CF Neighbours threatening to complain to council over EV charger ‘hire’

[FootballMumm]

We live close to the head office of a big corporate company - thousands of employees attend across the week.

Our house is a couple of streets away, and we’ve got an EV charger. We have made this available for ‘rent’, and it’s at a far more affordable cost than the chargers at the head office. Therefore, we’ve built up over time through word of mouth etc and we usually average about 3 people using it a day.

This has been for about 3 months with no issues at all.

Yesterday, our neighbour knocked and said they are uncomfortable with the ‘comings and going’s’ and not knowing who these people are, and feel it’s cheapening the street . I pointed out they work more or less over the road in corporate roles.

They then said that they have found some of the behaviour ‘unacceptable’. I asked for examples to which they gave two:

-A man smoking whilst waiting for his charge to finish
-A woman on the phone making an ‘extreme’ sexual remark. On pressing what this was, it was basically a fouler version of ‘I’ve had a crap day and want to have sex tonight’.

I said that usually, people leave their cars and then go into work before returning either on break, lunch or at the end of the day. But said I’d keep an eye out for any untoward behaviour.

I thought this would placate them, but they said that if we don’t stop it this week then they will speak to the council to register a ‘formal complaint’.

I don’t intend to stop, and am aware we are acting perfectly legally. Is it me, or they are batshit?!

I actually think this is a great idea. I have a large driveway and quite a bit of redundancy money coming my way, if I get one of the jobs I'm waiting on then I would seriously consider installing one.
Lots of people work from home. I know hairdressers, childminders, beauty therapists etc who all run their businesses from home.
If my neighbours complained I would probably reel off all the things that annoy me about them - like when they have lots of people over and block my car in.

There is not a lot that they can do but I doubt many people would be thrilled to be fair. Hard to put into words. Unsettling. Strangers coming and going in vicinity to your home. I dunno - it just feels a bit off.

It was relayed as ‘I’ve had a shit day so you better give me a good fucking later’ - I (assume) said to her other half.

I meant no offence by the riff raff comment. For context, it’s widely known that the crime and unemployment hotspots are the two main estates in our town. I’m not sure there’s a polite way to term it to be honest - certainly not what my DH refers to them as (benefit scroungers and the dregs of society!).

Anyway, I’m ducking out now. Thanks to those who’ve replied, both in a serious and comical manner. I never knew there was so many law experts on MN! I guess that explains why the site is so awash with six figure earners.

Oh well aren't you a budding entrepreneur - pure genius!

I think you can let people charge their cars, but once you've got say three paying customers a day it stops looking like “a favour for a mate” and starts looking a lot like “an unlicensed micro‑business operating out of the driveway”.

HMRC expects any income from providing a service to be declared, even small amounts. You might fall under the £1,000 trading allowance, but you still need to keep records, and “not declaring it to anyone” isn’t really how HMRC likes to operate. Vindictive neighbours may try this route, so be careful.

Then there’s the council. Neighbours are absolutely entitled to complain if there’s increased traffic, noise, parking issues or the general sense that someone has opened a tiny Shell forecourt on a residential street. If the council decides it’s a business use rather than domestic, they can get involved.

And then I am thinking about if you have a mortgage and are in effect using your home to run a business, if you haven't declared it to your mortgage company, is that OK, I am not sure? I do think it may affect your insurance though and could invalidate your home insurance which could then affect your mortgage depending upon the terms.

Ooh and then there is your electricity provider. Domestic tariffs are priced on the assumption that the electricity is for household use. If you are effectively reselling power as a service, that can fall into “business use”, which some suppliers explicitly prohibit under domestic contracts. At the very least, they could insist you move to a business tariff, which is usually more expensive.

Sorry, not meaning to sound negative here, I think its a cool idea and this is the thought process I would go through if it was my idea before I put it into action. And sadly if I am thinking about it, you can bet your life that your disgruntled neighbours are too.

Nothing wrong with helping people out or making a bit of extra money, but three cars a day, every day, is noticeable and neighbours tend to notice things that are noticeable. I would just say you need to discreetly check all of the above and then decide if its worth it.

