New neighbour might be selling cars from their drive.

[CraftyKit]

I am not sure if this is the best place to post but wanting to know if l am mad about nothing and don't really know who to ask.
We got new neighbours just over a week ago (our neighbour of 27 years died and the house was sold). We get on with all our neighbours just so you know we aren't horrible people and have had many in the property joining us over the years.
New neighbours have been a pain in the from the minute they moved in. We live in a semi and our drives are side by side. The drive isn't huge and you can get 3 cars on them maybe 4 - anyway they have now got between 5 and 6 and l think they are selling cars from the driveway. They have two vans, one has been reversed down the side of the house and they get out onto our drive every time he moves and this is at least once or twice a day. Cars are moved and rearranged several times a day/evening. We even had a car arrived last Thursday around 10pm on a trailer and people have been their looking at cars they bring from somewhere else the two weekends they have lived there,
Can you sell cars like this from your home?
Am l just annoyed about nothing?
We have always liked our house but now is it maybe time to move - doubt it will get better if this is how they start. I am also worried about all the people coming out to view these cars and checking out the area - not really making this clear but you just never know if they are really buying.
Oh and when my OH spoke to them a day or so after they moved in they told him they were really pleased to have moved to a nice area. But all these vehicles crammed onto their drive isn't keeping it a nice area. No-one else has this many cars and vans parked anywhere else on the street just us.
I feel like we are living next door to Steptoe and son at the junk yard.

I didn't say I was I working in planning, I've just qualified in it so haven't dealt with specific cases yet. If they've just moved they might not have a licence yet so personally I'd start there.

Perhaps wait until you've had some experience then before handing out advice as though you're an expert 🙄

Only if you start hiding your face every time you see them and scurrying off .

Would the council only take action of its a registered business, registered where? Surely even if it's just one bloke who does it self employed he still has to abide by the rules, or even if he's not declaring anything

@CraftyKit - as the turnover of buying and selling these vehicles seems to be rapid, do you think they could be dealing in stolen vehicles? Maybe some have cloned registration plates?

Maybe the police are gathering information in your street?

I reported a neighbour for selling cars from their drive, it stopped within the week. You need a licence to sell cars commercially, you are allowed to sell your own vehicle. It might vary by council

I cannot add anything useful, OP other than to express my profound sympathies - I am a former victim of vile neighbours too and I can never forget that feeling of violation. My best wishes.

Some people are so selfish. They should have bought somewhere more remote with a yard?

Sounds like an awful situation. Something similar happened to us years ago. We lived on a quiet cul de sac and were on good terms with our neighbours. We had given them lots of outdoor toys for their children etc.
Houses were detached but their garage was very near to our lounge window. Our drives were next to each other with no boundary and shared access at the bottom.
Suddenly there were lots of cars coming and going at all hours blocking our drive etc. People were standing chatting loudly on our lawn under the window often looking in.
Neighbours were selling car parts and using gas bottles and welding equipment in the garage so safety concerns. Business was advertised but not registered.
Final straw was some men turning up and just walking round the back of our house. Council visited and said they’d be unlikely to get permission They moved soon afterwards.

Didn't claim to be an expert, made a mistake, so what! I've only come back to mums net yesterday after a long break and forgot how judgey it is. Bad idea. deletes account

I'm not saying that people do not weigh up motorcycles for sale online and return to steal them. What they probably do not do is also break into the house next door while they're at it. It's important to keep things in perspective.

If you yourself are selling something liftable online it's important to take precautions. I don't think that the whole street is in danger.

If you do report them and they pull you up and blame you I’d suggest you adopt a position of:
“as if I would report you, I don’t know anyone’s business, nothing to do with me, but I did wonder if that police car the other week was doing something as it hung about for a while must have been them looking for something else and saw all the cars or something”.

ie you don’t want to fall out with these unknown people who may or may not be violent. You haven’t denied it outright so not telling lies, but giving the impression it’s not you and youre their best mate…

I would hit it with everything at the same time

1. Planning as discussed
2. Trading Standards - they may be masquerading as private sellers
3. Police Untaxed vehicles
4. DVLA - ditto
5. HMRC - Income tax & VAT

https://motordesk.com/blog/legal-requirements-running-used-car-dealership-uk/

I'm pretty sure the NDN isnt a car dealership, selling a few second hand cars from your driveway does not a dealership make

But they are doing it as a business not as a private seller

It's their mates you need to worry about. We had a company come and do a quote for landscaping. After seeing the lock on our shed (a small piece of wood over a latch)....that weekend we were broken into and all the expensive racing bikes were stolen, and the new bikes of our neighbour just over the fence. Was definitely not a coincidence. Obviously crazy to have trusted them in first place.

My thinking too. They haven't even been here two weeks and there have been at least 5/6 different cars. First one l think was sold day after they moved in and another arrived the next day and was hidden behind van parked between their house and my fence which is just big enough for the van to sit in but you can't open the doors on their side because there isn't enough room, hence why my drive is there entry.
That car was taken out after the police car went next day. Then another arrived later or next then went. Thursday around 9.30/10pm loader arrives with another and that was only there a day or two then another over the weekend and was sold to the person standing on my drive almost sitting on my car taking photos, Another arrived that evening and looks like it was sold last night.
So a nice little car business.

Thank you everyone for the fence idea. Didn't really want to go down this route but have been thinking about it. Maybe not all the way down the drive but....
would it be wrong of me to extend my fence from my side gate to just past their parked van?
Would l be breaking any laws if l did this whilst the van is park there? If l did extend my fence whilst the van is parked they won't be able to get into it or move it because it is parked right up to their wall with no room their side to get in or out and l don't think they can get to the front of the van through the back doors. At the moment they can only use their front door and need to go inside to get to the back of the property because they have blocked of their side entry/exit.
Yesterday they had the van, his van parked on the gravel next to the drive, car for sale and then when she came home she had to work out how to get the front door because they were almost bumper to bumper. Meaning she had to walk partly on my drive and squeeze between van and car for sale and was only there a few minutes before doing the same to go back out again.
You couldn't make it up.

@CraftyKit unless it is a floating drive then I would fence it all the way down to the pavement!! there is no floating freehold here! as people have said, they need permission to run a business from their home!

Had to look up floating driveway 😁. My drive is concrete and their one is slabs with gravel in the middle so wide enough for a car to drive on. But as it is their drive and not mine it isn't my problem. The person who owned the house before only had one car so probably put the slabs on top of the old drive but not sure what or how he did it, Again wasn't my business so didn't need to know.
We have a drain at the bottom of our drive so could only go that far but it wouldn't give them any extra space to get in an out so not a big issue. Just sad we need to do this now.

I think I'd be inclined to arrange for fence or wall to be built, once you have a definite date for the work to be done, pop a note through their door, telling them that that's what you're doing, and warning them that they might want to leave their vehicles off of the drive on that day, to ensure that no damage is done, and that they can get in and out of their vehicles easily. If they don't do it, then it's their problem. Just to be on the safe side, I'd keep a copy of the letter in case they start some sort of action against you, this way you can prove they had notice.

Looks like they are selling vans now. They brought another transit home this afternoon and someone has just come to look at and looks like they have gone on a test drive. Parked his big car over the road with what looks like a trailer and blocking the main road so hopefully the people in that house will be annoyed.

OP, have you spoken to the authorities as previous posters have advised ?

Yes, we have reported it.
Van was sold and within 20 mins the next car arrived, guess that's tomorrows sale.