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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:
LookItsMeAgain · 16/08/2021 08:54

I'm thinking that Neighbour B is being very unreasonable here. If Neighbour A had gone through the process of making sure all of their paperwork was in order and they could run a business from their location, then Neighbour B could have approached Neighbour A to see if it would be possible to make the cul de sac safer by scheduling the deliveries and collections from their home to certain days/times of day.
It doesn't appear that B did that (at least from what you've posted).

B is being a bit of a bitch if you ask me.

Jigsawtrain · 16/08/2021 08:55

Neighbour B

AtillatheHun · 16/08/2021 08:58

Can we all focus on the fact that the OP is clearly gallopingly incorrect- the council did not “shut down the business”, it stopped the business from being operated out of unsuitable residential premises. It was entirely possible for OP to continue to run it from another location but that would incur additional costs. Them’s the breaks.

B is a total tear for not discussing it first and for assuming that the road is a playground. Is B also going to complain when the neighbour on the other side has a carer visiting 3x a day or when number 12’s dog Walker starts appearing regularly, in a van?
A / OP should get one of those high pitched noise things to keep B’s child out of the road for its own safety, and B should get a job so they are not so pathetically involved in the twitching of net curtains. Gavel!

Terhou · 16/08/2021 08:59

We live in a quiet cul de sac. During lockdown there have been many more delivery vans turning up because so many people have been ordering things online. So I doubt that Neighbour B really achieved anything in terms of their children's ability to play by stopping a once a week lorry delivery to A plus the occasional extra van delivery. B should really have talked to A about whether they couldn't get deliveries dropped off somewhere else, and whether they planned to move out to commercial premises at any point. Certainly, having reported A, they don't have any right to object to A telling other neighbours the basic facts.

Bluntness100 · 16/08/2021 09:07

This makes no logical sense at all. There was plenty of ways for neighbour a to run their business and keep it going. No business is shut down due to a once a week lorry appearing.

Op are you neither of these people and just repeating what you heard?

Muma1992 · 16/08/2021 09:41

Businesses don't get shut down for being "inconvenient to neighbours". This isn't the full story.

Bloodypunkrockers · 16/08/2021 09:42

@PalmsandCharms

Neighbour B is a nasty jealous individual and actually deserves everything they get.
What made you think they were jealous?

We have no idea of the success or otherwise of the business or whether B could buy and sell A without blinking

It's so childish to trot out that old "jealous" crap on posts.

Terhou · 16/08/2021 09:44

Could it be that the council told the neighbour that they couldn't carry on running the business from home, because their planning consents don't cover it? So they didn't shut it down, but the neighbour possibly took the decision that it wasn't viable to run it from anywhere else.

Muma1992 · 16/08/2021 09:44

Reading back over this thread is actually really funny. I can't believe people think that one complaint about deliveries would close down a business operating out of a residential address and that the council had previously said "we don't mind, just don't inconvenience those neighbours" Confused

iheartredsquirrels · 16/08/2021 09:57

I'm still trying to work out which op is A or B. I'm guessing A, , knows about the business being registered etc. if neither then waaay over invested in something that doesn't concern them.

iheartredsquirrels · 16/08/2021 09:59

the user name is telling too imo

ElsieMc · 16/08/2021 10:06

Hmm - our Council is very passive and our neighbours have run a business from their home for some time which they simply deny and the Council accept. They are always setting up various businesses then closing them down, it is all on Companies House but they say it is running from elsewhere - but where?

That said, I live opposite a residential home and it was here when we moved in. Large lorries make deliveries but it is something we all have to accept because it is a crucial business and longstanding. You could hardly miss it. Strangely the people running various businesses, have complained about it!

I can understand both sides. The road suddenly becoming busier and more dangerous due to a new growing business is not acceptable. If it is growing that fast, then they need to get commercial premises. I suspect they do not want to pay commercial rates and rent. Why should other businesses be open, honest and meet these costs and the neighbour not.

Lochroy · 16/08/2021 10:07

I'm guessing the OP is A too, otherwise I think there would be more details on the level or irritation caused which have been glossed over.

notapizzaeater · 16/08/2021 10:09

Neighbour B should have spoken directly to neighbour A about the issue to see if they could come up with a solution. I hope neighbour B is happy they've shut a business down !

iheartredsquirrels · 16/08/2021 10:18

I would be interested to hear from op. Perhaps they didn't think they'd be slated so much on here. This A/B thing is annoying in any thread though.

Looubylou · 16/08/2021 11:10

I guess you are neighbour A and minimising the inconvenience to your neighbours? Therefore diffi ult to decide, without B's side.

toocold54 · 16/08/2021 12:59

Neighbour B is in the wrong as they sound like a twat and neighbour A wasn’t doing anything wrong but neighbour A shouldn’t have gossiped on the WhatsApp group which is very immature.

Bloodypunkrockers · 16/08/2021 13:29

For those saying B is wrong can you say why?

If there wasn't an issue then the council wouldn't have taken action so not sure why that's B's fault

girlmom21 · 16/08/2021 13:38

@Bloodypunkrockers

For those saying B is wrong can you say why?

If there wasn't an issue then the council wouldn't have taken action so not sure why that's B's fault

The OP suggests B only complained because it interfered with her kids playing out in the street supervised. She also suggests B repeated complaints with the specific intention of getting A shut down, without ever just having a conversation and trying to find a solution that suited both.

Obviously we're only voting based on what we've been told, and I strongly believe that there's much more to this story because the council wouldn't just shut a business down because it's caused minor inconvenience to one neighbour.

LadyCatStark · 16/08/2021 13:40

B

JustLyra · 16/08/2021 14:41

I wonder if you live in my street… Hmm

One of my neighbours is up in arms as the council have told him he can’t run his business from home. He used to have a lorry deliver stuff to him once or twice a day. That increased to 2/3 lorries a day (blocking the street for 20 mins at a time), 5/6 vans a day and about 15-20 customer cars a day.

He’s convinced it’s all the fault of one particular neighbour that he doesn’t like, but actually everyone has complained because it’s a residential street, not an industrial estate.

DynamoKev · 16/08/2021 14:46

@Muma1992

Reading back over this thread is actually really funny. I can't believe people think that one complaint about deliveries would close down a business operating out of a residential address and that the council had previously said "we don't mind, just don't inconvenience those neighbours" Confused
Exactly - there is much more to this story that we are not being told.
goatsgalore · 16/08/2021 15:17

How big was the lorry, articulated? Did any other neighbors have issues with the deliveries?

purpledagger · 16/08/2021 15:41

I'm with B.

Its not just about children playing. It can be really inconvenient when a road is blocked by a vehicle, even more so when it's a cul de sac and there is no alternative route in or out.

Whilst I have no experience in this area, I would imagine that it would take more than 1 person to complain for that Council to shut down a business. It's probably numerous neighbours that have complained. Or, B provided compelling evidence that the deliveries were much more frequent than A is admitting.

MaMelon · 16/08/2021 17:19

The OP isn’t coming back, is she? Grin