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?!

Wrong forum, OP. As soon as you declare you are earning 6 quid extra a day for a clever idea, the jealousy and pursed lips are set to come out. This country does not like any type of success before they start shouting out “Have you reported it to HMRC”?🤣😆

I get your point but the rest still applies whether she makes a big profit or not, if its minimal it only eliminates tax for HMRC, it may not eliminate the fact its perceived as a business.

But that does raise the point that if she has 3 users a day, they must only be topping up and domestic chargers are only 7KW? And 3 x 12 hours does not fit into 24hrs!

I'm not saying I'm right about it, just that this would be my thought process of what I need to consider and if I think like that, her neighbours may too so she should check before they do.

Would this actually be legal and would it have any effect on mortgage insurance council tax?

Yeah, the OP wishes she was on business rates, she’d save herself a couple of grand a year!

If OP's business is causing a nuisance to her neighbours they have a right to complain. Nothihg to do with jealousy.

The misinformation on here 😂

I don’t think it’s the neighbours that are being CFs in this scenario. What if everyone on the street did this? It would be like wacky races.

“Smoking outside and foul language” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I really wonder how some people get through life. Deary me.

The neighbour should mind their own business frankly

Oh they totally wouldn’t be getting a full charge out of this. And as an EV driver I would not be happy to pay more than a few bob for this either, so there’s definitely no profits being made. OP hasn’t disclosed how she does it (wasn’t really the point of the thread) but it’s very likely the electricity provider’s scheme which gives you a bit off your bill every month, it’s not a formal business set up.

If she is doing this independently, she’s definitely making less per day than a lady up the road charges for a full set of lashes in her front room.

Do people really think that earning money from home means you have to register with someone and pay business rates? You really think all those piano teachers, Etsy sellers, Avon party people, day traders, etc. need to register and pay business rates?

Do you think you live in some sort of Kafkaesque fantasy world where people have to log any tiny deviation from a "norm" that few people actually live?

They can complain whether she's causing a nuisance or not. But there is no one for them to complain to. You can run a business from your home without needing anyone's permission. You can rent out a charger without there being any official paperwork to file. You can even earn a grand a year without having to mention it to HMRC (and if you earn over that registering for self assessment and declaring the income is not a big a deal, either).

This is a scheme run by the electricity companies. HMRC are not interested that you are getting a discount on your bill by letting people use your charger. Neither are the council planning department. It’s not a business.

So, to use your delightful expression, "riff raff"

More nonsense 🙄

The amount of clueless posters banging on about business rates and HMRC is hilarious 😂

Crikey, and here was me losing sleep about whether I accidentally made £1,000 by selling my used crap on eBay and marketplace 😂

From experience, you are probably breaking your terms of your mortgage, house insurance and car insurance if you haven't declared what you are doing - so taking on a fair bit of risk. Mortgage - risk in terms of property damage not related to family usage and on iffy grounds whether operating a business or not. House insurance - basically same as previous, including an additional risk of fire as you don't know the condition of random cars linking up to your charger. Car insurance - your letting others use your drive, usually restricted to family use if you have stated your car stays on your drive.

In addition, if your planning to sell you home in the near future and your neighbour makes a relevant complaint, which you have to disclose on your sellers pack legally - this may impact your property price.

Whether or not I would be bothered depends on where you live, detached house with a bit of space around it, I wouldn't feel it - terraced, semi estate house type where randoms can look in my windows while waiting for charging - yep would peeve me off.

HMRC will come after this eventually and may tax retrospectively as easy to trace, a no brainer as they will be losing fuel / road tax duty because people are reducing cars per household and mileage - so will look at ways to claw back revenue.

Same goes for those renting out parking spaces.

The existence of an app doesn’t mean that running a business in a residential area without a permit is legal. These gig economy type sites often just decide to start operating and then wait for local governments to have to deal with the regulatory issues. Since they can launch at large geographic scale just as easily as in one location, there is no incentive to worry about a few local challenges. This is how Airbnb snuck in and ruined entire communities.

If you run a business from home you are wise to keep it away from the eyes of whinging snitching neighbours. I run several onlune shops and also do private tutoring. However all these activities take place online and are therefore invisible to my neighbours. On the rare occasions I have business visitors there is nothing to indicate they are not mererly friends and acquaintances.

The problem with OPs activities are that they are public and visible and have caused some annoyance to their whinging neighbour. One of the important factors about running a business from home is not to cause extra traffic by way of deliveries etc or a nuisance to neighbours.

Surely a sensible thing would be to add terms and conditions of usage, and a sign. Like some other premises do, such as please respect our neighbours who include elderly and childten and keep noise to a minimum, no smoking on the property. No litter.

So according to people on here the OP is not doing anything wrong so why would it matter who the neighbours report it too?

Yes, quite. That comment flew under the radar for a few posts.

Perhaps something to think about, anyway OP?

they are not on anyones drive other than hers, anyones language could cause this one offense by the sounds of it - but if its just off the street then I don't think she can do anything about it unless its directed at children, as to not comfortable with xyz well frankly tough. You can hire your driveway out for parking if not charging.

I would give the council a call and explain you have had whinging Edna around and check with them all above board - this then means they feedback to her all above board.

As to the " its a business brigade" good grief give it a break - she already mentions she checked and its all above board and 3 cars a day is hardly hoards with vans - people getting dpd deliveries have more visits sometimes

but if its just off the street then I don't think she can do anything about it

She could if she wanted to. She could remind her customers that this is a residential area and could they behave in a way that doesn't cause disturbance or inconvenience to neighbours. But she won't.