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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Would you be ok with someone living in a campervan in your street?

96 replies

writergirl747474 · 05/06/2018 16:07

I live in a fairly quiet street with a few flats, a couple of houses and a sports club. Further up the road is a new housing estate being built on my road/ the next road.

I'm pretty sure that one or two of the workman are living/sleeping in a campervan in the street. The van changes position most nights. You can see there's someone in there - light on or you can see a mobile screen. No idea if there's a toilet in there.

Is living in a campervan in a residential street against the law? It makes me feel slightly uneasy but I don't know why.

It's the third van dweller I've spotted in my road. One was a big RV which eventually just moved on. The other was a white van and I assumed the guy worked at the building site - I saw him brushing his teeth one night.

Am I a snob for not being 100% ok with this?

OP posts:
Grumpyrealist77 · 05/06/2018 17:06

Hyacinth Buckét springs to mind!!

“What if everyone started doing it!?”
Jeez, then no one would be complaining because we’d all live in vans!!!!Grin

BoneyBackJefferson · 05/06/2018 17:06

Grumpyrealist77

It’s a terrible indictment of our current society where the labour force who build our homes can’t afford to rent/lease/buy somewhere near where they’re working.

I know several people who do this as a choice, not because they can't afford to pay for accommodation.

Although sometimes its because they are not there long enough to pay for a rented property and there is no point in being in a B&B or premier inn.

Grumpyrealist77 · 05/06/2018 17:07

So... what’s the problem?!

Vitalogy · 05/06/2018 17:09

*If we're going to a party that's too far to get a taxi home, and we both fancy a drink, we take the van and kip in it. Brilliant.

PlatypusPie · 05/06/2018 17:11

If they are there temporarily ( during the build of the estate) and aren’t causing a nuisance by way of waste or noise, then I wouldn’t mind - I know that this happens quite a lot with tradesmen from other parts of the country coming to do work in London. Good tradesmen are very oversubscribed here and it would be very expensive for them to get temporary digs.

I did get irritated a few years ago when a big old RV parked up for ages in front of our terraced house - only a small distance between our front and the pavement and it cut most of the natural daylight to the front room. I know you can’t control who parks on a public road and that it’s not ‘my’ space ( we’ve got one of those nutters a few doors up) but the permanent gloom of the front became wearing.

Eventually, the tax lapsed ( still paper discs then) and I noticed a tyre was flat so reported it to the local council as potentially abandoned. Came back home a few days later to find, yipee, it had gone - was just getting out of my car ( parked outside my house for once ) and a neighbour from further up the road was walking home from work . ‘Thank god that lump of a vehicle has gone’ I said ‘ “I know’ she said , ‘It’s our friend’s van , we suggested he leave here whilst he went travelling in Siuth America and we’ve had to move it because it got an enforcement notice just because the tax has run out and now he’ll have a fine.’ We then had a rather brisk conversation about why she had hadn’t suggested having it outside her house but had blighted mine ( and had keys to it the whole time) and why I was such a meanie in reporting the flaming thing :/

OrchidInTheSun · 05/06/2018 17:12

I do the same as LakieLady. Just need to make sure the street's relatively flat. Saves us £££ in hotel rooms and cab fares :)

specialsubject · 05/06/2018 17:13

all of you who are happy with a pile of rubbish outside your door, and with excreta in the street - addresses please and the OP can send them to you.

MN, oh so right-on as long as it is somebody else....

if they had a chemical toilet and didn't throw rubbish around, it might be tolerable for a short time.

Original poster
writergirl747474 · 05/06/2018 17:13

To answer a few points. No trouble or noise so far and I haven't reported them and don't intend to. It won't be site security - when they are outside my place they can't actually see the site (which seems very secure).

I did report the previous RV that camped there for a bit. They had a generator and stuff. Not an offence according to the council (although this is the same council that failss to repair potholes, forgets to collect rubbish occasionally).

