Camping on your own land, outlawed

[Queen]

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/camping-land-illegal-homesteading-regulated-existence/

Pretty disheartening to think you can't buy land to live on as you see fit.  I understand regulating for safety (building codes) in dense population areas, but not being able to put YOUR rig on YOUR land???

 

[cyndi]

It's been that way for as long as I can remember in many of the states in the northeast. The trailer trash will bring down the real estate values of the properties belonging to the 1%, doncha know.

*didn't read the article

 

[jimindenver]

An update to the article.

http://www.cpr.org/news/story/grid-residents-claim-victory-costilla-county-backs-proposal

 

[Queen]

Thanks for the update, Jim.

The optimist in me hopes this becomes a groundswell for accepting/encouraging off grid and alternative living options.  The pessimist thinks the county will wait until the furor dies down and quietly enact the changes anyway.

 

[jimindenver]

Over the years I have seen land like this for sale, usually out in the middle of no where. I can tell you that in most cases they will not let you drop a RV and just start living there. They also don't allow trailer homes and sheds. This is true out on the plains as well as up in the mountains. Some places allow it, some not. ask before you buy.

In this case the people are creating trash dumps. Being off grid means taking care of your own and that isn't dumping your trash for someone else to clean up.

One thing people don't consider when they decide to live off grid in a RV is with it not moving, what do you do with the waste tanks. septic system are not cheap and require permission and I'll bet some people dump more than just their trash.

Last thing is if you read the articles you will see that the people have been abusing the permit system long term. The permits were for people to work on their property but they also kept them from living like that full time. They stopped issuing permits because most were just getting permit after permit.

So in this case had the residents known of the situation or known that they wouldn't be able to abuse the permit system forever, they may have not bought there. They may have stayed under the radar had they not trashed the place out.

 

[Almost There]

I live in weekend vacation/cottage land.

Our municipal governments also had to deal with trailers being used instead of building cottages on property.

The problem as the governmental bodies see it, is not only do some people trash the neighborhood which reduces property values of their neighbors but it also reduces the property tax base. It costs just as much to provide services (garbage dumps/pick up, roads etc) where there is a preponderance of raw land (not built on) as it does for fully built homes.

We have a system whereby you can buy an annual permit for the trailer/RV to leave it on your land and use it BUT you have to have a written contract with a sewage haulage company to get the permit or have a septic system already in place which requires it's own permit to install.

It works well - the municipality gets some of their taxes. Other by-laws take care of allowing your property to be 'trashy' - ie vehicles must have tires and have tags; weeds have to be cut, etc.

Mind you all the property is zoned recreational which means that it cannot be resided on full-time so that makes a difference.

Our biggest problem now is that all the municipalities have requirements for minimum house size as well as the usual setback rules. They encourage building as big a house as will fit on the lot because this increases their tax base. Finding a place to put a tiny house is incredibly problematic.

 

[compassrose]

I just want a piece of land, preferably one that used to have a mobile home or house the is unlivable, with electric, water and sewer to park my bus on and convert one for my daughter. I want to use it as a home base. To be able to do repairs. But I know to look into zoning restrictions before buying. I do not trust a seller or real estate agent for this information. I also understand the value of a title search. Coming from FL, I know to not buy land sight unseen.

Now that said... What about the sellers of this land? Did they disclose the info. Did they tell buyers that they could do things that they were not allowed to do. I think the county is probably looking at the wrong folks. Sounds an awful lot like the FL land scammers of old.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

My experience, albeit limited, is to get a real estate lawyer involved.  Not cheap, but he should know the ins and outs of his area.  Saved my butt a couple of times.

-- Spiff

 

[eDJ_]

It seems a lot of this tracks the struggle Michael Reynolds had on AZ with his EarthShip homes.  These were by
design experimental homes made from mostly recycled items to be off grid by design.   Today these "Tiny Homes" are getting the same rap.   But aren't these Tiny Homes mostly "Cottages" ? 

Cottage

1. a small, usually one-storied house, often one that is the dwelling of a peasant or a farm laborer
2. ⌂ a house at a resort or in the country, used for vacations or as a summer home
3. ⌂ any of several separate dwelling units, as of an institution or camp, in which residents are housed in small groups

Here is the 1 1/2 hour Youtube Documentary on what Reynolds went through and how he dealt with Government and the powers what be.

