Mechanic working next door - please help

Mycroft H

Anna323 wrote: »

does this mean he can get planning permission and actually run this business from his front garden?

Yes, I've a family member who operates a small garage from his back garden. All good with the tax man and CC.

Anna323

oh yes I am female, I dont care about his attitude to the fact that I am female, he is a bully and he met his match!!! ahh so that means he can apply to the council and the council can approve it - but doesnt it mean he needs my approval also plus the other neighbours, who i know for a fact are against? can he actually operate a business when the neighbours do not give permission? OMG now I am scared..

Rabbo

What he is doing definitely requires planning permission and making a complaint to the local planning department should sort the issue. It is a good idea to complain to environment dept and revenue at the same time.

I would wait to see how things pan out before building the boundary wall. You can only build a front boundary wall up to 1.2m in height without planning permission so it would be foolish to build anything higher especially when the planning department will be calling to your neighbours in the near future.

Stheno

Anna323 wrote: »

oh yes I am female, I dont care about his attitude to the fact that I am female, he is a bully and he met his match!!! ahh so that means he can apply to the council and the council can approve it - but doesnt it mean he needs my approval also plus the other neighbours, who i know for a fact are against? can he actually operate a business when the neighbours do not give permission? OMG now I am scared..

No from what you have described it sounds like you live in a regular estate and he is working in his driveway

I can't imagine him getting planning at all

It a different to say my mechanic who has a half acre behind his house which is where his workshop is

greasepalm

many years ago when i was younger i would work on cars in the front of my house and always tried not to make a mess or noise ,apart from the radio and have respect for the neighbours .dont worry you will get a result,reminds me of south s*** scrapyard that had a wee fire years ago with oil everywhere.if he dumps oil onto soil or down drains as that can be a costly one for him.good luck and thumbs up to you for reporting him to all concerned.

Rabbo

In normal circumstances, it would be impossible to obtain planning permission for what the op has described. A lot of backyard garages around have been existing for more than 7 years and so the statute of limitations stops planning authorities taking action.

Anna323

thanks everyone - I will wait with regards to the boundary wall, will send on more complaints (not that I enjoy or like doing this) and see what happens.

God now I am scared he can get away with this...

What happens if he gets a warning but he still continues?

Stheno

Anna323 wrote: »

thanks everyone - I will wait with regards to the boundary wall, will send on more complaints (not that I enjoy or like doing this) and see what happens.

God now I am scared he can get away with this...

What happens if he gets a warning but he still continues?

He'll be prosecuted

Anna323

ok i am a bit more relaxed now. i shall let you know what happens over the next few weeks. we shall see if all my complaints worked.

Stheno

Anna323 wrote: »

ok i am a bit more relaxed now. i shall let you know what happens over the next few weeks. we shall see if all my complaints worked.

Good luck

Anna323

thank you. trust me I need it. now I so wish I was married with a husband that could take care of this, you have no idea. lets hope i wont let him bully me

Stheno

Anna323 wrote: »

thank you. trust me I need it. now I so wish I was married with a husband that could take care of this, you have no idea. lets hope i wont let him bully me

The worst that can happen here is that he starts harassing you.

If it does, involve the police keep a record of every incident and if necessary get a cheap cctv kit from Argos

The guards will deal with such complaints

Rabbo

I wouldn't engage with him any more. Your complaints will be anonymous so he wont know for certain that it was you that made them. Though if you have complained to him about his actions previously he will obviously suspect you.

The complaint to Revenue may be very damaging to him if he is not declaring income so, if you want to avoid significant conflict with him, it might be a good idea to hold off on contacting them until you see how the council complaints pan out first.

kippy

porsche boy wrote: »

No, Your initial statement was wrong. I agree with you that this guy seems to be breaking laws but with the right set up it is perfectly legal to operate a business from your house including a garage.

I dont disagree. However from the first post here its obvious there is nothing legal about this. Id also suggest that operating a garage from a house in an ESTATE is completely different in a lot of terms than operating a garage from a house which is further from neighbours etc.

athtrasna

Rabbo wrote: »

The complaint to Revenue may be very damaging to him if he is not declaring income so, if you want to avoid significant conflict with him, it might be a good idea to hold off on contacting them until you see how the council complaints pan out first.

How is it a good idea to hold off when this guy is clearly defrauding the State? These cars have no tax, insurance or NCT, who knows if they're actually legally owned? A complaint to Revenue is going to be every bit as anonymous as a complaint to the Council.

James 007

If it was me I would talk to all the neighbours one by one, and agree to put all their spare cars in the cul-de-sac, as he sells each of his cars. Eventually he will have no where to take in the cars. Do this for a month, let the neighbours sacrifice their 2nd cars for this period and see how it will affect his business then. I'm sure then he will get the picture. Do the other neighbours mind at all. It seems to me that you estate needs to rally against this kind of setup and it needs to be made know to him.

Stheno

James 007 wrote: »

If it was me I would talk to all the neighbours one by one, and agree to put all their spare cars in the cul-de-sac, as he sells each of his cars. Eventually he will have no where to take in the cars. Do this for a month, let the neighbours sacrifice their 2nd cars for this period and see how it will affect his business then. I'm sure then he will get the picture. Do the other neighbours mind at all. It seems to me that you estate needs to rally against this kind of setup and it needs to be made know to him.

Agreed involving the rest of the estate will help

Rabbo

athtrasna wrote: »

How is it a good idea to hold off when this guy is clearly defrauding the State? These cars have no tax, insurance or NCT, who knows if they're actually legally owned? A complaint to Revenue is going to be every bit as anonymous as a complaint to the Council.