I guess my issue is what if everyone did it? It's a big building site so what's to stop all the workman sleeping in vans in the street? Why can't they park it IN the building site?

OP posts:
ShagMeRiggins · 05/06/2018 17:16

Why can't they park it IN the building site?

I’ll guess insurance.

CookPassBabtridge · 05/06/2018 17:16

Like others have said, I wouldn’t care if they slept there but there was no rubbish around/toileting/cooking etc.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 05/06/2018 17:17

So, they are building new homes, working away from their families and saviing some of their out allowance (which can be very meagre) and you are complaining?

DH is lucky, these days he gets his overnights booked. But sometimes he can be over an hour from site - which restricts his site time as they work on strict work hours. Years ago they used to sleep in the back of the van, site huts etc, as there were no B+Bs they could afford, out allowances have often been too low - they are subsistance allowances by the way, for the additional lodging and food they pay when working away from home. Standard in the construction industry and often simply not enough to cover both a bed for the night and food for the day!

Your are being a misery!

happypoobum · 05/06/2018 17:19

all of you who are happy with a pile of rubbish outside your door, and with excreta in the street - addresses please and the OP can send them to you.

SPECIAL Where does OP say that? You appear to have read a different thread to the rest of us...

JacquesHammer · 05/06/2018 17:29

all of you who are happy with a pile of rubbish outside your door, and with excreta in the street - addresses please and the OP can send them to you

Could you point out where the OP has said that’s happening?

LillianGish · 05/06/2018 17:33

The situation the OP describes wouldn’t bother me. The situation in Bristol would. I suppose my only concern would be that turning a blind eye to the former might lead to the latter - ie if it becomes known that your street is a good place to park up for the night.

LilQueenie · 05/06/2018 17:34

Not a problem. they have a roof over their heads and doing no harm to anyone. Where is the problem.

SalemBlackCat · 05/06/2018 17:39

Isn't he perhaps just on-site security? Maybe they had been ordered to have someone patrol the site in case of theft, vandalism or someone breaking in, and injuring themselves and thus trying to sue? I doubt he is homeless, especially if he wasn't there before the construction started. He's just security.

UterusUterusGhali · 05/06/2018 17:46

Homelessness is increasing. People are under more financial pressure. I think we need to get used to seeing this sort of thing tbh. :(

SalemBlackCat · 05/06/2018 17:50

Oh, sorry, didn't read the update. I don't know why he wouldn't park on the site then.

toastedbeagle · 05/06/2018 17:50

The guy who laid my flooring got divorced recently and lives in his van. It's huge and properly spec'd out with a shower / toilet / kitchen / bed etc. Lives with a dog. Didn't ask him where he parked at night though.

tremendous · 05/06/2018 17:53

Actually this is a massive problem in some areas accompanied by weeing and defecating in residential gardens. Nothing snobby about not wanting that in your front yard.

I see loads of people living like this daily. Workers should be on a camp site.

tsonlyme · 05/06/2018 18:10

This is different to the Bristol situation, this bloke appears to be a non problem so far.

The Bristol situation is that many people are choosing to live in vans permanently (for financial reasons I guess) and park up en masse. There have been problems with antisocial behaviour and disturbance. Some groups have been in one place for years.

Chattymummyhere · 05/06/2018 18:12

We have one that comes to our street every year for a couple of weeks. They seem to have family here who they visit in summer. No rubbish/no toileting in the street etc just used for more beds

BingTheButterflySlayer · 05/06/2018 18:22

Wouldn't be happy in our street - but mainly as a huge campervan would cause real problems with our already very limited access

Original poster
writergirl747474 · 05/06/2018 19:17

Maybe the issue is that housebuilders should pay their builders and construction staff more? The homes are for sale for over £1m and housebuilders are taking in the profits.

I guess my concern is what's to stop more builders sleeping in vans in the street? There's a campsite five mins drive away - why not go there?

OP posts:
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