Is it illegal to rent out you driveway?

jjaco

Hi,

I have been using parkatmyhouse.com to rent out two parking spaces of my driveway. I am the owner of the property. My house is 8 miles away from Gatwick Airport. Recently I was told by a Senior Planing Investigation officer that I do not have planning permission to rent out my driveway. The term he used was "Airport Car Parking within the curtilage of dwelling house - Breach of planning control". This is my own private drive and not Airport Car Parking. Do I need planning permission for allowing someone to park on my drive?

Is there anyone who has experienced this?

I read from forum, and news papers that one can rent out a spare room or driveway and if the annual income generated is more than £4250 we need to pay tax.

Am I breaching the law? There are 100s of people like me renting their drive via parkatmyhouse.

Valuable comments are appreciated.

Thanks
Jack

ging84

if this person is who he claims to be i would be very surprised if he is making it up.
is your property relatively new? it might be a condition that only applies to properties built after a certain date

Lord_Baltimore

I suppose that as you're taking payment, it might be regarded that you're 'running a business' ie changing the use of a residential development.

Also, increased localised traffic congestion, higher than average fire risk, increased danger to nearby schools perhaps?

G_M

jjaco wrote: »

Hi,

.....
I read from forum, and news papers that one can rent out a spare room or driveway and if the annual income generated is more than £4250 we need to pay tax.

....Jack

Are you thinking of

2. The Rent a Room Scheme

The Rent a Room Scheme lets you earn up to a threshold of £4,250 per year tax-free from letting out furnished accommodation in your home.

Did not think it applied to driveways.

A quick google revealed:

http://www.crawley.gov.uk/pub_livx/groups/operational/documents/notices/int159829.pdf

00ec25

jjaco wrote: »

I read from forum, and news papers that one can rent out a spare room

correct - you have a lodger living within your house. That is tax free up to 4,250 pa

jjaco wrote: »

I read from forum, and news papers that one can rent out a [STRIKE]spare room or[/STRIKE] driveway and if the annual income generated is more than £4250 we need to pay tax.

wrong - you are operating a business renting out your land for commercial purposes. All income is taxable, there is no tax free allowance for parking

I assume you mis-read rather than read ? see section on dangers to watch out for:
a) tax
b) planning
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-parking-rental

as for the illegality issue ... as said above Crawley council is one of the "officious" ones and you are indeed illegal as they have every right to enforce planning laws

N1AK

As others have said you appear to have misunderstood what you are required to do in order to rent your drive out. From my reading of the example letter G_M posted you may be able to continue operating but I would suggest you either stop renting it or seek legal advice.

angrypirate

Why dont you do short term rent a room (could be your understairs cupboard) with your driveway included in the contract? Gets round the issue.

hazyjo

Will remember you next time I'm needing Gatwick parking

The world's gone mad. Why can't you rent out your driveway if you want? If there's parking for two cars (at least), why can't someone use them? They try to keep the bloody streets clear, they impose all sorts of parking restrictions, they make a ridiculous amount of money on fines, then they try to stop people using empty driveways of people who are only making a piddly amount from it anyway. Jeez...

My BF's just accepted an offer to rent his 2 days a week, then 4 days a week later in the year. Only £3 a day, but every bit counts at the mo!

Jx

hazyjo

angrypirate wrote: »

Why dont you do short term rent a room (could be your understairs cupboard) with your driveway included in the contract? Gets round the issue.

PS I'm happy to rent cupboard for two weeks if need the airport, although I'm probably not going to be using said cupboard very much as I'll be out of the country for those 2 weeks on holiday Draw me up a lodger's agreement if you like

Jx

g_attrill

hazyjo wrote: »

The world's gone mad. Why can't you rent out your driveway if you want? If there's parking for two cars (at least), why can't someone use them? They try to keep the bloody streets clear, they impose all sorts of parking restrictions, they make a ridiculous amount of money on fines, then they try to stop people using empty driveways of people who are only making a piddly amount from it anyway. Jeez...

I imagine the local car parking companies have been complaining to the council ie. "Why should we pay £xxxxx in business rates when local residents can undercut us?"

Brock_and_Roll

jjaco - strictly speaking you do need planning consent to rent out your driveway; one of your neighbours probably grassed you up to the council. Either that or one of the big Gatwick parking companies provides a "list" to the planning officers and leans on them to take action.

If it were me, I would carry on doing it until they actually get round to enforcement action.