nobody's explained it, the five year rule is that if you build without permission and nobody notices for five years you can keep the building permission or not. It used to be four years, now it's five. It's easy to do as the post doesn't have anything to do with the council and having a postal address is easy to set up. After all, many yards without houses get post and deliveries.

However, with land that's just a field and has no houses on it, it's a ten year rule for change of use without permission. An example is somebody buying a plot of grassland and building a livery yard without permission. It would need to be set up ten years un-noticed to avoid the need for change of use from agriculture to equestrian. 

So, in short, if you build a house on agri land, you need to be there 15 years without the council noticing and you have to prove it.

Everyone will claim to know of somebody who's avoided the law, but there are hundreds who have fallen foul and lost all their cash .... so I wouldn't risk it myself.


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## Donkeymad (4 February 2010)

You need planning permsission for a mobile home.


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## Paint it Lucky (4 February 2010)

The main thing I remember about living in a mibile home was how terribly cold it was!  From early autumn until late spring/early summer it was freezing every evening, I would have to sit with a blanket on just to watch tv in the evenings and wore rediculous numbers of layers to bed, and then it's still cold because the cold air comes in through the floor!  So my advice is don't do it!  I am back in a house now and it is so much nicer, I never want to live in a caravan again!


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## jackblack (5 February 2010)

You can't just put a mobile home/static caravan in a field unless there is a property there first. In our area you don't need planning for a static caravan if it is used in conjunction with the main house, so could be in the field or even in the garden if big enough.  The only way you can site one if there is no house there, is if you have had planning for a dwelling, and need the static/mobile to live in whilst building.  Once completed, they don't have to be removed as they are within the landowners land, whether field or garden.

The various County Councils may differ slightly, but majority have the same rules.


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