Neighbour running business from house

[Lancs Jag Boy]

I have a neighbour that runs a construction business from his house in a residential area. This is involves his massive white van being there all the time and an endless stream of other vans, some with trailers carrying small plant coming and going.

Whilst I am all for people working hard and earning a living, I have premises for my business (pay rent and rates etc) whereas his operation clearly has zero premises overheads at the expense of a residential area and its inhabitants.

How do I check to see if there is a covenant on the property preventing such business operation?

[av185]

Contact the local Council who should take enforcement action even if their is no 'no business use' restriction in the deeds on the basis that it is causing you and adjoining residents excessive disturbance and breaching your 'quiet enjoyment' rights to which every resident fully entitled to. Sounds like he is taking the piss and showing you no respect....

[andy-xr]

Lancs Jag Boy said:

I have a neighbour that runs a construction business from his house in a residential area. This is involves his massive white van being there all the time and an endless stream of other vans, some with trailers carrying small plant coming and going.

Whilst I am all for people working hard and earning a living, I have premises for my business (pay rent and rates etc) whereas his operation clearly has zero premises overheads at the expense of a residential area and its inhabitants.

How do I check to see if there is a covenant on the property preventing such business operation?

The way this reads is that you're not happy you have to pay business rates and he doesnt and he's ruining your neighbourhood? Or is it that it's a bit of a pain in the arse to see/hear?

As far as I'm aware, there's nowt wrong with operating from home as a sole trader, it'd be expected to have a work vehicle for that type of job, so that'd have to go somewhere.

[Lancs Jag Boy]

andy-xr said:

Lancs Jag Boy said:

I have a neighbour that runs a construction business from his house in a residential area. This is involves his massive white van being there all the time and an endless stream of other vans, some with trailers carrying small plant coming and going.

Whilst I am all for people working hard and earning a living, I have premises for my business (pay rent and rates etc) whereas his operation clearly has zero premises overheads at the expense of a residential area and its inhabitants.

How do I check to see if there is a covenant on the property preventing such business operation?

The way this reads is that you're not happy you have to pay business rates and he doesnt and he's ruining your neighbourhood? Or is it that it's a bit of a pain in the arse to see/hear?



As far as I'm aware, there's nowt wrong with operating from home as a sole trader, it'd be expected to have a work vehicle for that type of job, so that'd have to go somewhere.

He's not a sole trader. He employs others.
One van would be fine, but on occasion there can be 3,4,5 and I've seen 6!

[ModernAndy]

Lancs Jag Boy said:

He's not a sole trader. He employs others.
One van would be fine, but on occasion there can be 3,4,5 and I've seen 6!

I think in the context used before, sole trader would mean business that hasn't been registered as limited rather than just a one man band (which can be ltd or not). If he's causing disturbance then I wouldn't want to be living next door to them but I've got nothing against people operating a business from home as long as they're as courteous to neighbours as they would be in their residential capacity. They will obviously have a vested interest in working from home so coming to some agreement without getting the council involved will likely be very difficult.

[Simpo Two]

I see this as a question of disturbance (noise, blocked access etc) not whether he works alone or employs people. As far as I know you don't have to be a company director to employ people. And 'employ' is different from 'paying a freelancer'. I can pay somebody £100 (or £10,000) to do something but it doesn't make me an employer.

But if he runs a construction business, why are the vans/people all at his house and not where he is constructing something?

[mph1977]

Lancs Jag Boy said:

andy-xr said:

Lancs Jag Boy said:

I have a neighbour that runs a construction business from his house in a residential area. This is involves his massive white van being there all the time and an endless stream of other vans, some with trailers carrying small plant coming and going.

Whilst I am all for people working hard and earning a living, I have premises for my business (pay rent and rates etc) whereas his operation clearly has zero premises overheads at the expense of a residential area and its inhabitants.

How do I check to see if there is a covenant on the property preventing such business operation?

The way this reads is that you're not happy you have to pay business rates and he doesnt and he's ruining your neighbourhood? Or is it that it's a bit of a pain in the arse to see/hear?



As far as I'm aware, there's nowt wrong with operating from home as a sole trader, it'd be expected to have a work vehicle for that type of job, so that'd have to go somewhere.

He's not a sole trader. He employs others.
One van would be fine, but on occasion there can be 3,4,5 and I've seen 6!

you could employ 100, 000 people and have hundreds of sites and still be a 'sole trader' ...

It just means that the comapny doesn't have corporate persona of it's own and you as proprietor retain unlimited exposure to the firms liabilities...

