Neighbors running a repair business from home?

StevenB12

Hi all,

Bit of a weird one. So we have lived in this property for about 14 years now, one of our direct neighbors (separated via fence) have always been a bit loud etc but never been terrible. They used to repair vehicles on their drives, small vans etc. They then sold or rented (it was up for sale for a week or two and then it went up for rent, not sure where it ended) to what i assume were friends as they have carried this repair business on, currently there is about 13 cars outside parked up on the grass etc. They are wanting to extend their garage and add an additional shed as a working unit, the noise at the moment isn't overly bad, it will end at around 10pm most nights, but there's a lot of shouting, drug use (cannabis) mainly which usually ends up blowing into our living room and kids bedroom. 

Just seeing where we potentially stand on this in terms of the noise etc getting worse, especially if they want to extend the garage, which would also involve extending onto ours due to the layout of the garage (garage for us both is50/50 split over the property line).

We haven't mentioned this to them yet, however when you hear them using threatening language etc on the phone outside the window about people paying late or owing money, I won't hold my breath a conversation will do much good. 

Thanks for any advice 

kazwookie

Contact the local council planning dept, local EHO and similar.

mlz1413

It sounds like you are very tolerant of your neighbours but it must be frightening to know they are aggressive when things don't go their way.   
As the owners of the house are likely to support them fixing cars ther⁰e, I doubt it is worth pursuing that route.

You could keep a log of noise and times, this would be a first step to proving what is happening. 

Definitely worth talking to the council 

FreeBear

StevenB12 said: currently there is about 13 cars outside parked up on the grass etc.

A pretty good chance that some or all of these cars are without a valid MOT, road tax, or insurance. I'm sure the police would be "having words" when one of their patrol cars do a tour of the hood.

Hoenir

StevenB12 said:

currently there is about 13 cars outside parked up on the grass etc. 

You can check the vehicles on here........

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

Baldytyke88

StevenB12 said:

They are wanting to extend their garage and add an additional shed as a working unit, the noise at the moment isn't overly bad, it will end at around 10pm most nights, but there's a lot of shouting, drug use (cannabis) mainly which usually ends up blowing into our living room and kids bedroom. 

Just seeing where we potentially stand on this in terms of the noise etc getting worse, especially if they want to extend the garage, which would also involve extending onto ours due to the layout of the garage (garage for us both is50/50 split over the property line).

We haven't mentioned this to them yet, however when you hear them using threatening language etc on the phone outside the window about people paying late or owing money, I won't hold my breath a conversation will do much good. 

 

Is it a shed that needs planning permission, what does it say, you can look online.

This could get worse, so be careful.

I have a similar neighbour, but they don't cause any bother.

WIAWSNB

Steven, do you have CCTV that covers your land up to that boundary - and capture the foul and aggressive language? If not, fit one, and download all the relevant clips, dated and timed. Keep them secure - do not share them with anyone. They are there only if you need to escalet the situation. Evidence is everything.

Are any other neighbours cheesed off with what's going on? If so, much much better if a number of complaints are submitted at the same time.

Does this 'garage' have a name? Are they a registered company? Do you reckon they are insured to carry out this work at a residential premises? Who works there? Do you reckon they have emplyment conttracts?! Pay their taxes? 

Do your investigation as best you can. 

I'd also suggest that it's almost certain they are breaching the terms of the house insurance policy. So you make sure that your policy is watertight in case their house burns down, threatening yours... Also include Legal Protection. On that last point - do you already have LP, and - if so - when was it added?

Bigphil1474

Normally you need the owners permission to run a business in a rented property. If the business doesn't attract customers or traffic, then you won't normally need planning permission e.g. someone doing office type work at home.

If the business does attract traffic or visitors or both, then normally planning permission is required, and that might be separate to any new building permissions. Traffic might be customer vehicles, delivery vehicles etc.

If it was me, I'd speak to your local planning enforcement and see what they say. They may be in breach of planning rules anyway now, and you definitely want to stop them expanding (from the sounds of it). It might be worth speaking to your local Environmental health Department as well - they are usually consulted on planning applications that have potential nuisance issues, so they could object on those grounds. 

FreeBear

WIAWSNB said: Does this 'garage' have a name? Are they a registered company? Do you reckon they are insured to carry out this work at a residential premises? Who works there? Do you reckon they have emplyment conttracts?! Pay their taxes?

Taxes - That would include business rates, so a call to the Council Tax department would be another avenue of attack.

m0bov

Check all the car registrations for MOT, tax and insurance. Report as needed.
Report to council for breach of residential use.
Report to police for drug use.
Report to inland revenue for suspected income tax evation.
Contact your local MP for additional support if needed.
Get "fully CCTVed" as there might be repercussions if they suspect you have shopped them.

StevenB12

Thanks for the comments everyone, much appreciated.


To try and answer the questions all in one - No, there is no named garage. It is literally a domestic garage, standard garage to any home these days. Can only fit one vehicle inside as its the same size garage as ours. They are looking to extend a piece of land next to their garage into a parking space by the sounds of it, they have already started doing the landscaping work for this. We have a similar area next to our garage which is council property. 

There is no footfall or additional traffic to the house other than the additional vehicles which come and go, but in terms of it being a legit business, no, they don't work on the cars during normal day hours, they usually don't start working on them until about 3pm-5pm, and this will continue until anywhere between 8-10pm. The latest has been 2am, no tool noise but they were moving tools around in garage and closing vehicle doors etc but this has been a one off so far. 

We haven't got CCTV but will look into thise, good idea.