The government has an invasive tendency to micro-manage everyone's lives. In fact, there are many jurisdictions in the US that is making off grid living illegal, as well as gardens, water collection, wood burning stoves and even solar systems. While I am not a lawyer and I am no expert on US laws, I have done my fair share of studying Canadian and Alberta legislation to be able to at least point people in the right direction. As always, you are 100% responsible and accountable for all your actions and inaction. I share this with the warning: use at your own risk, do your own research and take responsibility for your life!
Implied Consent to Knock
Most people may not be aware, but the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in R. v. Evans that "the common law recognizes an implied licence to approach and knock for a lawful purpose." So what does that mean? That means that anybody can enter your property in order to knock on your door as long as they are not causing harm or imminent harm to you or your property. That includes the building inspectors, police, Statistics Canada, debt collectors, etc. If police happen to see something along that journey to your door that gives them just cause, they then have the authority to investigate further. This can cause big problems for the project, so keep them at the gate!
There is another saying in common law; silence is acquiescence. If you don't object or say 'no', then you agree. This is the most favorite tool that the government LOVES to use. So don't ignore them! This is all about us learning how to say NO and set boundaries, especially with those who engage in violence and coercion!
The 'implied licence' can be removed by objecting and putting up notices at your gate and closing the gate. It does not even need to be locked. The moment somebody walks through that gate or even breaks the close (A parcel of land that is surrounded by a boundary of some kind, such as a hedge or a fence ) without your consent, they are violating the Trespass to Premises Act. At that point it is your duty to confront that individual.
Building Permits
Before I get into the details, I want to make this point clear: I recognize that building codes are designed to keep people and property safe from unscrupulous individuals. With that said, I accepted 100% responsibility and accountability for my own buildings and as such I will not hold anybody else responsible should anything happen. This is about limited liability vs full liability and I accept full liability in my life. (topic for another post)
Again, I cannot speak for other jurisdictions, but in Alberta the Municipal Government Act is what governs the county and their desire to make sure the children ask for permission before they do anything. On the form they send you, the signature line is what is most telling and compelling.
In the letter that usually accompanies this form, there is usually threats of fines if the individual does not comply. However, if you read that line on the form carefully, you should notice that they need your consent to enter the land. That means that without it, they do not have the authority and as such, if they enter the land, they are violating the Trespass to Premises Act.
Nobody can compel you to sign a document. If any contract is made under threat, that invalidates the contract. I'll speak more about that in another post. Suffice to say, the letters from the county almost always come with threats. It is also important to know that to apply means to beg. I am not about to beg as they are not my master, Creator is my master. A permit is a form where an individual is begging for permission from an authority. Only children require permission and as I have accepted 100% responsibility and accountability for my life, I AM no longer a child.
It is also important that the individual ask the county for full disclosure to all the terms and conditions of the contract that they sent. Everything that comes from the state is an offer to contract. It is our job to ensure that they provide full disclosure so that we can have informed consent. It is also important that equal consideration be in place, otherwise the contract is weighted to one side and that also invalidates the contract. Again, I'll cover that in more detail in another post.
What I did is I pushed these documents back to them asking for full disclosure so that I can make an informed decision. I also confronted them on some of the terminology as well. Their response was to send out the tax assessor as I'm confident they wanted somebody on site to intimidate me! He showed up with no warning or advanced notice. I confronted him and asked him if he was an agent for the county, which he confirmed. I then asked him for the sections of the act under which he was acting. I then asked for some time to look them up. He left and I wrote a letter to him and copied the Minister of Municipal Affairs in Edmonton. Here is a section of that letter:
The response was swift from the Minister. He knew that we had caught the tax assessor and the county in violating their own laws. He wanted to wash his hands of the situation as quickly as possible. Here is the letter he wrote to me:
It has been over 10 years and the county has never been on this land. They did increase the property taxes, but that is a topic for another day as I'm currently working on having the title dissolved due to the Crowns Fraud in Treaty 6 and the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Again, a topic for another post.
Everything is an offer to contract
Please keep in mind that everything from the government is an offer. Nothing more. It takes a great deal of research, studies and knowledge to be able to stand up to these people as they use their 'authority' to intimidate people. Trust me when I say that my knees were shaking and my voice cracked when talking to these people. My hands shook typing up the letters. Confrontation was something that I avoided for most of my life, but with my recovery from depression I learned how to confront in a safe and respectful way. So I do it even though I'm scared out of my mind.
This scenario was before I had removed myself from being a citizen of the Queen in Right of Alberta, the Queen in Right of Canada, The Crown and THE CROWN. It was one of the first examples of me learning how to stand up for myself, establish boundaries and hold the state to those boundaries. It has empowered me to continue on this path and I AM grateful for the experience. I suspect the process would be more difficult in a city than out in the country as neighbours have a tendency to force their will as well! We live in a very violent society!
It is also important to recognize that the statutes and regulations apply to those that wear masks called authority. It is the chains that bind the state and we can hold them to account, but it requires that we do some research and educate ourselves on what those are. I've since found more simple ways to set those boundaries, but I share this for all those who are citizens / subjects of the state so that the process for freedom can be a little bit easier.
Again, this is just a small snap shot of what is required to venture down this path. Please do your due diligence and study hard so that you don't get yourself into trouble. I'll write a post on the pitfalls of doing this work as well.
Declaration of Independence
The other option is to completely remove oneself from the control of the state. This does require that one be independent in order to declare independence. That means your off-grid project must provide for all your needs as this does entail removing oneself from the state and no longer accepting any benefits or privileges from the state.
If you want more information on this process, I highly recommend that you read my book Graduating Life with Honours. It is a free download pdf.