The OP seems to be a female living alone and is anxious about the repercussions. My point was that if she wants to minimise the risk of serious conflict with him, it might be worth considering withholding from complaining to Revenue. The complaints to the council should be sufficient to shut him down. Trouble with Revenue is a whole other ballgame and could lead to additional unnecessary trouble from an obvious bully.

coolbeans

porsche boy wrote: »

Wrong. It is perfectly acceptable to operate a number of businesses from your home. While health and safety does come into it, it wouldn't be the biggest hurdle to overcome. There are many mechanics working from home who operate within all applicable laws including vat.

As it happens this guy seems not to have an actual 'location' of business as he works in his driveway so there would be issues alright. The EPA would have issue with oil/waste disposal but if you store waste oils etc correctly and bring them to your local dump for correct disposal then there isn't an issue. Also if he has a separate bin for industrial waste that gets collected separately then again this is not an issue but from what I'm seeing from the OP this is not the case.

You're haven't really been correct in this thread as you're doing too much simplifying while being short on specifics. As a senior planning officer / consultant I've a fair amount of experience dealins with Change of Use. Prima facie you don't need planning permission to run a business from your home. A good example would be an IT consultant beavering away @ his PC all day doing his techy thing happy as a pig in the proverbial and not bothering the neighbours. The reason he is not bothering anybody is due to the nature and scale of the activity ie. he doesn't have customers coming to the door in any meaningful numbers taking up parking spots and depriving neighbours from the lawful residential enjoyment of their properties. Similarly there are no noise or environmental impacts and the appearance of the residential area is not being compromised, the residential appearance of the place being a planning consideration in itself .
A mechanic tooling in a residential area is likely gonna be a nuisance as demonstrated by the OP. This guy would need permission because he, through the unlawful use of the residence, is creating negative impacts on neighbouring residential amenity.
In case law it boils down to the "fact and the degree" of the activity in question and the resultant negative impacts, if any, occurring arising from the running of the business.

In summary ~ IT guy/ beautician etc no real harmful impacts therefore no need for planning permission
Mechanic needs permission because of the potential for very real negative Impacts.

maireadH

I haven't read all the posts but when we had a problem with a neighbour running a business out of his home, the planning department took him to court as the business was interfering with the neighbours. He'd have been ok if he just had a home office with no customers etc but he was manufacturing stuff. It took about 2 years but the council sorted it. I'd definitely report to revenue and social welfare on the chance that he's scamming one or the other. They would be quicker than planning.

Anna323

Ah the complaint to the council was made and so the social welfare. Now its the Revenue next. This has been going on for over 18 months. His business is thriving!

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

Posters are correct about cars not legally allowed on a public road without valid tax / nct and insurance displayed

But these are issues for the owners of the car, not the person in question unfortunately

on the other hand if the person in question was caught driving a vehicle without these items then it would be an issue for him.

highly1111

Just wanted to wish you luck OP. sounds like an awful situation. He seems like a right obnoxious b*****d. Let us know how you get on. And do report the situation regarding his wife.

James esq

All neighbours have 2 things in common - they come and they go. If you do not do anything about this he will gain a right to do what he is doing. 3 things that you have to do - ring the clampers next time a car is parked on the pavement, ring planning and make a complaint, ring litter warden in stuff is left in the front garden, your residence association can do all the dirty work for you so you don't have to put your name to anything. You have to realise that you are in a fight, no one is going to say sure ok I will give up my livelihood.

coolbeans

One more thing OP. Planning enforcement is a bit slow at times. I would not therefore hesitate to use the other avenues already outlined in addition to a complaint to the planning dept. The guy seems to be a wart on the arse of humanity so I wouldn't hesitate to take a "multi-pronged" approach to dealing with him. That's easy for me to say though as I'm a big guy. Be sensible and don't put yourself in danger during the process .

Good luck.

the_syco

Stheno wrote: »

That might be an option true. Didn't think of that. Do e.g doctors who run surgeries from their houses need to do this too?

As well as having to have a sign saying that you're running a business from your home, you must also be allowed to run a business from your house; some estates forbid it.

Anna323 wrote: »

no tax, no insurance and no NCT.

Hrm. I wonder would the Gardai and/or traffic warden have fun fining all of his customers? If word got around that his customers were getting fined, his customer base may dry up

kippy

James esq wrote: »

All neighbours have 2 things in common - they come and they go. If you do not do anything about this he will gain a right to do what he is doing. 3 things that you have to do - ring the clampers next time a car is parked on the pavement, ring planning and make a complaint, ring litter warden in stuff is left in the front garden, your residence association can do all the dirty work for you so you don't have to put your name to anything. You have to realise that you are in a fight, no one is going to say sure ok I will give up my livelihood.

He doesnt 'gain a right' to do anything.....no matter the time period.

Anna323

I shall make the other complaints today. Thanks for all your help.

Ging Ging

How is he disposing of his waste engine oil? If its a black market garage it may not have the required waste licence for this and used cars parts. Not sure if this would be issued by the EPA or council.

Anna323

well with reagrds to the parts from the cars, he just leaves them in the front garden for ages and ages, on Sat I had to remove stuff that started moving into my front garden. Gotr annoyed and pushed it back into his.

the next complaint is with the Revenue, as his business is indeed thriving...he is making a good wage since he has 10 cars waiting to get repaired.

at least I dont feel so powerless anymore.