A MAN has revealed he no longer pays rent or bills after converting a shed into a tiny home.
Justin and his wife Daniell bought their tiny shed for £6,000, much cheaper than a house.
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The couple are in the process of renovating the barn, which has a large double bed on one side and a small kitchen on the other, complete with a fridge, sink and oven.
The tiny house is completely off-grid, with Justin and Daniell getting their electricity from solar panels in their yard.
“Now I don’t have an electric bill anymore,” Justin proudly said in a video he posted to his YouTube channel @oklahomaoffgrid.
The solar panels cost around £1,000, but now Justin has free electricity for life.
Read more stories about tiny houses
Justin’s barn is located in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma, so there are no water lines running through the area.
However, he has a huge water tank connected to the house that collects rainwater.
“It collects water from my roof,” he said.
“Now I have no bills, the water is free, the electricity is free and my house is paid off.”
Justin has made his own toilet. When he needs to go to the toilet, he puts a plastic bag in the toilet bowl and does his business there.
Then he ties the bag shut and puts it in his ‘burning barrel’.
“You burn your trash and your poop, and you don’t worry about it,” he said.
Justin’s video has probably made many people curious, as it has already been viewed more than 4.9 million times on the video platform.
TikTok users rushed to the video’s comments section to share their thoughts.
Do I need a building permit to convert my shed?
If you want to convert an existing shed or outbuilding into a self-contained living space, you will usually need to apply for a building permit.
However, there is a ‘loophole’ that Britons can use to convert outbuildings into a tiny home without permission.
Planning expert Martin Gaine by Just plan Be warned: the conversion process is much simpler than you might think.
The Chartered Town Planner with 14 years’ experience explained in an interview with The Sun: “An annexe can be built using ‘permitted development rights’, which means no planning permission is required.
“As long as you adhere to the various restrictions and conditions.”
One of these is that the outbuilding may only be used for something that is ‘subordinate’ to your main residence. Examples of this are storage, a fitness room or a billiard room.
If the outbuilding already exists, it IS permitted to convert it into a primary residence.
Martin explains: “This is because internal changes to an existing building are not considered development at all within the meaning of the Spatial Planning Act.
But as with everything, there is one catch.
The new living space must still be somewhat in line with your use of the main home.
For example, if your grandmother lives somewhere else, she still has to come over for dinner.
Someone said, “No bills is the greatest flexibility possible. Real freedom.”
A second person said: “Maybe 20 years ago people would laugh at this, but I can guarantee you this man lives a very happy and stress-free life.”
A third person said, “I respect that, sometimes simpler living is better.”
A fourth person added: “I should be jealous of rich people in mansions but I’m so jealous of this guy. I love this.”
Living in a shed is a great way to save money for a home while still remaining independent.
As the cost of living continues to rise, more adults are finding it difficult to afford a home and are choosing to stay in their family home longer.
The 2021 census found that more than half of people aged 23 and under still live with their parents.
The average price of a house in the UK was £285,000 in March 2023. This has now risen to a whopping £735,254. For many, this is unaffordable.
Research by the Resolution Foundation also shows that the average deposit for a first home buyer has tripled: from 5 percent of the house price in 1989 to 15 percent in 2019.
This means that buyers have to save for much longer and spend a larger percentage of their income to purchase a home.
Recent research by property website Zoopla found that 42 percent of adults under 40 who do not yet own a home have given up their current home because of the astronomical costs associated with buying a house.
This included 38 per cent of people earning more than £60,000 (almost double the average UK salary).
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