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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Which neighbour is being unreasonable?

242 replies

Neighbourshateeachother · 15/08/2021 18:46

Neighbour A runs (ran) a small online business from home (pre pandemic). During the lockdown as more people were buying online business went up. Due to nature of the business a large lorry would visit neighbour A weekly to deliver stock and sometimes Ups / DHL would make visits to collect / deliver.

Neighbour B has young children and likes them to play outside and didn’t didn’t like the ‘busyness’ of the street which is a nice quiet cul de sac. Neighbour B reported neighbour A to the council and got the business shut down.

Neighbour A found out neighbour B was responsible for this and told everyone in the street both in person and on the street WhatsApp chat.

Other residents of the street now feel awkward. Who IBU neighbour A or B?

OP posts:
ExpressDelivery · 15/08/2021 19:28

@Neighbourshateeachother

But I’ve already explained, council said it was fine as long as it wasn’t an inconvenience to other residents. Neighbour B kept making complaints stating it was an inconvenience
How do you know this unless you're neighbour A?
sst1234 · 15/08/2021 19:28

The council can’t just shut things down unless there is breach of planning or if neighbors complaints carry some weight. Just complaining in itself is not enough. I suspect there is more to this story than OP is letting on. OP are you the neighbour with the business?

Scottishskifun · 15/08/2021 19:31

Neighbour B children shouldn't be running in the road regardless!

Thelnebriati · 15/08/2021 19:31

Causing a nuisance is a breach of planning permission. Its a condition of us being able to run a business from our home that we can't cause a significant increase in traffic.

drpet49 · 15/08/2021 19:32

* You can run a business from home as long as you aren’t causing a nuisance to your neighbours. For the council to tell A to desist there must have been enough lorries and vans every day to constitute a nuisance. We’re not talking about 1-2 vans a day here.*

^This

PlaneHero · 15/08/2021 19:33

We have DPD/DHL and various others down the street every day. Never thought once about reporting people! B is utterly ridiculous for something that barely sounds like an inconvenience. A delivery takes what 2 mins?!

SamW98 · 15/08/2021 19:34

B is snide for running to the council to complain rather than enter into a reasonable discussion with A

Problem is that since start of the pandemic the government of told us that snitching on our neighbours is the right thing to do and its made people stab each other in the back rather than have an adult conversation

girlmom21 · 15/08/2021 19:35

B is clearly in the wrong here, although I'd have thought they'd have had to have some kind of proof.

Was A actually causing a massive inconvenience?

SamVimes6 · 15/08/2021 19:36

They both sound like arseholes. Id be giving them both a wide berth.

SamW98 · 15/08/2021 19:36

@PlaneHero

We have DPD/DHL and various others down the street every day. Never thought once about reporting people! B is utterly ridiculous for something that barely sounds like an inconvenience. A delivery takes what 2 mins?!
Absolutely. There has to be more to this. One of my neighbours is a Hermes delivery driver and every morning a lorry pulls up and drops off her packages for the day It wouldn't cross my mind to stop her earning a living or putting in a complaint. Its a few minutes out of our lives but for her its her livelihood
IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves · 15/08/2021 19:37

Well then I don't understand your confusion.
A was told fine unless it inconveniences the neighbours. Neighbour repeatedly says they are being inconvenienced.

Eralos · 15/08/2021 19:37

B is unreasonable.

user1471457751 · 15/08/2021 19:38

The council won't shut down a business cos one person is arsey and makes multiple complaints of the same nature. They don't have the legal standing to.

LawnFever · 15/08/2021 19:39

The council wouldn’t shut the business down without good reason, it’s just not that simple so although neighbour B is a snitch neighbour A must’ve been running their business without some kind of correct process for it to be shut down.

Overall I think neighbour A is unreasonable for running a business that can’t have been completely legal, or it wouldn’t have been shut down.

AlmostSummer21 · 15/08/2021 19:39

Neighbour B is a twat.

SamW98 · 15/08/2021 19:39

@user1471457751

The council won't shut down a business cos one person is arsey and makes multiple complaints of the same nature. They don't have the legal standing to.
I would agree. And I don't think 'because it stops my kids playing in the middle of the road' is a valid complaint of being inconvenienced
WeAreTheHeroes · 15/08/2021 19:42

@IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves

Well then I don't understand your confusion. A was told fine unless it inconveniences the neighbours. Neighbour repeatedly says they are being inconvenienced.
Exactly this. You don't think it was inconveniencing her, she disagreed. It was bad of her not to discuss it with you though. So many things can be resolved by actually talking to each other instead of leaving anonymous notes/reporting people. Do you have the correct business use class in place for your home address?
Mantlemoose · 15/08/2021 19:43

Neighbour A is at fault.

It's meant to be a 'nice quiet cul-de-sac' which is presumably you'd expect if you bought a house there. If they were running a legitimate business, anyone buying a house there would be able to see there was a business registered there which could influence their decision. As a business who can't be bothered registering with the council I wonder what other corners are they cutting. They can't have liability insurance because they don't have permission to trade from the premises, they're defrauding the council by not being registered for business rates, probably not even paying tax. For that alone when other businesses are paying everything they should be is A BU.

Iloveginger · 15/08/2021 19:45

I can't see how she was getting that many delivered in a week to cause a nuisance, its a residential property not an amazon warehouse.
B sounds petty and nasty.

Paulinna · 15/08/2021 19:45

The council won't shut down a business cos one person is arsey and makes multiple complaints of the same nature
When a complaint is made the council is required to investigate. If the complaint is spurious it will be disregarded. The council must have observed enough delivery vehicles to constitute a nuisance under their rules. The number of complaints is irrelevant - it’s based on what the inspector sees when he visits.

And I don't think 'because it stops my kids playing in the middle of the road' is a valid complaint of being inconvenienced
Increased traffic and blocking parking spaces is considered to be a nuisance.

vivainsomnia · 15/08/2021 19:46

During the lockdown as more people were buying online business went up. Due to nature of the business a large lorry would visit neighbour A weekly to deliver stock and sometimes Ups / DHL would make visits to collect / deliver
So business went up, it required a large lorry to deliver ,but only occasional collection.... I expect the collection was mucn more than occasional. I expect the lorry/pick up blocked neighbours. The council doesn't close businesses just because neighbours don't like it. They would have evidenced that the business was indeed a genuine nuisance. Good on Neighbour B to take it further.

godmum56 · 15/08/2021 19:47

on the face of it both were being unreasonable....but councils don't shut businesses down without good reason because they get to charge a business rate and make moolah....I suspect a drip feed here.

SixesAndEights · 15/08/2021 19:48

The council aren't going to close down a business on the whinge of a neighbour. They would look into whatever was happening and make a decision based on planning law or bylaws or whatever.

The owner of the business had no need to close their business, if it was doing that well they could start to rent a small premises suitable for whatever they were doing.

AgnesNaismith · 15/08/2021 19:48

Hmmm, this happened recently near me. A resident was running a cafe from her driveway, same thing?

HeadNorth · 15/08/2021 19:49

The council made the decision to shut the business down, so pretty pointless falling out with neighbours over it.