Access decides more than budget.

A caravan in the garden

Our pods are lifted in by crane in one piece, and sit on a base without being fixed down. That can make them caravans in law.

In England, putting a caravan in your garden for your household to use isn't development, so it needs no planning permission. It's the rule that lets you keep a static caravan in the garden.

Here is what decides it, a step at a time. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have rules of their own.

Moved whole, and not too big

In law a caravan is anything made to live in that can be moved whole, towed or carried on a lorry, wheels or not. Two halves bolted together on site count, if they then move as one.

Two halves can be up to 20 m long, 6.8 m wide and 3.05 m high inside. One piece has no set limit, but size counts towards being a building.

Ours are within those: 11.5 m long at most, 3.3 m wide, 2.6 m inside.

Resting on its base

Each pod is built to be lifted whole, and rests on its base under its own weight. Nothing bolts it down.

Fix it to a foundation, or build a deck, porch or steps onto it, and it can become a building instead. Keep those free-standing.

If a crane can lift it in, it can lift it out again the same way. At the survey we confirm that for your garden, and that its services disconnect.

In the garden of your house

The rule covers the land that goes with the house, its curtilage: the garden at the back, the front or the side.

A field or paddock beyond the garden isn't part of it. Putting a caravan there to use is a change of use, and needs planning permission.

Part of the household

An office, studio, gym or playroom, used by the people who live in the house, is part of how they use their garden. That isn't a change of use, so it isn't development.

Sleeping in it can be too: a guest room, or an annexe for family who share the house's kitchen, garden and bills.

Councils decide this on the facts. A Lawful Development Certificate from the council makes it certain, and answers anyone who asks later.

A home of its own, a let or a business

Lived in as a separate home, apart from the household, it's a new dwelling. That's a change of use, and it needs planning permission, caravan or not.

So does letting it to paying guests or tenants, or a business with clients or staff. A caravan that is let needs a caravan site licence from the council as well.

Where permission is needed, we make the application for you.

Then it's a building, and Class E applies

Fixed down, a pod is a garden building, and Class E's limits decide it: 2.5 m tall within 2 m of a boundary, 3 m elsewhere (4 m with a dual-pitched roof), eaves 2.5 m, nothing in front of the house, buildings on half the land round it at most, and not slept in.

The H4 to H9, at 3.3 to 3.4 m, are over, so fixed down they need a householder application. The H1 to H3, at 2.45 m, are just under: fixed down, one can pass as an office or studio, as long as its base doesn't lift it over.

Room for the crane

The pod comes by lorry and is lifted in by crane, in one piece. The crane has to stand within 14 m of the base.

In this garden it stands in the lane at the back. From the road, over the house, it would be too far. Overhead wires and trees in the swing are checked at the survey.

No permission for the household

Set down as a caravan and used as part of your household, a pod normally needs no planning permission. A Lawful Development Certificate makes that certain.

A separate home, a let or a business needs permission, and so can a pod fixed down as a building. We make the application for you.