AIBU about neighbours Electric Vehicle?

[Sparklebutt321]

My downstairs neighbour has just bought a big electric van and keeps charging it overnight. He keeps parking it right beneath our balcony on the grass verge flush to his balcony. I am worried someone can now climb on top of it and get onto our balcony/inside our flat (we don't live in a nice area). It also just feels a bit weird and intrusive having to stare at a big white van so close when we are using the balcony, like he's claimed that public space (that I have often thought could be planted up!).

I'm also a bit worried about fire as this neighbour is a bit reckless, he drinks a lot and he smokes. If a fire spread from their kitchen to the EV then we couldn't use the balcony as a fire escape if needed. Do I say something or wait for the council/parking inspectors to notice? It's very bad parking (I'm guessing illegal) and looks really outlandish but I want him to be able to charge his van somewhere! He's retired and it's not a work van.

Could you do a diagram?

Who owns the land he is parking on? Council? Freeholder?
Contact them to complain.

Is the grass roadside verge (so effectively 'pavement')?
Or is it a public area for the flats?

If it is the first, I would photograph it, with the reg no clearly visible and send it tio the Council parking team/police. We can do this for our Council via the Love Clean Streets app.

If it is the second, send the photos to the management company for the flats and/or the landlord.

Is there a reason he can't park it under his balcony? Is he using a proper wall charger or running the cable to an indoors 3 pin socket?

I guess your balcony's locking/security should be as good as any external door.

Hi, OP -

The laws around this have become rather strict. You can start by googling them and making sure your neighbour is following them. Eg he needs a proper EV charger and written permission from the landlord or similar.

The regs around verges and cabling are a bit wordy, so you should read up on them.

If neighbour has missed out some steps, you can start by reporting him to the council. Photos would be a good idea.

The council own the flats although some of them are privately rented due to right to buy. The council definitely own and manage them. There are no pavements on this part of the estate so most people use the grass verges to stand on to let people's car pass then continue walking on the road afterwards. There are car parking spaces too.

if he is parking legally, nothing you can do about it

if he is parking illegally, follow the local rules for reporting illegal parking.

His balcony is on the ground floor and he's using a 3 pin socket to charge it from his flat.

Seeing as he is the "downstairs" neighbour, I think the view from his entire front window is obscured by his own van. I don't think he has a balcony. (ETA I see that he has a terrace - I'm sure it's only a balcony if it's on an upper floor, but could be corrected).

OP, I suspect he didn't think this would affect you, so try talking to him. I don't know if the fire risk is real or if that's just you overthinking it and trying to come up with reasons to be annoyed at your drinking, smoking neighbour.

If you'd actually planted the area up (instead of just thinking about it) I doubt he'd have thought parking there was an option.u

Honestly I don't drive so I'm not completely sure but I do know it looks extremely odd and there are double yellow lines around the grass verges.

So it's not part of the public highway, but is Council owned. And is not a parking space.
Is the owner in the ground floor flat, or first floor - you say he is parked under your balcony, next to his? So his he parking directly outside some one else's property?

In any case it sounds like you need to take photos and send them to the Council housing people and the estate manager.

The yellow lines are to stop people parking in the road.

I don't think anyone sensible would think that they meant it was OK to park on the grass if it isn't a designated parking area!

Definitely illegal. Report to council via email, with a photo showing the lead going into his flat.

parking on a double yellow is illegal

charging an EV on a 3 pin socket out of the window onto a public road is illegal

take photos and report to the council

parking in the road with double yellows is illegal. This bloke is parking on the grass, not the public road - which is obviously dodgy, but not because of the yellow lines

How do you even charge a vehicle without a proper charging port? I didn't know you could just do it with a normal plug.

You can. It’s slow.

Yes, we do this at the moment.

Is it very expensive to do it this way?
And is it safe ( overloading sockets etc? )

I know zero about electric vehicles, only that PILs have one, but had to have a proper charging point outside the house.

They didn’t have to, they chose to because it’s quicker and therefore easier.

When there are double yellow lines the area in which parking is forbidden extends from the carriageway across the pavement and grass verges all the way to the public highway boundary (fence, wall, or property line).

FIL has a car on the disability thingy… I got the impression, rightly or wrongly, that they had to have a correct outside charger..?? There’s rules attached to the disability cars like mileage, services etc, I sure he said that the charging port was part of it.
I could be mistaken?

Does he have a history of starting fires due to his drinking and smoking? If not, your second paragraph seems quite a reach, OP!

It is possible to charge on a three pin plug but he needs to use a thick enough, long enough cable, and not just a normal extension cable with the charge plug attached.