To report car dealer neighbour for taking 5 parking spaces

[itswhatsinsidethatcounts]

Hi all.

A neighbour who's moved into the estate recently is taking the utter piss with 'stealing' every available parking space in the area for his cars. I am almost certain he is dealing illegally and selling from home. As of this evening 5 bays are occupied by his cars, which I find ridiculously unfair and inconsiderate.

I'm annoyed as he's taken my space that I've been parking in for the last 9 years. I'm kind of forced to park in the unassigned bay next to it which I hate as it's so tight and awkward to get into. A few weeks ago, I was looking out of the window and I could see him really struggling to get his car in which is smaller than mine, so he just went and parked elsewhere. This was before he conveniently stole my space.

Would I be unreasonable for reporting him to the council?

Yes, do it! What a wanker.

Is it actually illegal to run a business from home? It sounds very annoying and inconsiderate so I'm not defending him, just wondering why it would be illegal.

If the space is allocated to you then ask him not to park in it. Simple as that.

It's not illegal to run a car selling business from your home. Loads do it. Look on autotrader, you'll prob see he is set up as a trader.

Planning for what? He’ll just need the correct insurance for the vehicles.

Sorry OP, I know it must be annoying that he's taking up so many spaces, but you seem to be skirting the question as to whether the parking space he took is actually allocated to YOU personally, or whether you've just had the privilege of using it, unchallenged for the last 9 years, and if that's the case, this sounds rather like sour grapes to me.

Change of use from residential to business. Council are shit hot about this and round here he would not get permission. Because of the excess visitors and traffic to a residential street. I'd be videoing all the test drives, photo the cars every day. And report.

It is worthy of a conversation with your local council planning enforcement team. The question will come down to whether he is parking on land that he owns

5 cars is taking the piss.

I'd be checking every single car to see whether they are taxed and insured and i'd be rreporting any that weren't.

I'd also report him to HMRC to say that he's running a car business and not paying any taxes. Don't worry about providing evidence. thats for police and HMRC to worry about - all you have to do is report it so that they can investigate it.

Can you check on autotrader/ebay to see if the cars are listed there?

If so get friends and family to contact him for test drives at unreasonable and annoying times, and then not turn up.

Someone is filling a road near us to do this; I think the rule is that until they've been untaxed for two months, the authorities do nothing, so he leaves them for two months. Also, leaves the registered in the old owners' name as long as possible. It's awful and really annoying. If it is your space then tell the council/management company. If it's one you've habitually used you would need a way to stop the business or get him to move on. Do you know who owns the property, if it's rented maybe speak to the owner and let them know he's operating a business from there.

Chang of use is if changes were being made to the building; the same is required if changing from a commercial property to residential. I run a business from home but no change of use is required. I just need the correct insurance.

The DVLA jump on untaxed vehicles very quickly if they are reported. There was an untaxed Skoda on my road which was clamped and subsequently towed within 72hrs of reporting.

You can check if the vehicles are taxed with just the registration.

It's possibly legal but the dealer would need to check he has the right permissions

https://www.gov.uk/run-business-from-home

The local council would be the best place to report him I think.

Pop his tyres

No changes need to take place to the house for a change of use to occur.
If the use is having an impact on residential amenity then PP may be required. Things that might impact the decision are things like noise, disturbance, lots of visitors, impact on parking or highway safety, hours of use, smells and fumes, loss of privacy etc

Therefore if you are running a business such as accountantancy where you have no visitors to the house, you are unlikely to need PP.
Things like beauty services, personal training, kennels, car mechanics, car washing, car selling etc can definitely require PP.

My first port of call would be checking each number plate against the national data base for MOT/TAX/Insurance.
Even a car thats been sorned shouldn't be on a public road.

If any aren't then I'd report to the relevant authorities.

If they're all up to date it's unlikely that anything can be done via the authorities but if you have a management team I'd ask them.

How does one do that? (Asking for a friend).

My late uncle had this problem, in his case a carpet dealership of all things; customers rolling up as and when, while lengths of carpet were measured out on the convenient driveway.
When the council sent an official to enquire, the new neighbour rather indignantly told the official, "I'm trying to run a business here, you know!"
"Exactly!" came the response, and he was smartly reminded that this was a residential area, not a business area.
You should check with your local council; in my uncle's case, an Outer London borough, but I am pretty certain that there will be tax implications.

Really? I've reported someone for running a take away pizza place from their house and they have been stopped. There were no changes to the actual building but the council said that the increase in traffic with delivery drivers wasn't allowed. A friend has also been told she can't do dog grooming in her spare room because of people coming and going.

Is the space actually yours? As in, when you bought your house, it’s in the deeds that you own that space? Or do you mean there are X number of spaces allocated for residents only and X number for visitors, and everyone in the street has just got in the habit of using a particular space each, so it’s “yours” but anyone can actually use it?

If you actually own the space, then report him. And go round with your deeds and show him.

Hi again everyone.

Thanks for your posts.

To my surprise, this morning, all cars were gone apart from his daily. I suspect he might have come across this thread overnight 😂😅 or perhaps someone else reported him.

Anyway, I have my bay back. Happy days! 🙌

It is annoying. Our management company is useful and just direct neighbours to the police.

Haha! I like this idea!😅

He lives in a 4-bed house so I'm not sure if he is allocated 1 or 2 bays due to the size of the property.

No don’t make a criminal of yourself. Let them down, nuisance value but not a crime