Home used as business

sleepy14

We live on a road of privately owned detached bungalows. The bungalow at the top of the road, which everyone has to pass is being used by the son of the house to fix cars, ready for MOT. This son works full time for a local pub, and his dad runs a taxi business. The house itself is clean and tidy, but the front garden looks awful with cars in various stages of disrepair. This garden looks awfull and does nothing for our property values. Is there anything that could be done, is it ok to run this sort of business from a residential street?

TheCyclingProgrammer

The business may require planning permission to operate from a residential property. You can always ring your local planning department and ask. If it does and they do not have it they can take enforcement action if they believe it is worth doing so.

trailingspouse

The things the planning department will be interested in are (in no particular order) - noise, smells, pollution and parking.
So -

are you disturbed by noise from the work that's going on (banging, music, shouting, anything)
are you disturbed by smells (exhaust fumes, petrol)
are you disturbed by pollution (where do they dispose of old oil for example?)
are you disturbed by parking (where do his customers park, does it mean there's no room for residents to park, where does he park cars that have been worked on or are waiting to be worked on?)


A garage needs all sorts of licences, and they are unlikely to be granted for a residential property, so I think your local authority would be very interested in this. Particularly if several neighbours contact them.

teneighty

Is it a business or a hobby?

Does he have fee paying customers who bring cars to the property for repair? Or does he just do up a few cars in his spare time because he likes tinkering with cars?

That will be the fundamental test in terms of Planning. Is the use ancillary to the residential use or is it a separate commercial business?

Ganga

If true or not,sounds like a great place to live NOT, ring the council and report them running a business,nothing to loose.

Doozergirl

Ganga wrote: »

If true or not,sounds like a great place to live NOT, ring the council and report them running a business,nothing to loose.

Why? It sounds like a hobby to me.

There's no law that says you have to keep your garden in a manner that maintains your neighbours 'property values'.

There's nothing quite like judging oneself and the neighbours by property value. Better spending time addressing one's own personal values.

onomatopoeia99

Doozergirl wrote: »

Why? It sounds like a hobby to me.

There's no law that says you have to keep your garden in a manner that maintains your neighbours 'property values'.

There's nothing quite like judging oneself and the neighbours by property value. Better spending time addressing one's own personal values.

Wish I could give more than one "like" for this!

naf123

All complaints will come up in a property inquiry if you do decide to sell up soon.

TheCyclingProgrammer

naf123 wrote: »

All complaints will come up in a property inquiry if you do decide to sell up soon.

Informally ringing the council to ask if they require planning permission is not going to come up on any property enquiries, you don't have to give your name.

Davesnave

The OP reminds me of people who complained when we moved here and began selling plants at our front entrance. It was >100metres from their property and they couldn't see it, but they still had to drive past daily. Oh, the shame!

Their actions backfired. They thought the land we were selling from was communally held, but the title plan for their gated complex proved otherwise, so we've continued selling there, on our own land, for 9 years.

Now, they only have the farmer to complain to, because he drives past their house on a tractor. Farmer, mean so and so, still hasn't bought an agricultural helicopter.

I jest, but the other side of the coin is still visible to me. Back in the difficult selling conditions of 2009, we were done no favours by our neighbours on both sides: one with a rusting 'bay window' VW camper project permanently on the go, and the other with no gardening skills + a penchant for rusting Crittall windows. I know for a fact people looked and drove away, rather than keep viewing appointments. They were, in other respects, model neighbours


It's all a matter of degree, but if it's not within 2 houses of the OP, I doubt if they have anything to worry about. Perhaps they just need a paying hobby too.

armchaireconomist

Why does someone tinkering with cars in his spare time affect your property value?


More to the point, how do you know he's running a business?