Commune legalities and playing by the rules

What is your viewpoint on the legalities of communes, particuary use of land? A local commune (living in a single dwelling made from earth and with a lifespan of less than 10 years) did not have planning permission to build the commune, but has slowly over time got their local authority to accept their development and are currently even drawing up special rules for this style of "low impact developments". This is mainly because they have stressed the point that their dwelling and it's systems do not have any impact on the environment, and because grass grows all over it - has not visual impact either!

Also, what about taxes and things? Many of the travelling communities simply "don't bother" as far as I am aware. Should they feel guilty - after all they are not part of mainstream society and don't really use the sorts of services that everybody else does. I'm not thinking particulary of gypsey's here, who seem to make free use of local education as far as the UK media report at any rate. In any event, they can't escape paying sales taxes such as VAT or fuel duty however, so they are still making some financial input to their host country - therefore to label them "tax dodging scum bags" isn't entirely true.

So to recap - play by the rules or to hell with the society that many communes seek to avoid? I can imagine a lot of the younger folk are of the "smash the state" mentality, but what about you more wiser measured types? Or is it simply a case of "what you can get away with"?

 

i think its a brilliant topic..

So in laymens terms yer askin??


Just wanna know where yer comin from completley before i give ya a reply/...

 

Ummm... okay, views on if a commune should do everything it can to be accepted by the local authorities, or just ignore the law and do as you please? Or somewhere inbetween?

 

Wow,tough question. See I have this natural instinct to absolutely avoid all things legal and governmental myself because I think they'll make it impossible to build a community and yet I've got this overwhelming fear that if I don't toe the line legally "the man" will come take away everything i've built. It's a paradox I'm wrestling with right as I find myself in the "looking at buying this piece of property together" phase.

 

I'm thinking the same thing. Maybe one can be a rebel and see how far you get, if you get rumbled either "disappear" or simply concede it's not that easy and go along with the authorities rule after all. Maybe this is quite common anyway... though I guess it's not a topic you will see discussed often... however, I had wondered why many static communes have nomadic style homes...

 

In the states, nomadic style homes are usually not taxed. Co-operatives put it in common with everyone and most lacals have there own co-ops and so using that word insteasd of community has helped here. HHB can fill us in on doing owner style legals - which as long as the owner stays benevolent is the least complicated. It's a bitch when the zoning officer gets down on you - farms as long as the buildings are used agricultural, get away with a lot - they like to see domestic livestock of some sort or a fairly good amount of land under tillage.
If you don't have zoning hurry up and get it done so it's grandfathered in when zoning gets to your area, cause it will come
And good luck oops sorry HHB best of fortune LOL