[Chrisgr31]

If he has areas that are exclusively used for the business then he would be liable for business rates on those areas. Mind you have to tell the VO, the VO then needs to confirm it etc so in practice it won't happen.

[Simpo Two]

mph1977 said:

It just means that the comapny doesn't have corporate persona of it's own and you as proprietor retain unlimited exposure to the firms liabilities...

It also means there is no company, just a bloke doing stuff in return for money. It's not a company until you incorporate (become Limited).

[Hoofy]

The issue is whether it's illegal for him to park 6 vans outside his house if they are taxed, not blocking the road etc, right? You say he's running the business from his house. Does he:
1) Have meetings there?
2) Do financial stuff there?
3) Build stuff there?

If (1) and (2) are correct, then he could probably claim tax back on a portion of his bill.













Yeah, not what you were thinking.

I am guessing (3) doesn't happen so I can't see any grounds for complaint. Am I allowed to buy six vans and park them on my drive and outside my house? I think I am.

The issue is whether he's inconveniencing others, I guess. You can't just say you don't like vans as I think 95% of 4x4s ("SUVs") are hideous and can then complain about all my neighbours as they all have them. They probably think the two rusty heaps of ste on my drive are hideous, mind.

[av185]

The clear issue here is intensification of use over and above reasonably normal residential activities causing disturbance and loss of quiet enjoyment rights for which there is obviously a breach. This could also affect the value of all properties on the street as knowledge of current non residential activities would have to be declared in enquiries before contract prior to sale so this pisstaker needs reporting before both you and everyone else on the street suffers as a consequence of his selfish actions........

[rhinochopig]

Hoofy said:

The issue is whether it's illegal for him to park 6 vans outside his house if they are taxed, not blocking the road etc, right? You say he's running the business from his house. Does he:
1) Have meetings there?
2) Do financial stuff there?
3) Build stuff there?

If (1) and (2) are correct, then he could probably claim tax back on a portion of his bill.

Might land him with a big tax bill if he moves though.













Yeah, not what you were thinking.

I am guessing (3) doesn't happen so I can't see any grounds for complaint. Am I allowed to buy six vans and park them on my drive and outside my house? I think I am.

The issue is whether he's inconveniencing others, I guess. You can't just say you don't like vans as I think 95% of 4x4s ("SUVs") are hideous and can then complain about all my neighbours as they all have them. They probably think the two rusty heaps of ste on my drive are hideous, mind.

[surveyor]

Chrisgr31 said:

If he has areas that are exclusively used for the business then he would be liable for business rates on those areas. Mind you have to tell the VO, the VO then needs to confirm it etc so in practice it won't happen.

VO don't give a stuff, unless it's really big.... I've had enough meetings with them in my former converted stable office.....

[Chrisgr31]

surveyor said:

VO don't give a stuff, unless it's really big.... I've had enough meetings with them in my former converted stable office.....

LOL indeed, although if they get a report on it they might do something. I had to go to several when I was in the VO.

[Tuna]

Have you tried having a word? "Hey, mate, glad to see your business is going well. Hope you don't mind me saying, but half a dozen vans on your driveway is a bit much.."

[Simpo Two]

Tuna said:

Have you tried having a word? "Hey, mate, glad to see your business is going well. Hope you don't mind me saying, but half a dozen vans on your driveway is a bit much.."

It's a good point. He may be assuming that because nobody has said anything to him, nobody minds and all is OK. Whereas in fact they're all at home furiously typing letters to their MPs!

[gregf40]

Tuna said:

Have you tried having a word? "Hey, mate, glad to see your business is going well. Hope you don't mind me saying, but half a dozen vans on your driveway is a bit much.."

What do you expect his reply will be?

"Sorry - I will go and rent a industrial unit if it bothers you."

The sort of person that does something like this isn't going to care if someone doesn't like it.

[aponting389]

gregf40 said:

What do you expect his reply will be?

"Sorry - I will go and rent a industrial unit if it bothers you."

The sort of person that does something like this isn't going to care if someone doesn't like it.

Or he might be reasonable and agree to make sure the van drivers meet somewhere else in the morning/evening, or have 1 van collect tools/plant etc. Cant be that hard for both sides to compromise, i'll admit that rarely seems to happen though.

[fridaypassion]

I used to run my business from home. Got busy, decided it was a bit too much of an inconvenience for the neighbors so got a unit. Its only right really especially on a quiet normal street.