A family who live in a renovated tugboat, complete with central heating, flat-screen TVs and a grand piano, have lost a lengthy court battle to avoid paying council tax.
Randy Northrop, 57, claims his floating home is not a permanent house and he is therefore not liable to pay rates to his local authority.
But after a three-year legal battle the Court of Appeal yesterday ruled the boat is liable for council tax if it remains moored in the same spot for a year.
Randy Northrop (pictured left with his family in their home) claims the boat (right) is not a permanent home and so he should therefore not have to pay council tax
The boat features a music room large enough for music teacher Susan Northrop's grand piano
The handyman, his wife Susan, 55, and son Benjamin, 15, live on the 70ft boat which has a kitchen, two bedrooms, a 330 sq ft sitting room and an open fireplace.
Council chiefs who discovered Randy's unusual living arrangements slapped him with a demand for £1,000 a year in council tax.
But Mr Northrop says he shouldn't have to pay North Devon Council because he doesn't use their services.
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His 1950s, British-built tug, named Cannis, generates its own power through solar panels and the family drink rainwater.
Mr Northrop said: 'The council's valuators want to band us with cottages and bungalows but we live in a tidal estuary and use a dinghy to get to the shore.
'We just don't get the sort of services someone gets in a proper house, on a proper estate, in a proper village or a proper anything.
Randy Northrop, pictured with his wife Susan and son Benjamin, says the family do not receive the same council services as other rate-payers
'We're off the grid. We generate our own electricity. We don't live on a houseboat - we live on a proper boat.'
Mr Northrop bought the boat in 2001 for £11,000 after he said he became fed up with living in a run-down estate in Bristol.
The family moved in almost immediately and began gutting the heavy engine machinery to make room for their new home.
More than a decade later the 70ft boat has a much smaller engine and living quarters split over two levels.
Mr Northrop bought the boat in 2001 for £11,000 after he said he became fed up with living in a run-down estate in Bristol. The family had to gut the heavy engine machinery to make room for living-space
Currently moored along a tidal estuary near Barnstaple, Devon, its lower deck boasts a spacious 15ft by 22ft living room, a bathroom and two bedrooms.
There is also a computer nook and a music room large enough for music teacher Mrs Northrop's grand piano.
The upper deck, meanwhile, has been extended upward to house a modern kitchen with a skylight.
Mr Northrop, a Californian who moved to England in the late 1980s, generates his electricity through solar panels and a wind turbine with a backup diesel generator.
The family process their own sewage and collect rain for drinking water or visit a nearby spring.
Mr Northrop said: 'My wife's dream was always to run a musical bed and breakfast so she wanted to buy a place to fix up in the countryside.
'I was pretty certain that even a bombed-out doghouse was going to cost more than we ever had and that proved to be the case.
'But I'd lived on boats before and I said why don't we buy a big Dutch barge and live in it. The tug was the closest we came to finding one.
'It was all engine room back then but I pulled out 30 tonnes of machinery, put back in a much smaller engine and started to convert the rest into living space.
'Most of the hard work is now done but there are still bits and pieces left to do.'
Mr Northrop's legal battle began in 2010 when they moved from Bristol to Devon and their self-sufficient lifestyle was featured in a newspaper article.
Readers accused the family of dodging council tax and Mr Northrop says he wrote to the council to offer them a goodwill payment.
He explained he had been moored in the same spot for more than a year so council evaluators replied to tell him he owed £1,000.
Currently moored along a tidal estuary near Barnstaple, Devon, its lower deck boasts a spacious 15ft by 22ft living room, a bathroom and two bedrooms
After a series of hearings the case reached London's Court of Appeal yesterday where Judge Sir Alan Ward decided the Cannis becomes a taxable home when it stays permanently in the same spot.
Mr Northrop has challenged North Devon Council in the wake of the ruling to reveal how much taxpayers' cash they spent chasing him.
He says his own fees were met by legal aid because of his family's low income.
Mr Northrop said: 'I don't make an awful lot of money but I pay as much tax as anybody else in my circumstances. We've never been on the dole. We're not scroungers or looking to cheat the system.
After a three-year legal battle the Court of Appeal has now ruled the boat is liable for Band A council tax if it remains moored in the same spot for a year
'If I had a houseboat sitting in a residential marina, with a postie slotting mail through my door, a wheelie bin and a parking space I'd be more than willing to pay - but we have none of these things.
'I'm still baffled as to what the council hope to get out of this. I'd love to know how much they've spent pursuing me - it's a criminal waste of money.'
Government rules say people who live on houseboats at a residential mooring have to pay council tax.