Garbage Warrior



My thoughts are similar to compassrose.  I wouldn't mind being off grid and hidden away.  But to have it as a home base to return to   When away I wouldn't mind covering my diggs with Military Camouflage Netting either. 

Imagine a tiny home painted camouflage ?

 

[Marie]

I guess you gotta be "off the grid" and "under the radar"!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I see posts about buying land for home bases, and all I can think of is that line from The Who's GOIN' MOBILE:

"Watch the police and the tax man miss me.  I'm mobile."

Regards
John

 

[GotSmart]

I just want a piece of land, preferably one that used to have a mobile home or house the is unlivable, with electric, water and sewer to park my bus on and convert one for my daughter. I want to use it as a home base. To be able to do repairs. But I know to look into zoning restrictions before buying. I do not trust a seller or real estate agent for this information. I also understand the value of a title search. Coming from FL, I know to not buy land sight unseen.

Now that said... What about the sellers of this land? Did they disclose the info. Did they tell buyers that they could do things that they were not allowed to do. I think the county is probably looking at the wrong folks. Sounds an awful lot like the FL land scammers of old.

Find a agent connected to a national company  They have rules and laws they have to follow.  They will give you honest information, or they can not sell any more real estate.  I have watched my brother go through a lot of hoops to keep his license in two states, CA and OR.

 

[BC Guy]

"I just want a piece of land, preferably one that used to have a mobile home or house the is unlivable, with electric, water and sewer to park my bus on and convert one for my daughter. I want to use it as a home base. "

Any area that is developed enough to have a sewer system is unlikely to allow camping.  Look for some place that still uses septic fields.

"Now that said... What about the sellers of this land? Did they disclose the info. "

Check with the local land tax authority.  Never depend on what a seller says. Make sure that you can find the survey stakes so you know exactly were the property lines run. I have seen places were the original stakes were gone. This can lead to problems. It is expensive to have property surveyed.

 

[minimotos95]

I've been looking at and saving for land lately, its seems there's not even a half dozen locations in the west(excluding CA,NM and most of AZ) that allow camping, development and have parcels with legal access that are in my budget.
I have spent a lot more time looking up different counties zoning and restrictions than actually looking at the real estate listings.

 

[highdesertranger]

eff the man. power to the people. well that's one way to look at it. another way is, you can't fight city hall or any of the other bureaucracies. sad days indeed. in all honesty I am sick of all this BS. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

at this point in the game i've just stopped paying attention to all the rules.regulations fines and fees and just go about my business

 

[Gary68]

eff the man.  power to the people.  well that's one way to look at it.  another way is,  you can't fight city hall or any of the other bureaucracies.   sad days indeed.  in all honesty I am sick of all this BS.    highdesertranger

i got over 1000 years of family history to prove that wrong

 

[highdesertranger]

Gary believe me when a say, if your family stuck it to the man I am on your side. power to the people. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

Gary believe me when a say,  if your family stuck it to the man I am on your side.  power to the people.  highdesertranger

Within the bounds of Annandale,
The gentle Johnstons ride,
They have been there a thousand years,
A thousand more they'll ride.

 

[WriterMs]

Interesting "coincidence" for me that this thread came up. I had watched a YouTube vid last night from a link on one of the threads here. By accident (I hate this Dell laptop as the cursor decides on its own what to "select."), I opened a different video in the sidebar. But it turned out to be rather interesting.

The connection is that this man moved from upstate NY to a West Texas area because he found it has NO building restrictions at all if you buy over a certain acreage (which he names in the video). I think he says he bought his original 20 acres for about $20,000 but then added another parcel to the south for a smaller amount. This is sagebrush flatland scenery.

He has building and electrical skills since he had been a set designer in NY. His place is NOT pretty. LOL. (see if you'd want to live within sight of his place) But you can tell there are no restrictions out there by all the stuff he has around. A small home (that part is neat), a building made from shipping containers, numerous water tanks (to hold a total of something like 21,000 gallons of water), and even an Airstream he uses for storage until he remodels it.

So just in case anyone is interested in seeing one place with NO restrictions, here is the link: