Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

I've read quite a lot of seemingly contradictory information about the rules for building on rural land. The main rule seems to be that to build a home the land must exceed 1 hectare (10,000 square metres) but the detail on what is possible on plots larger than 1 hectare are confusing.

My aim is to find a piece of land to farm organically as well as build a 'green' home that is totally off-grid, with the hope of buying additional adjacent parcels of land over time.

I understand there is a fair degree of support for this kind of sustainable development, but I'm not clear whether that extends to the local planning authorities.

I'm currently looking at a plot of 2.5 hectares (25,000 sq.m) nr Colmenar, about 16 miles north-north-east of Málaga.

Can anyone contribute any knowledge for this specific scenario?

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

your best off consulting the local town hall/architect - what is allowed in one area is refused in others

good luck with your project

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

Thanks, that would explain the wide variety of advice and opinions.

One thing I have noticed is an implication that a plot of land that has permission for an agricultural building can, after four years, be considered for planning permission to convert to a dwelling.
Is that correct, or again something that depends very much on local regulations?

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

dont know about that but some places round here are built and sold with no permission then after 4 years they can be made legal - I viewed a couple and the agent was very up front about it - personally I wouldnt of bought any of them (lovely as they were) make you laught that they are illegal but you have to pay your "council tax" each year :confused:

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

This used to be so but the practice has now been clamped down upon as have certificates of antiquity. An agricultural building will always be an agricultural building unless there is a subsequent relaxation in the current rules.

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

Ahhh, that would make sense! I had briefly wondered if the 4-year inference was that make-it-legal tactic but then forgot all about it!

Ideally I want a large plot, but I guess I'll have to find some agricultural land agents seeing as what I want is an agricultural plot.

Its all good preparation to hit the ground running, though :)

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

what king of Ecco home are you planning?

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

Load-bearing straw-bale completely off-grid.

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

Cool, one of my mates built a cruck framed house in the woods at the back of where we live a few years back, he was on one of those programs.

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

Hi Rugbymatt,

That was a very uplifting programme thought the house was great and easliy extended for the baby which arrived at the end of the build. Were you one of those who helped pull the crucks to the virtical?

Regards,

John.

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

No, but his wife is the sister of my little sisters OH, all very incestuous around here.
They have another kid on the way, and are doing a bit more to the place, but he is in a heap of crap as well, because the only access is across someone else's land and he has fallen out big time with them.
Ben is nice, I have a whole heap of time for him but Christ can he be an arrogant git sometimes, and he forgot that he relies on others for his way of life.

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

It makes a lot of sense from so many angles:

• Sustainable materials, commonly available
• Very low thermal transfer (cool in summer, warm in winter)
• Better fire-resistance than standard builds (seemingly counter-intuitive)
• Easy to maintain, extend, or adapt
• Low-skill techniques (all your friends can join in the build)
• Very fast construction (large detached house in a week)
• Low cost of materials (~ 1/60th the cost of a brick equivalent)
• Satisfaction of true D.I.Y.

I've designed it to collect and store all rain-water in two large tanks with natural filtration to provide all water, with a separately highly purified circuit for drinking water (no point purifying toilet-flush water!).

If practicable a bore-hole can also provide fresh potable water.

The outgoing grey-water will be filtered through natural reed beds before being returned to storage. Composting toilets will ensure all waste is re-used on the property.

Passive solar panels will be used to heat and store water.

Electric power will be provided on two circuits: 240V AC and 12/24V DC. The latter will directly power minor equipment (LED-lights, set-top boxes, PCs, HiFi's, chargers, etc.) without every device requiring a wasteful AC/DC transformer.

Photo-voltaic solar panels combined with a wind-turbine will charge a fuel-cell which will provide power to the property. A methane converter will process waste products into gas which can power a generator.

A hydro-electric generator installed between the upper and lower water storage tanks will supplement the power generation capability to deliver on-demand power if necessary, and when there is spare capacity can be used to pump water back into the upper tank.

A final emergency back-up will be a PTO-mounted (power take off) generator that can be attached to a tractor.

A long-range WiMax internet connection can deliver at least 10Mbps over several kilometres. VOIP can provide telephone service.

The beauty of this kind of project is you can fit the final design to the plot of land. It doesn't matter if its steep or flat. It's also relatively easy to alter the property later by punching out a few bales :)

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

Good on you mate, as I have already said on here, we get a good amount of out leccy from renewable sources and it is a brilliant feeling.

Have you seen these?

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

This was the other link I found when we were thinking about a few things.

Re: Building on Rural (Rustic) Land?
 

No I hadn't; thanks for pointing them out. I shall add them to my vast collection of bookmarks on the subject.

It's useful to pick up the local clues as to sustainable materials, such as the oak they mention.

I was pleasantly surprised at how many straw-bale homes there are built/being built in Andalucía and documented on the WWW. I'm combining all the essential information into a single online resource for myself. Later I intend documenting my own design and build as well with live web-cams and video.

It takes me back to when I was a kid building straw-bale dens in the fields after harvest - little did I know then that I was gaining valuable expertise for building a proper house :blink: