Ferdinand

Hmm. Quickly calculations suggest that emptying an Olympic swimming pool 3m deep with a head of 10m over a 24 hour period will generate a continuous 15kw, assuming an 85% end to end efficiency on the water to electricity generating system. So over a week it will be 2kw if it is emptied over the 7 days. Big lake required. But not impossibly big if you own the landscape. So I need a very big lake and a fishing business or landing facility for seaplanes. Suspect I would require more than a minidigger. Ferdinand

What are the economics and compromises of having your own pumped storage system? Say I have 50m fall on my land, what Potential Energy can I store in how big a pair of reservoirs, and what sort of turbine do I need to get the power out? And will they make me turn it off if newts move in ? Ferdinand

* That Island one does not apply to Skye because there is a bridge.

I see that people on islands under 2300 sq km are exempt from EU driver hours regs, and the required tachometers. As are Local Authority vehicles - why? https://www.gov.uk/guidance/drivers-hours-goods-vehicles/1-eu-and-aetr-rules-on-drivers-hours

Personally I'm just going for an "eyes" meme. I think RAs is quite cool relly - it has that looking over the shoulder surveying the Villa he has just bought on a headland in St Kitts feeling. Or possibly Apres-Ski. Gollum is presumably a protected species for whom you have to build an underground lake, stocked with fish and orcses. F

You've done it now, @TheMitchells He dyes it grey so you aren't intimidated by his still looking about 23. The sunglasses are to protect the him from the dazzling visage in the mirror. (For the record, I am not foolish enough to put my photo in my avatar. The current pic is what Google means by "bedroom eyes" - apparently. Ferdinand

WHy not have a day at Diggerland first to try out different sizes, if you can?

Young people these days don't know they are born... I wonder if we will get regulations that can be understood without spending £500 on a specialist solicitor after BREXIT? https://www.fginsight.com/vip/vip/negotiating-the-load-towing-legislative-minefield070111-960 Ferdinand (*) Have to admit that made me think of a certain incident allegedly involving Gillian Taylforth, her alleged fiance, and an alleged Range Rover.

Are you sure there is only enoug material for one checklist on this topic? What about marriage risks, likelihood of allotment and manhole cover collection being neglected etc?

Trailer without tipper plus small minidigger for unloading?

Therefore EU Rules apply if it is over 3.5T Gross Train Mass, and I need a tachograph .. I think. Do I need one if self-employed?

You can run over newts and Planners with it. 3 tonne is sensible, but check the read and max depth of hole you need.

I honestly don't know much about this yet, But my building site may have finally sold, so I expect to be doing some more rentals and renovations with the proceeds, and Mr Osborne's tax changes have made a Limited Company a likely option. It is also now in a company, so I can control the tax more by jkeeping the money there (maybe). If my Gross Train Mass is above 3,5T and I am doing it for a limited company, I think that tachos apply. Given a decent towing vehicle is towards 2000kg and a trailer may weigh 750kg itself, I can see me going over 3.5T even with 40 bags of sand (or a single big bag) or decent loose load of gravel. Add in to that that all the towing laws are a confusing pig's breakfast, and the propensity to enforce on the basis of the theoretical rather than what you are actually doing, and I can see that it would be sensible to have one :-) . Though if I went for the Qashqai first time round, that may keep me under 3500 kg just. Ferdinand

I concur with the No Tax philosophy, and I always had a hankering for a Bristol (growing up in an NSU RO80 instills a love of engineering and a hatred of unreliability) - but the 14 mpg always seemed daunting. When I lived in Chiswick in about 2002 I went to see their only dealership in Kensington one morning with an imaginary 30k to spend and had a great chat with Tony Crook who built up the car company after the war, and was about 82 but still in the showroom. My contention is that we have a new batch of millions of essentially tax-free-for-their-lifetime cars which have been in bands A, B and C over the last few years, and which will give anyone sensible tax-free motoring for the next 15 years, given the lifetime of modern cars. There are some interesting options that I am only digging into slowly. eg Nissan Qashqai 1.6 dCi Acenta Premium 4wd is 130 bhp and a lot of torque, while having a towing weight of 1800kg, and a road tax of £110 only. It was also What Car Tow car of the Year 2014. And it does a real world 48-50mpg in daily use. At a higher road tax level I like as I said the Audi Allroad which I can probably buy at 100k miles and realistically expect a further 7-8 years service. The homework continues. Ferdinand

The best hybrids I know for towing are the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV which is I think 1500kg, and the existing Lexus RX 450 h and predecessors which have limits around 2000kg, but they are not Plug-ins. I am told the Lexus can deliver a genuine 40mpg. A neighbour had one but said the performance wasn't towering enough; he hankered after an Overfinch Range Rover :-) . Both may be good secondhand buys; Lexi because they last though are reported as being as engaging as a fridge, and have on demand 4wd not permanent, and Outlander PHEVs are dipping below 25k now, while being more practical than glamorous. I'm ignoring the 50k new Volvos and BMWs and Audis as being beyind satire pricewise at present. But I do like the look of Audi A6 Allroads (except for the silly sloping back window). Ferdinand

It is <100g for vehicles bought up to 1/4/2017, then it becomes <1g. Will correct. I'd regard car tax up to £30 as negligible, and up to about £180 as worth thinking about if the vehicle is right. Once it jumps to £250-300 year that becomes a bit of a disincentive imo as that is a couple of thousand extra over the lifetime of the ownership. Ferdinand

I am expecting to do several renovations over the next couple of years, and I will need to go back to having my own car (or two). I am probably looking for a car to tow heavyish loads on a long (say 4m or 5m) trailer, and a runabout for local work. With road tax changes and very aggressive charges tapers for larger CO2 emissions (now) or larger purchase prices (next year), and in year 1 of ownership. I wonder whether anyone has got their head around the changes? Vehicles are grandfathered at their current rates if per-1/4/2017. Details: http://www.whatcar.com/advice/owning/road-tax-bands/ Ignoring the Year 1 regime, as I am mainly interested in ownership for a number of years and not buying new, it seems to me the sweet spots for minimising road tax seem to be: 1 - Cars pre 1/4/2017 with <120 g/km CO2 - up to £30 per year road tax. 2 - Cars post-1/4/2017 with <1 g/km CO2 - zero road tax. 3 - Smaller or mid-size 4x4s pre 1/4/2017 with roughly <160 g/km CO2. 4 - Larger 4x4s post 1/4/2017 which cost less than £40k new. £140 road tax. My requirements would be: A - ZEV runabout. B - Car / 4x4 able to tow 2000kg and ideally 3000kg, with low road tax, and reliable, LPG is a possibility, but also diesel/petrol since for a reasonably low mileage I would get heavily reduced fuel for all of it via Morrisons. Ideally that last implies a fuel tank of roughly 100 litres. Given that I'm likely to be working through a Ltd Company, I may well need a tachograph in addition. Unfortunately. Recommendations of particular vehicles would be most welcome. Ferdinand

The RICS website has a directory iirc. F

This is actually (now I look) about 4 weeks old as a decision. From Planning Resource 20 May 2016: "Last week the Court of Appeal quashed a landmark High Court ruling that had overturned the government's affordable housing exemption policy last year. The policy stated that sites of under ten units or less than 1,000 square metres of floorspace should not be eligible for affordable housing contributions. In their High Court challenge, West Berkshire and Reading Councils had successfully overturned a 2014 ministerial statement that introduced the exemption into national Planning Practice Guidance (PPG) and the policies were removed. However, following an appeal by the government, the Court of Appeal has now quashed the grounds on which the High Court case was won. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said the ruling "restores" the policy, which would help smaller builders. The two councils said they are "considering their options with regard to appeal". Stuart Crickett, associate director at planning consultancy WYG, said: "The government can once again amend the PPG to bring the former policies back into force. Experts said a key aspect of the latest judgment was its suggestion that, despite the positive outcome for the government, authorities have the power to resist the national exemption through their local plans. Court of Appeal judges said the councils' argument that the wording of the 2014 policy meant it should be applied in a "blanket fashion" was misplaced, and that the High Court judge had wrongly "conflated what the policy says with how it should be deployed". " http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1395374%2Faffordable-homes-small-sites-ruling-means&oq=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1395374%2Faffordable-homes-small-sites-ruling-means&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.1295j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 and from May 11th 2016 "The Court of Appeal in London today backed government plans to exempt small development sites from the need to have affordable housing included on them. Reading Borough Council and its neighbour West Berkshire District Council claimed that the new policy, introduced in a ministerial statement in November 2014, would drastically reduce the amount of affordable housing across the country by more than 20 per cent. And they claimed that it would have a particular impact in their areas, as well as providing a windfall to landowners and developers." http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1394534%2Fcourt-backs-government-plans-exempt-small-sites-affordable-homes-obligations&oq=cache%3Awww.planningresource.co.uk%2Farticle%2F1394534%2Fcourt-backs-government-plans-exempt-small-sites-affordable-homes-obligations&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.1260j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Ferdinand

And this is the thing extended. That is 26ft, and tilted away at 50 degrees, albeit without a scale object. Seems to work well, but I think I will need a scrubber and in line detergent to get the first lot of ingrained poo off. Easy to use, though, and I can reach 6 panels up from the ground, which is better than clambering around on a 50 degree roof, which is not my idea of hilarity.

Get a peacock.

@JSHarris These days the middle is being pithed out of the market, and accidental landlords will be finding the amounts of paperwork and potential criminal offences threatening, and Mr Osborne is trying to force professionalisation (and take loadsamoney from the system :-). Renting to very good friends can work imo (=both sides value the friendship above all the money they might lose) - if there is trust and both sides work hard, but to rent to acquantances or not very good friends is cruising for a bruising as they may be willing to do you over and lose the friendship. You now have to check their right to rent here, too - and will suffer like airlines or lorry drivers if you give a service to the wrong people. Ferdinand

And here is the pole, with one of the two extensions extended. Quite jury-rigged really - cable ties and hose connections, and the only unusual bits are the extending poll, the sprinkler head, and the 8mm coil pipe. It seems to be reasonably solid, but cumbersome as you would expect. Many people on here could put one together. Cost was about £120, and spares should be easy to come by. Personally I would prefer an extra 3m of hose attached to the handle, so my dodgy hose conenction is not so close to my clothes and feet.

I don't like toddling about on roofs. The package:

Depends on the very local market. Locally here (North Notts ex-mining) the ceiling for a 4 bed modern detached rental is about £800-£900 a month - some exceptions obviously. Such a house will cost approx £220k at is cheapest if work is not required, so the standing advice from Estate Agents to landlords is not to buy anything to rent over £100k unless you are in the Shared House market (not many are). One of the related points is that it is difficult make much of a turn on eg adding a 2nd floor to a bungalow; or in some areas doing newbuild. If you go to Nottingham it is livelier but the City Council are landlord-spankers.. One of our local councils is currently trying to sell housing land with PP next to one of the best areas for about £180k per acre (= 15k per plot), and no one is interested. I own a number of houses locally, and I have pretty much zero CGT liability because prices are stuck in cash terms at what they were 10-12 years ago for most houses. But OTOH yields of 6-8% or more are normal on small rentals. For London they will be getting BOHIC-ed for CGT because values are (sorry - were !) going up, but the yields are 2-4% much of the time. Locally our market for £250-350k properties is dead and very conservative, unless pricing is competitive, or a silly southerner / person with money to indulge falls in love with it. Ferdinand