Cob: PLEASE HELP, I'm facing imminent eviction off my land

[Liberaro at aol.com]

listers,

i was just visited this afternoon by someone from the building code dept 
(actually i was nursing the baby, my husband dealt with the visitor).  the 
building code person reported that it "had come to his attention" that we 
were without a running water/septic system and that a full-scale assault, i 
mean inspection, will be forthcoming very soon.  if it is found that we do 
not have a septic system and running water (among other things) we will be 
evicted off of our own land.  we have a septic tank, however we do not have 
it connected to the "house", and the "house" is also not plumbed.  it would 
cost a great deal of money which we do not have to get the plumbing situation 
solved.  the "house" which we live in is actually a very large garage which 
we have semi-converted into a house.  of course we sought no building permits 
to do any of the work on this building that we have done and our heads will 
be appropriately stomped (and our pockets picked) for that horrid 
transgression.  here's my question to the list:  i cannot understand why a 
person cannot own their own land and then CAMP on it.  could we not just buy 
a tent and pop it up and say we are staying there while using the other 
buildings for storage while we build our house?  we have nowhere to go, with 
3 children, and i have to figure out how to attack this problem.  if someone 
were to sign an affidavit, for instance, which says that we live with them, 
what's to stop us from *visiting* our land every day?  are they going to come 
and check our beds at 3 am to see if we sleep on our land?  why can't we 
*visit* our land at night, for that matter?  at any rate, i am interested in 
the answer to the camping question.  i will be contacting an attorney 
tomorrow, as i'm sure that the answer to these questions most likely will 
depend on local laws.  however, if there is anyone out there who has some 
general knowledge i would really appreciate your views.  we do have a travel 
trailer which could much easier be attached to the septic system and running 
water provided through the use of a sump pump and a garden hose, perhaps that 
would satisfy requirements for us to be allowed to stay, but then a family of 
five in a trailer?  that would probably bring out child services, do you 
think?  thanks in advance for your help.

trina