Concealed Buildings and Planning Permission

[^woody^]

I've never heard such a load of Morlocks.

 

[pilsbury]

An underground house is gonna be costly. Doesn’t bear thinking about the size of the excavation, concrete, tanking, ventilation etc. On a normal build they say a third of your budget is in the ground....... I think.

 

[^woody^]

An underground house is gonna be costly. Doesn’t bear thinking about the size of the excavation, concrete, tanking, ventilation etc. On a normal build they say a third of your budget is in the ground....... I think.

Then you will save one third on the foundations.

 

[bernardgreen]

what has it got to do with the local council what you do with what you own

From a few years ago.

The land owner put in plans for a house, local council refused permission. So he put in plans for agriculture, nursery and residence for agricultural worker(s) which were passed on appeal after a fight. He hated the planners, until the day the owner of the ajacent land put in their application for a poultry farm. This was passed even though he fought against it. He complained bitterly that the planners were not protecting his quality of life when they allowed the poultry farm to be created.

 

[pilsbury]

Then you will save one third on the foundations.

Damn! I knew I should have built an underground extension. Suppose I’d have saved money on the roof too.

 

[^woody^]

Damn! I knew I should have built an underground extension. Suppose I’d have saved money on the roof too.

You should have joined the forum sooner. All those roof problems

 

[pilsbury]

You should have joined the forum sooner. All those roof problems

If I’d have joined sooner and know what I know now, I wouldn’t have started and I’d have saved myself a world of pain.

 

[Footsoldier888]

earnie the best way to try it in the woods is to build above ground and cover the whole thing in mirrors.

 

[nuzuki]

I read into this a few years back. From my understanding after 4yrs the building can stay but the use can still be objected to. Its 10yrs you need to be unseen for it seems which is alot of years of ducking and diving.

Most people look into the mobile home route and say they need it for agricultural occupancy reasons which most councils subscribe too.

I ended up building a summerhouse which has a significant sub structure. The whole building was under 4metres tall but had two floors made possible by having a tanking wall going 80cms underground. In hinesight I could of added a shipping container bunker underneath that floor with a block and beam floor.

Ive just purchased a house for 240k and the silly thing is my old summerhouse has more floor space area than the bought house. House prices are just unrealistic in my opinion which means people end up thinking this way.

 

[John D v2.0]

No idea what all this concealment and deception stuff is about. Enforcement can happen X years after substantial completion. That point is defined by the courts, but was deemed to be when the hay bales were removed. For a house in the woods they completed it and didn't make further changes to finish it off.

 

[Bullet-Proof_Biscuit]

I like Footsoldier888's idea, just have an old caravan sat on top as the entrance, then inside the caravan a spiral staircase going down x amount of storeys, almost Harry Potter esque lol

 

[Ian H]

The shower cubicle could be a lift!!

 

[clifford1]

Have you ever read or watched "The Wooden Horse" about escaping from a POW camp by digging a concealed tunnel?
Their main problem was disposing of the spoil without being detected. They filled long narrow canvas bags and dangled them down the inside of their trouser legs, then strolled casually about the exercise yard slowly releasing the sand in a thin covering.
What is your strategy for disposing of dozens of lorry-loads without being spotted?

Tip it all at night off a bridge into a river?
Follow a road gritter and release a very slow trickle?
Refill at night the trench dug by council workmen during the day, and hope that they appreciate the extra overtime digging it out again so much that they keep quiet?

You'd be best picking a very busy and noisy location so that no one notices the extra noise and traffic. No good down a quiet narrow country lane.
Or you could detonate an enormous keg of explosive and pass it off as a "wartime bomb". Then wait ten years for the fuss to die down and build your house at the bottom of the crater. Come to think of it, that would solve the problem of disposing of the soil from your next house - you use it to fill in over the top of your first one.