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Cob building permits in Europe

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posted 4 years ago

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Hello everyone! Happy to be in this community!
Me and my partner are looking forward to buy some land to build our own cob house.
We initially thought about Spain and the thought of it still very much lingers with us.
Although while browsing on the internet we met with sad stories about the possibility of getting your house demolished if you dont have the right permits and so on.
And these permits to build a cob house seem quite expensive and a bit hard to get.
Money wouldnt be much of a problem if we would find our dream spot in spain, if anyone of you has had any experiences with this and can help us find some legal advice regarding spain, i would be immensely grateful.
Also if anyone of you knows about laws and building codes for cob houses anywhere else in europe, would be really appreciated. We are also open to explore other options and countries.
Much love to you all, and thank you in advance.

John C Daley

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Posts: 5367

Location: Bendigo , Australia

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posted 4 years ago

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What would your dream spot of land have?
Have you written it down?
I am beginning to think 'dream ' anythings are impossible to get anyway, I need to compromise.
I race motorcycles, my dream spot has these requirements;
- Long bitumen circular drive, with a large hill and banked corners.
- Friable soil for vegetable patch
- Flat dry area for shedding and storage of stuff
- A neighbour who collects things so they would not complain about me
- great weather that only rains at night.

I am still looking but have owned my compromise for 45 years

John Daley Bendigo, Australia The Enemy of progress is the hope of a perfect plan
Benefits of rainfall collection https://permies.com/t/88043/benefits-rainfall-collection
GOOD DEBT/ BAD DEBT https://permies.com/t/179218/mortgages-good-debt-bad-debt

Dominic Jones

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posted 4 years ago

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wouldn't recommend in Spain, the permits are ridiculously expensive, there's too much bureaucracy stopping people from living free.

Lucia Zz

Posts: 2

posted 4 years ago

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Thank you very much for both of your replies.

John: my dream spot would be 6/7 hectares of land in the midst of nature still 2 hours away from a city. (for airport etc.) In warm weather.
Mostly I do want to build a cob house so the possibility to do this has to be taken in consideration.
These would be the main things, for the rest it would be beautiful for it to be in the mountains and close to the sea (spain offers this possibility), but still it is not a major requirement and something i'd be happy to compromise.

Dominic: Ah that's too bad. That is what i am reading on the web. Although a friend of mine who lives there says there should be no problem with bureaucracy as many people can do as they please. These contrasting views that I am hearing about Spain will make sure that i will think twice about my decision to move there. Are there any other European countries that you know and have been and you know it would be safe to take on a project like this? Portugal for example? Greece, Croatia? Let me know, would be amazing to know more about these countries and European countries in general.

Sebastian Köln

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Location: Morocco

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posted 4 years ago

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At the edge of Europe here. The climate can be a bit damp and we get snow in winter. Common language is Russian.

There is not a lot of infrastructure left, so off-grid should be assumed.

Hugo Morvan

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Posts: 1032

Location: France, Burgundy, parc naturel Morvan

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posted 4 years ago

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France here, small buildings under 20m2 are called "ateliers". You have the right to build them, but getting a legal status is difficult.
If you do get this legal status, one is entitled to drinking water and electricity. Which means expenses the local government has to cough up.
On the other hand they're desperate for folk to come and stay because the villages are dying, the whole countryside is.
So they're in limbo, wanting the people, but not the costs for utilities.
There are people who buy "terrain constructible" who get permits for strawbale houses i know of and the same rights to utilities follow. But the catch 22 is that they have made it so that the energy company has a department nowadays deciding on how many and where you have to install sockets. Not yourself, but done by an expensive electrician. They are difficult about septic systems too.

I guess for Spain it's even worse, they're a poorer country which has traditionally attracted swath of northern European rejects, because of the favorable climate and cheap price of living.
Granada in my youth was swarming with misfits, myself being one of them for a while, the gypsy caves have sadly been evicted.
Usually the rebellious spirit of these people were something the authorities didn't like. Having to deal with the Basque people up north and the Catalan movement for people the central government in Madrid is weary of any wrong think. I guess.

