The couple were unable to afford a deposit and found it almost impossible to get a mortgage because he is a self employed electrician and the British banks are not lending. So he rented a scrap of land in Kent, Southern England, and spent four months turning a neglected vehicle into a two bedroom home
It is kitted out with a double bedroom, a twin bedroom, kitchen, TV lounge, bar, toilet and bathroom.
He completely stripped the innards of the vehicle and fitted the insulation, damp-proofed it and put up partition walls to create the different rooms. The kitchen even has a hob, cooker, fridge and sink with running water from a water tank filled with either rainwater or carried in water.
Daniel hopes to have his bus driver’s licence so that he and Stacey can take a trip to Cornwall where he grew up.The couple say they ‘could not be happier’, with their solution to the plight facing first time buyers.
The self employed auto-electrician was desperate to move in with girlfriend, Stacey Drinkwater, 20, but the young couple were left stumped by ‘ridiculous’ house prices.
The converted 1991 Leyland Olympia was used on routes in Dublin and East Sussex is kitted out with a double bedroom, a twin bedroom, kitchen, TV lounge, bar, toilet and bathroom
Hbelieves the vehicle is now worth more than £20,000 and is more spacious than most people¿s houses
‘When you are on the bus it feels like an ordinary house, you completely forget that it is really a bus.
Daniel, from Canterbury, Kent, bought the bus from e-bay for just £3,000 and spent a further 8,000 kitting it out. The heating runs on diesel while the rest of the bus is powered by batteries.
Daniel believes the vehicle is now worth more than £20,000 and is more spacious than most people’s houses.
The properties he was looking to buy started at £100,000, but were all just pokey flats.
Haven: Daniel hopes to buy his own plot of land and plans to turn a single storey bus into a bar as his next project For a decent two-bedroomed house, the first-time buyer would have been forced to pay close to £200,000.
14 Responses
It looks lovely, and it’s a great idea, but they won’t be able to live in it in the UK. We’re not allowed to over here.
More photos!! Stories such as this are inspiring. Here is a fellow that made the best with what he had instead of whining that the universe owes him; took charge and used his imagination and available resources to make he and his partner quite comfortable. Even turning a bus into an RV in a major venture of work and expense. I hope to see more innovative dwelling options such as this in the US where we still have prejudice against certain forms of housing, such as mobile homes. Thoreau said (paraphrase), “a man remains poor his entire life because he thinks he has to have the kind of house his neighbor has.” Do your own thing as others’ opinions and concepts mean nothing. Who’s the smart one – not the one who’s slaving away to pay the fat mortgage!
and you don’t need a psv to drive it as it is no longer public transport, can be driven on a car liecense as under 7 1/2
tuns
the mentioned amount is relatively big compared to what you can do if you are willing to move to countries where the consumerist meme has not taken over..https://transylvaniaiscalling.blogspot.no/2012/02/from-heart-of-romania_07.html
Really wish this article had pics. I bought a small school bus a couple of years ago with the intention of turning it into a mobile living space. Working on acquiring parts and materials, and could always use new ideas.
Wow! Absolutely excellent! What a creative solution. It really is true what they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention!” Well, you’ve got me my brain wheels turning now.
Is this going to be a new sort of traveller as the home is mobile ? I think its great by the way, but wont be liked by big businesses that make money out of us being fixed on the spot! Or is the intention to stay on one fixed piece of land?
Great. The problem is finding affordable land with permission to put what ever it is one wants to live in on the land.
Kind of a pointless story without pictures of the bus.
It used to be that if the bus only had 4 seats left inside, you could drive it with your normal car driving license?
Fantastic. Awesome. Brave. You followed your heart and it paid off
when we did that 25 years ago we got hounded to the ends of the earth by the UK cops….
So where do you keep it to live on?
You can’t just rent some land and park a double decker bus on it!
Looks good though,bravo.
Brilliant! If only more people used their noodle toward creative solutions to everyday problems… we’d likely live in a better, more colorful world!