Right. The house in the corner of our culdesac appears to have been taken over by a bunch of entrepreneurs. They appear to run a number of businesses
out of this property including sandwich vans and an ironing service. As such, the street is typically littered with between 3 and 4 of their vehicles
(parked on street not on drive)
Annoying but not enough to go ballistic about, but does raise an interesting question.
As they're running an ironing service, lights appear to be on in their house pretty much 24x7 and according to the people that live next door to
it, noise comes through at all hours (modern house, thin walls)
Are there typically any laws that prevent a domestic property from being used in this way?
i think, as long as their mortgage company and their house insurance know its ok. on my street, we have an online bookshop, a landscape gardener, a
violin music teacher, a plumber, and a music producer (does sort of background music for tv i think)
there's only 13 houses on the street!
thats as much as i know from working for a mortgage lender for 4 years anyway. don't know if theres any council implications
[Edited on 16/3/10 by blakep82]
yes, domestic property is for living in. you can get away with small scale industry as long as it has no detrimantal effect on the surrounding
domestic properties.
if they are operating a round the clock business that has a negative effect on the neighbours then they must apply for and be granted a change of use
permit, which the neighbours have the right to object to on several statutary grounds.
i know this as i tried to get a change of use permit to operate as a B&B but the local authority turned down my application on the grounds of
limited parking.
quote:
Originally posted by skinned knuckles
yes, domestic property is for living in. you can get away with small scale industry as long as it has no detrimantal effect on the surrounding domestic properties.
if they are operating a round the clock business that has a negative effect on the neighbours then they must apply for and be granted a change of use permit, which the neighbours have the right to object to on several statutary grounds.
i know this as i tried to get a change of use permit to operate as a B&B but the local authority turned down my application on the grounds of limited parking.
google is also about a quarter mile out on tesco's greenock petrol station.
anyway, might be able to put some sort of complaint in against the noise with the council if it really affects you, and if the council aren't
happy with it, they might take it further. but weigh up the pro/cons with that, and upsetting the neigbours and causing arguements with the, for
example
sounds like its being used mainly as a business premesis than a house to me.
do you know if the business is registered with company house?
There may be something in the deeds about it.
At my Grandmas house they were banned from running a business there and it's was in here deeds.
Might be worth looking into.
Cheers,
James
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
google is also about a quarter mile out on tesco's greenock petrol station.
anyway, might be able to put some sort of complaint in against the noise with the council if it really affects you, and if the council aren't happy with it, they might take it further. but weigh up the pro/cons with that, and upsetting the neigbours and causing arguements with the, for example
Just to top it off, I've just taken a roam around the streets and found pictures of my partner's mother's funeral...
Easy way to find out what's allowed: phone the city and ask the planning department. Different rules for different municipalities.
If their vehicles are legal, they can park legally where they want, even infront of your drive
Call the local council and make a complaint about the noise. They're likely to be contravening a few laws there - i bet they are paying council
tax rather than business rates for starters.
Kick up a fuss and see what happens. You never know - they may just move on rather than pay up.
Everybody in my cul de sac is in dispute with the guy who lives in the first house because of his totally over the top christmas lights display
which has made life misery for everybody because it is attracting 200 to 400 cars per night into a tiny cul de sac even in the worst weather
conditions we have suffered this winter. He is trying to use his home to generate publicity for his his business ventures selling and installing
christmas lights.
To give you an idea of the size of the problem -- by his count he 45,000 lights in his tiny front garden and has courted maximum publicity (see
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/multimedia/2009/12/15/scots-house-with-45-000-christmas-lights-86908-21898824/ )
To make matter worse he has publicly stated more than once he plans to increase the display in his exact words "expotentially to well over
65,000 lights next year".
We have explored every avenue with the local council and police, and lawyers , including ASBOs, planning (he has a a 22 foot high tower in his front
garden), light polution, light nusciance. We found what help you get from the local council depends a great deal on the attitude of both those
dealing directly with the matter and the head of department. Because of the current round local goverment cut backs getting departments to act has
been difficult than normal. It helped greatly to get the assistance of a local councilor, and we are increasingly confident we have the guy nailed
for next year.
If we had failed to get help from the council we would have had to resort to seeking an interdict and bearing the cost among ourselves.
Study the conditions in your own title needs it may hold restrictions on use that may give you something to fight with.
It pays to research online the individuals concerned, for example you may well find a string of failed business ventures or have a very bad credit
rating. Knowledge of their financial situation could be useful if you need seek and interdict/injunction against them, as using such a measure can be
expensive if the individual has finacial resources to fight the action.
[Edited on 16/3/10 by britishtrident]
Actually, I don't think you are allowed to park on the public highway for more than 2 hours (but this rule is not normally applied. If it was
we'd have nice empty streets in the cities). Wasn't that rule used by the police to move on the tankers that were blocading the refiineries
during the fuel price protests a couple of years ago?
Hugh
you can't block a dropped kerb either - that's for access. a normal height kerb can be parked in front of.
Hmmmmmmm yeh!! Ironing service my ass.
Have you noticed many men going in looking nervous and coming out looking happy and broke
check the deeds as many have restrictions on business vehicles such as vans being parked in the area
Indeed, most modern estates (and it sounds like it is from the OP) have quite a few restrictive covenants.
On my property deeds I'm forbidden to go about the business of a dairyman
quote:
Originally posted by Liam
On my property deeds I'm forbidden to go about the business of a dairyman
quote:
Originally posted by clanger
If their vehicles are legal, they can park legally where they want, even infront of your drive
It's true most tenancies have restrictive covenances. My house has a well strict covenance. I can put out washing to dry on a Monday and Tuesday
from 9 until 6 but only until 1.30pm on a Wednesday and Thursday. Very wierd. And I can't keep bees.
The Scottish bloke with the lights needs to learn the meaning of exponential. If he's got 45,000 bulbs he would increase them to 65,000 in a very
short period of time indeed if he was increasing them exponentially..... Doh.
g/f deeds stop her from storing a boat on top of her garage - scary bit is her garage is integrated into the house!!!!!
previous g/f wasn't allowed to mine for sand in her garden.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeR
you can't block a dropped kerb either - that's for access. a normal height kerb can be parked in front of.
Well, the law on this topic is enough to fill an entire book (and does - I've got one in front of me now) but essentially:
1. If it's a leasehold property there may be covenants in the lease preventing business use, but they can only be enforced by the
lessor/freeholder, who probably won't be bothered.
2. If it's a freehold property it may be subject to restrictive covenants. The question then is who is entitled to enforce those covenants,
which is not a simple question. In any event, enforcing them would mean taking the occupiers of the property to court, since it's a civil
matter.
3. Unless planning permission for business use has been granted (i.e. a change of use application has been made) then using a property built for
residential purposes for principally business use is a breach of planning laws. These can only be enforced by the local authority. Some do, some
don't, it depends.
Oh, and it 'covenants', not 'covenances', l'il bro'...