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Planning Permission For Mobile Homes in Gardens

It’s surprisingly true that laws relating to touring caravans, the type you tow behind a car, also apply to mobile home and static caravans: a type that can be significantly larger and suitable for year-round residential accommodation. Historically mobile homes have little architectural beauty and bear connotations of lower quality living standards. However, modern designs and build methods can offer all the luxury of a conventional build. You may have seen mobile homes and static caravans being transported along the motorway and think of the practical impossibility of delivering the structure into your back garden or down a local road, this need not be a problem. Caravans, even large mobile homes, can be assembled on site if access is restricted. Building a residential ‘granny annexe’ as a mobile home is fantastic way to avoid the need for planning approval altogether and substantially increase the value and use of your property.

Key Factors

Location

The Caravan must be in the ‘Curtilage’ of a dwelling house. This is the drive or garden, not an adjoining paddock or farmland, for example.

Use

The use must accompany the house, used by a family member or guest accommodation for example and not rented as a private residence or a separate dwelling or business premises.

Structure

The actual structure must conform to the legal definition of a ‘caravan’ based on its size, mobility and construction method.