Planning conundrum

[topogigo]

We have put two portakabins on the garden of a house that my friend owns. This house is classed as a house of multi occupation, there are 5 people living there seperately. The kabins are there for use as hobby rooms. They have a completely seperate purpose to the household, yet the council has given notice to move them unless planning permission has been given. As the land that the kabins are on belongs to my friend and they are purely for his own non comercial use, does he need planning permission?

[buildersmate]

Yes he probably does have to. The fact that they are separate from the household, the house is multi-occupation and the Kabins are hobby rooms is almost certainly irrelevant from a Planning point of view.

See here for the rules in England - other parts of UK 'do their own thing' on this these days.
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/genpu b/en/1106655490418.html

The only 'let out' may be if the Kabins are less than 3 metres high and no part of them is nearer to the house than 5 metres.

[baden]

In addition it meets all planning conditions i.e. 5 metres etc. The council tax is payed at private and not comercial rates. The guide book handed out by the council says there is no need to gain planning permision in a situation such as the kabins as they are not for comercial use and not for storage purposes.There has been 3 written objections against the kabins that will not hold water. Especially as it is not more than 10 metres from a tyre depot with all its outbuildings. There must be something the council know that we don't. His architect says there is no need for pp, and so does his solicitor, but still the council persists.

[baden]

Just to point out that i have written the above answer on my friends computer in his name not realising i had done it . This is indeed from Topogigo and links up with the original question. sorry

[buildersmate]

If you've read each of the bullet points in the link I gave you above and you satisfy each of them, then go and ask the Planning department on what basis they believe Planning Permission is required. They may believe the Kabins are being used for commercial purposes. I assumed they would be more than 3 metres high.