Living in Van on Driveway

[AbbaG12]

AIBU?

I'm not sure how long this has been going on for as I didn't really take notice at first....but, about a month ago I started to take notice of a van that kept visiting our close and stopping on a driveway. I thought at first it was just the neighbours work vehicle but I then realise it was actually a converted van. I then noticed that people were actually living in the van.

The last few weeks it's been there pretty permanently (at least from what I can see when i'm home from work or off work).

The issue is it looks directly into our kitchen/dinner area where we spend a lot of our time and you buy a house knowing which rooms people overlook you.

AIBU to not want them to live on the driveway and also, what do I do about this? Is it legal and what can I do about it? I don't want to annoy the neighbours but I want our privacy.

Is your neighbour's drive big enough to ask if the van could be parked further away from your window?

It may require planning permission. There was a daily fail article about how a lady who rented out her caravan as an Airbnb had enforcement action taken against her (with a sad face photo!). There was a big back story and lots of action from the councilnagainst her over a number of years.

A motorhome/campervan May be a bit harder to enforce against because they could move it!

Houses built in the 1980’s onwards often have a covenant preventing caravans and motorhomes from being stored at the front of a house or on a driveway. Enforcing these type of covenants is a nightmare because who enforced them (not the council).

But beware... if there is a public highway with no parking restrictions they can park there with no recourse. That may be right outside your front window!

I know many people who reside in vans throughout the year. Many have better and cosier facilities than my house! They tend to park up in a place for a few nights and then move on being respectful to their neighbours.

zafferana
And no, in the film of 'The Lady in the Van' Alan Bennett was most definitely not accommodating either - he was utterly frustrated and annoyed for much of it.

He was irritable and grumpy, but incredibly accommodating since the lady in the van (forgotten her name) stayed for 15 years.

OP, I can't find see anything to suggest this is illegal and it does not sound like the visitors are causing a nuisance.

hazel42 🤣🤣🤣

There's nothing illegal about it though is there? Bylaws won't be applicable to private property, that's to cover people parking up and sleeping and mostly aimed at curbing travellers sites

If it's legally parked, which it sounds like it is, then they aren't breaking the law.

Could they move the van forward or backward so your windows don't align so much or angle it differently?

You have to be looking at them to know they're looking at you.

I wouldn’t ask the neighbour then the council, or they’d know it was you.

How close is it to your windows?
I've lived in a van for a bit- sometimes on sites and sometimes on driveways.
They could just be long term visitors to your neighbours.
They could be homeless and friends or relatives of your neighbours.

But hey, they "might" look in through your window- so go ahead and report them. Make yourself feel all important and sanctimonious.

About a car and a halfs distance away (our small front garden, a path for the alleyway and then it's their on their driveway)

Also, where in my post did I state I was going to report them?

Really? How do you know that? If someone was living in a van because they had nowhere else to go what would they look like?? That's pretty judgemental I'd say.

OP I would go balisitic if someone was living in a van parked up directly outside my house.
I would knock on and ask the neighbour what the situation is. At least then you know whether they are planning this to be a long term or short term situation.
Can you put anything on the boundary to block their drive?

It's interesting how many people state that if they're homeless I shouldn't worry about it. Put it this way then, not from a planning permission point of view, but from a moral point of view - if I had a family member or friend who was homeless and wanted to help them, could I just build a outbuilding for them to live in that overlooked my neighbours house? I'm sure if anyone put in planning that caused their extension to look into your house this close, you'd complain. If someone built a temporary shed for their family to live in and it looked straight into your house without you being able to look at without seeing them, would you accept that?

I was perfectly fine with it at first...I totally understand that maybe they were helping them out or they were visiting or what not. But there comes a point when it's been a rather long time and there doesn't seem to be an end. Now some say I should total ignore it - in which case I point you back to my post about building a temporary structure for a relative or what not. At what point does it become too long.

I accept that there are people who are homeless through no fault of their own and I think it's totally unfair on those homeless people to suggest that these people are homeless. I don't think it's fair when people really need help because they are homeless, to state people who choose to live in this converted van need help. You can say i'm judging or what not, but if you saw it, you'd understand. If these people were truly homeless i'd have gone over and made sure that the right charities were contacted to support them.

For those who will now say i'm being nosey because I know it's a comfortable van - as it's staying all day now and right outside my window, I can't not notice it. It's like shoving a big ass blue teddy in someones face and then shouting "don't look at the teddy," i'd literally have to close my eyes leaving the house or when doing the washing up.

13Grumpelstilskin And as you probably know, you had permitted development rights to do so. This is not the same situation.

YOU ARE NOT BEING UNREASONABLE. Very different if they're relatives staying a week or two but it's being going on a while. Hope it get sorted without a load of hassle

@GPatz We don't actually know that though. We do not know the circumstances of why and who actually is in that camper van. They might be doing work on the house.

A neighbour has a relative who parked his van in our shared car park some months ago and is living in it with his huge dog which craps everywhere. Extremely irritating. Wouldn't mind but for the dog shit. Why is it that, when he knows he's already breaking all sorts of regulations and putting his relative's tenancy at risk, he's got to add insult to injury by leaving dog shit everywhere? Twunt.