Personally I am now thinking about moving to an isolated house near an industrial estate and installing a bank of EV chargers!

You can let anyone use your EV unit, it's perfectly legal, however any profit/income should be declared to hmrc

Upto 3 cars a day isn't really lots though, my house can get 5 or 6 different couriers a day depending where we all order from. I think the OPs neighbours are petty, do they complain to the council if someone walks by their house whilst smoking or have a rant on a telephone call. They need to stop poking their nose in other people's business and get on with their own lives

Where did I say OP said every person? Jfc, think it through before posting mate

business rates replaces council tax so the OP would actually be better off under a business rates scheme (it’d be a zero charge for a normal residential property). However, she wouldn’t qualify because it’s primarily a residential property and renting out her EV charger doesn’t change that.

You don’t need planning permission to rent out your EV charger - it’s classed as incidental use and doesn’t change the primary purpose of the property.

I wouldn’t be too happy about this happening next door to me if I’m honest.. I suppose it depends on the set up - if you’re a big detached house with driveway then fine. If I’m your neighbour in a semi detached with shared driveway and your customers smoke is blowing in my bedroom window whilst I’m wfh, I’d be peeved.

It’s weird that everyone on this thread is piling on OP for suggesting the local estate contains riff raff, given that MN famously hate people on estates.

I think the point has sailed right over your head - if you're not suggesting the OP was referring to all people who live on estates as 'riff-raff' then where is the problem with her use of the term?

This thread is hilarious, I am most entertained by the people tripping over themselves to get angsty about business use, running a business from a domestic property (I do this, less than 1/4 of my property is used solely for business, it's fine), having people coming and going (all 3 of them!)...

@FootballMumm ask your car charging folks to stay quiet or bog off elsewhere for their phone conversations whilst their car charges. Job done. Neighbours can jog on (though this is parking-adjacent, and should really have a diagram so 1 demerit point for you).

Great thread, thanks for the giggles.

Noooo you have missed the nuance and subtlety here.

Everyone hates the scum from the sink estates.

No one is allowed to call them that though, if you are unlucky enough to live next door or indeed, amongst them, you absolutely CANNOT refer to them in a negative tone at all.

I am yet to find an appropriate descriptor for either the couple who smoke so much weed two doors down that means I am getting high right now, or the chap over the road who has a girlfriend who calls round at 4am regularly, to batter his door down and shout in the street until he comes out then they can have a stand up row and one of them slaps the other or throws a bin... (no the police don't care, yes I have called them, as have the other quiet neighbours, multiple times).

Out of interest sake how much are you making?

Sharing chargers is encouraged.

I don't recall it needs planning permission.

See what the council says but I think you'll be fine!

As somebody who has an EV charger I can tell you this - it costs me £13 to charge my car fully on a domestic charger for 12 hours. I can’t be bothered to do the maths here, but the “profit” everyone imagining here isn’t going to take you anywhere near an allowance. Plus she still needs to actually pay for this electricity.

In this day and age, I’d be more worried about some CF pulling a wire or cutting their finger or something, and suing you.

This is hands down the worst thing ive ever read on mumsnet. And there's been some bad stuff. You win. What a twat

I love how you think you’re here to educate everyone else on what people from estates are really like as if the rest of us don’t fucking know. What about all the cunts in Nice middle-class areas who are quietly abusing their wives, hurting their kids, all the rest of it. There’s shit bags everywhere, the OPs post is dripping in classist snobbery, which is what people don’t like.

Yeah, they tend to be quiet about it, so no one knows. Whilst still cunty and horrible, unlikely to upset the neighbours like the loud mouthed car revving bin throwing cunts I live near. Still missing the point... it went thattaway... if you run you might find it.

I love all the people coming on farting on about paying taxes and business rates who don’t have a clue about how this works.

I hope they all pay tax on selling things on Vinted or eBay.

Is this a reverse? Anyway, I would maybe reduce the amount you hire it out. It's never a good idea to antagonise neighbours