That people here say Portugal is less strict makes sense in the light of my musings.

Young people everywhere are dreaming of tiny houses and living free, meaningfull lives. Conservative powers hate to see us succeed. We're not very organized and easy to disperse, but never give up because of the nightmarish livestyle they envision for us to embrace.
The babyboomer generation will leave their retirement mobile homes soon. The market will be swamped by cheap second hand mobile homes.
It would be ideal to scoop one up for cheap and visit friend and likeminded folk all over the continent in their alternative housing and amending food forests.

Creating edible biodiversity and embracing everlasting abundance.

Peter van Zon

Posts: 9

posted 4 years ago

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Lucia Zz wrote:Hello everyone! Happy to be in this community!
Me and my partner are looking forward to buy some land to build our own cob house.
We initially thought about Spain and the thought of it still very much lingers with us.
Although while browsing on the internet we met with sad stories about the possibility of getting your house demolished if you dont have the right permits and so on.
And these permits to build a cob house seem quite expensive and a bit hard to get.
Money wouldnt be much of a problem if we would find our dream spot in spain, if anyone of you has had any experiences with this and can help us find some legal advice regarding spain, i would be immensely grateful.
Also if anyone of you knows about laws and building codes for cob houses anywhere else in europe, would be really appreciated. We are also open to explore other options and countries.
Much love to you all, and thank you in advance.

A "house" has a concrete foundation.

Like I mentioned in another thread, Spain has many properties with agricultural buildings which can be used as a house, as long as you do not register your paper fiction over there.

And yes, you can build a cob house, why not build underground with a green roof so it is invisible?

The cost of the risk of demolition do not weigh up to the cost of building legally, if you can break away from the program of fear and laws.

Peter van Zon

Posts: 9

posted 4 years ago

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Hugo Morvan wrote:France here, small buildings under 20m2 are called "ateliers". You have the right to build them, but getting a legal status is difficult.
If you do get this legal status, one is entitled to drinking water and electricity. Which means expenses the local government has to cough up.That people here say Portugal is less strict makes sense in the light of my musings.

Young people everywhere are dreaming of tiny houses and living free, meaningfull lives. Conservative powers hate to see us succeed. We're not very organized and easy to disperse, but never give up because of the nightmarish livestyle they envision for us to embrace.

I would formulate it differently, a legal "house" has to have running water and electricity. Without that you cannot get an occupancy certificate to register your paper fiction over there

antonis kovitis

Posts: 3

posted 3 years ago

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Lucia Zz wrote:Hello everyone! Happy to be in this community!
Me and my partner are looking forward to buy some land to build our own cob house.
We initially thought about Spain and the thought of it still very much lingers with us.
Although while browsing on the internet we met with sad stories about the possibility of getting your house demolished if you dont have the right permits and so on.
And these permits to build a cob house seem quite expensive and a bit hard to get.
Money wouldnt be much of a problem if we would find our dream spot in spain, if anyone of you has had any experiences with this and can help us find some legal advice regarding spain, i would be immensely grateful.
Also if anyone of you knows about laws and building codes for cob houses anywhere else in europe, would be really appreciated. We are also open to explore other options and countries.
Much love to you all, and thank you in advance.
[/quote
Hi from Greece,

Here in Greece there are some people which built houses using cob. I think that there are some companies and some cooperatives. I will send you a link although perhaps there are also some of them.
As far as i know, because i would like to have a home here (perhaps in a intention or eco community) by cob that you have first to make a base and a basic construction with wood or steel or another statable material and then add the cob material, in order to get the licence. However you have to ask this to the state and to a engineer of the country that you intent to build. Ιn a few months i will know more things. If you want to ask or have a look, get to www.cob.gr. Have a nice life!

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