Michael Elkins thought his days of living in his truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot were over when he bought some property with a small shed on Runnells Road in Concord. At 56, it was the first land he had ever owned.

The problem, city officials say, is that the shed is uninhabitable and Elkins never got a single permit before he moved in. When city Zoning Administrator Craig Walker visited, he found loose wires hanging over the shower stall and debris scattered around.

"Quite frankly, it was a hazard," Walker said.

The building is less than 600 square feet, and only 250 of that is considered living space, according to property records.

Last week, a superior court judge ordered Elkins not to sleep on his property. So Elkins, a disabled veteran, is spending nights back in the Wal-Mart lot. Yesterday, a handful of protesters turned out to support Elkins when city officials came to do an inspection.

"This is my home, and I want to stay here," Elkins said. "They have no right to make me leave."

Elkins has started fixing up the building, but wires and insulation still stick out of walls and ceilings. There is a small bedroom, kitchen, living room and bathroom, heated by a woodstove.

The trouble started soon after Elkins bought the property in December 2006. Elkins bought the land for $27,000 from Jeffrey and Jill Ricard. Elkins said he gave $4,000 in cash and his Mitsubishi as a down payment.

Jeffrey Ricard told the city that he used the single-stall garage to store his antique car, and that the building was hooked up with an electrical panel but no water or sewer. Lloyd Noble, who said the property has been "in and out of my family for years," said his uncle built the shed for storage in 1970.

"Nobody's ever lived there," Noble said. "It's been a substandard size, non-buildable lot forever."

Elkins's mother, Sally, who asked that her last name not be used because she feared losing her housing, said that in the 1970s, a man who worked for her husband lived there.

In June 2007, a city assessor inspected the property and found that Elkins had changed the building's use from a garage to a "residential camp," according to city records. Over the next few months, the city got multiple calls from two neighbors reporting that Elkins was living on the property.

One of those neighbors, Noble, said he was upset that Elkins "thumbed his nose at any kind of rules and regulations."

"He put in a septic system without a permit, put in a well without a permit, put additions on, fences without permits, driveways without any regard for wetlands," Noble said.

In August, the city building inspector ordered Elkins to stop construction, according to city records. In October, Walker wrote a letter informing Elkins of several violations, including living in a building without a certificate of occupancy, not having an approved sewer system, disturbing wetlands and parking un-inspected vehicles. He ordered Elkins to leave the property within seven days and stop construction. Elkins asked for an extension, which Walker denied. Walker filed a complaint with the state regarding the alleged wetlands disturbances, and state officials visited the property. Contacted after business hours, a Department of Environmental Services spokesman said he did not know the status of Elkins's case.