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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

A parking thread! Builders as neighbours - street full of vans

63 replies

pensterino · 04/09/2022 19:28

Thoughts please on how to deal with this. We've just moved house and now discovered that at least four of our near neighbours are running building businesses from their homes. I don't mind about that, but I do mind that they leave their vans on the street.

The houses are 1920s semis with enough space in front to park. We just have one parking space but many of our neighbours - including all the builders - have taken out their entire front gardens, and dropped the full length of the kerb, in order to park three vehicles. That means that on street parking is at a bit of a premium. And when these vans are parked in the street it's really difficult to get in and out of our drive because they block our view of the street both ways.

Things to bear in mind:

Our house has a covenant saying no businesses to be run from home, mustn't be a nuisance. Their houses, built at the same time, presumably have the same covenant (enforceable I think by the council.)
I am absolutely pro small business, and if it were only one there wouldn't be a problem. But four are too many for the street to absorb.
I've only just moved here and I really don't want to be the problem neighbour myself (or at least, be viewed as the problem neighbour)!

OP posts:

Mummyoflittledragon · 04/09/2022 22:44

You could park across your dropped kerb, maybe?

NoSquirrels · 04/09/2022 22:48

I'm a bit surprised that no one has advocated talking to them and asking if it's possible to park somewhere where they wouldn't cause so much of a problem.

The thing is, that’s not how you approached the problem in the opening post. You brought up covenants and running businesses from home and how not to be the ‘problem neighbour’ and what have you, which made it sound a lot like you were intending to approach it from a technical, legal point rather than a neighbourly ‘Oof, hard to see round your van, mate’ approach.

If you’d said, AIBU to ask my neighbours to park their work vans on their drives instead of their cars, because visibility is poor, you’d have got different answers generally.

Anyway, you can ask but it’s unlikely they’ll park out of sight round the corner (risk of tools being stolen), or on their drives if that doesn’t suit the other comings and goings in their household for vehicle shuffling. And if you don’t drive much and only have one car you will come across as being unnecessarily tricky about something that doesn’t often affect you.

Christmasiscominghohoho · 04/09/2022 23:11

They are not running their business from their homes. They are just parking their vans outside their houses.

Which is absolutely non of your business. They can have as many vans and as many cars as they like.

Why don’t you go park your car by the school as you are the one with such a massive issue.

I wouldn’t approach them at all to be honest. If someone came to me and said they didn’t like how many vehicles I had and they didn’t want my partners van on the street i would tell them to mind their own bloody business and piss off.

SpidersAreShitheads · 04/09/2022 23:20

pensterino · 04/09/2022 22:13

I'm a bit surprised that no one has advocated talking to them and asking if it's possible to park somewhere where they wouldn't cause so much of a problem. There's a school round the corner; they could park outside it since during school hours they'd be off doing work.

Has anyone any experience of these sort of conversations? Did they go well, badly? What would be the best approach?

Were you hoping the conversation would go like this:

OP: "Hi Mr Builder, I'm your new neighbour. I've noticed that you often legally park your vans on the street. I rarely use my car but on the infrequent occasions I do, it's mildly inconveniencing me as it's harder to get a good view of the road. Could you possibly make your vans disappear magically overnight so on the off chance I MIGHT want to use my car, it will be much easier. Ta very much"

Builder: "Yes, sure. That won't be a problem at all. It's not as if I need to park my vans close by to keep an eye on the tools that I keep in them. Or because they're needed every single morning for work. Your rare need to use a car definitely takes precedence over the rest of us neighbours legally using the on-street parking. Thanks for bringing it to my attention."

giveovernate · 05/09/2022 01:25

You can't do anything about this, you'll need to learn to live with it.

girlmom21 · 05/09/2022 08:21

pensterino · 04/09/2022 22:13

Has anyone any experience of these sort of conversations? Did they go well, badly? What would be the best approach?

You mean they should be inconvenienced and park their vans in a space that would inconvenience others, so you can drive off your drive 3mph quicker?

skippy67 · 05/09/2022 09:10

That's a big if though... and doesn't take away from them being able to park on their own drives. Which what the OP is really bothered about...

skippy67 · 05/09/2022 09:11

Meant to quote a pp banging on about registered business addresses.

sashagabadon · 05/09/2022 09:13

You sound like someone that moves next to a pub then complains about early morning deliveries! It can be a massive plus to have builders as neighbours. Instead of pissing them all off, cultivate them as friends.

Musti · 05/09/2022 09:19

I think it is quite normal. Where I live - 20 year old housing estate there are a lot of cars/vans per residence - husband and wife, 1 or 2 teens/young adults cars and work vans. Opposite me is a couple with a car each, their son and their son’s girlfriend. They only have space in their drive for 2 cars.

Some of my other neighbours are driving instructors and other trades.

InsertPunHere · 05/09/2022 09:31

YABVU.

You’re the new neighbour, don’t start your life in the new area by pissing off 4 sets of neighbours, you’ll make your life awful.

They are not running businesses from home, they are self employed contractors who work on various sites, so give up on a technical challenge.

They have a legal right to park their numerous vehicles on the road. They will
want them nearby as they will have valuable tools inside.

Wanting them to park elsewhere for your convenience would be met with “you’re having a laugh” at the very mildest.

In the scale of neighbourhood irritations it’s pretty minor. Just reverse into your parking space and pull out slowly.

zingally · 05/09/2022 09:45

I feel your pain OP. No advice though really!

I live in a block of flats (9 units), which comes with 1 assigned parking space per flat, and the guy who lives above seems to be running some sort of mechanics business. He has a small work van, which he parks in his allocated space. I have no issue with that. But then he takes up the two guest bays with other vehicles! One of which has been there since February! I know who it belongs to, because I see him working on it. But I'm getting very close to reporting it to the council as an abandoned vehicle. ;) It doesn't have MOT or tax, and isn't on private property because the space its in doesn't belong to him!

NeighbourFromHeaven · 08/09/2023 06:59

As many have said, buyer beware. Always come back to view and listen to the heart beat of the street before you commit. We moved to our street 20 years ago and the same thing has happened in the last 10 years. We even have an NHS patient transport sprinter van joining the vans. The funniest thing is the longest acquired van owners are now moaning about new vans appearing where they're parking outside their homes making it difficult to get in and out of their drives. Basically it's like living on an industrial estate. What can you do?

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