Reply to: Need a sub £200 car…..

[miffy]

How are you going to answer the "do you get on with the neighbours" question from potential buyers?

How are you going to sell your house with all these vans and chit parked outside?

I remember when I sold my last house. You have to be truthful about your answer or it will come back and haunt you.

[HRH]

The neighbour opposite me has built an extension on his driveway, so ability to house 4 cars now down to zilch.

He regularly parks one of his two cars or van on the road on both sides right up to my drive blocking my driveway. Not cool. He also has a lodger with a transit and a clapped out escort, plus his mother, meaning 7 cars and vans littering the street.

Hence I need to get myself a banger to plonk on the road. Nothing I want to tax, insure and all of that, just to park on the road three foot from the end of my drive so I can ensure it is not blocked by a large van, and I have space to swing the car out onto the road.

Got me thinking – as I have a limited company, any tax benefits in getting something like a knackered fiesta van or astramax diesel 2 seater effort, or as I am well to go to the auctions for the cheapest tat going?

clearly you do not live in Wilmslow then.

[Archangel]

Well, here is an update…..

snip

I live in a semi, there is a 2 bed detached in a modern estate a mile away in an oka area for £10K less than mine is worth – will cover the stamp duty nicely.

How are you going to answer the "do you get on with the neighbours" question from potential buyers?

How are you going to sell your house with all these vans and chit parked outside?

[Ardesco]

The garage is a standalone building outside

Which is how far away from your house?

[miffy]

The garage is a standalone building outside

Sorted then. Put all your household electricals in there!

Don't forget the smoke alarm

[Wilmslow]

Excellent work, a new laugh every day.... Obviously a fire in the garage is not nearly as worrying as a fire in your house, I mean the garage burning down wouldn't cause the house to light up as well would it

Not to mention the chance of a PC spontaneously combusting??? I hope you unplug all electrical items in your house, like the TV, microwaves, dvd player, etc every night before going to sleep....

The garage is a standalone building outside

[Ardesco]

May even get it up and running in the garage to be honest - don't like the risk of fire with a PC left on in the house, but happy for this to be in the garage. cheers for the advice!

Excellent work, a new laugh every day.... Obviously a fire in the garage is not nearly as worrying as a fire in your house, I mean the garage burning down wouldn't cause the house to light up as well would it

Not to mention the chance of a PC spontaneously combusting??? I hope you unplug all electrical items in your house, like the TV, microwaves, dvd player, etc every night before going to sleep....

[tay]

Interesting times lie ahead!

indeed.....

[Wilmslow]

Well, here is an update…..

Neighbour opposite me beat me to it with camera – he has a camera outside his house which is pointing in the direction of my house. Hence, in addition to being concerned for my personal safety (he said he was going to kick my f-ing head in, and has a history of violence) he is now invading my privacy.

I was going to get a CCTV on my drive – however, to have one facing my house it outrageous.

They are now parking irrationally again, hence informed the police – all they seem to do though is have a chat, things settle, then flare up again, hence not any use!

I live in a semi, there is a 2 bed detached in a modern estate a mile away in an oka area for £10K less than mine is worth – will cover the stamp duty nicely.

Going to see it tonight.

Plan B – contacted my local counsellor, also got 2 eminent people involved with meeting the counsellor – the former counsellor and a mate of his who is the local Red Cross ambulance guy.

Interesting times lie ahead!

[Wilmslow]

Why did you not challenge the planning permission on the basis of loss of parking spaces? I had a similar scenario with my neighbours who wanted to extend and challenged anonymously on the basis that car parking spaces would be lost which would cause chaos. The council then made them agree to converting an area of their frontage into an extra parking spaces.
It seems to me that you have brought this problem upon yourself.

I did challenge - they made them create 3 spaces out of thin air at the front of the house.

They don't have to use them though.

They are still building (over a year later) and not got round to buiilding the spaces as yet choosing to use the road over the last year instead.

[miffy]

Have a look but I'm pretty sure you can get some software which only starts recording once there is movement sensed etc..

Pretty tulip you have to resort to doing this, but it's worth it if the situation has got to the point of threats etc. Could prove invaluable if things did go the next step etc.

I read a lot on this topic about a year ago with a colleague from work. The bottom line is you need to have continuous recording, ideally with timestamps (not recording upon detection) and the video evidence needs to be of sufficient quality to be able to identify them without any doubt.

Most cheapo cameras aren't up to the job and are therefore useless as evidence in court.

Have a google around and see for yourself. You need to spend a fair few quid on quality cameras with the correct lenses and a quaility video capture card or you're wasting your time really.

[Cyberman]

Exactly my point. It is not a chav area, but chavs have moved into the house opposite - the house owner chav has changed from a nice 2 bed semi to a 5 bedroom semi from building on his driveway to sub-let to other chavs.

Nice.

I need a hitman......

Why did you not challenge the planning permission on the basis of loss of parking spaces? I had a similar scenario with my neighbours who wanted to extend and challenged anonymously on the basis that car parking spaces would be lost which would cause chaos. The council then made them agree to converting an area of their frontage into an extra parking spaces.
It seems to me that you have brought this problem upon yourself.

[chris79]

Done that now - bought a wireless one to PC for just £35. Got an old Siemens P4 desktop that I have decomisisoned for my laptop, so will jack that up and running again.

Just need to work out how to get the camera feed on a continuous record, and overwrite after a couple of days or so to avoid filling up the hard drive in no time!

May even get it up and running in the garage to be honest - don't like the risk of fire with a PC left on in the house, but happy for this to be in the garage. cheers for the advice!

Have a look but I'm pretty sure you can get some software which only starts recording once there is movement sensed etc..

Pretty tulip you have to resort to doing this, but it's worth it if the situation has got to the point of threats etc. Could prove invaluable if things did go the next step etc.

[Wilmslow]

Personally I would invest in some cheap CCTV and put it up out of sight.. you can get wireless ones with infrared night vision etc pretty cheap on ebay.. just leave it recording to your computer 24/7? Might come in very handy...

Also the threats, surely the Police should be taking action over this kind of behavior?

Totally sympathise with your position here, but stick to your guns and don't confront it directly, keep to the authorities it's their job to resolve this.

Done that now - bought a wireless one to PC for just £35. Got an old Siemens P4 desktop that I have decomisisoned for my laptop, so will jack that up and running again.

Just need to work out how to get the camera feed on a continuous record, and overwrite after a couple of days or so to avoid filling up the hard drive in no time!

May even get it up and running in the garage to be honest - don't like the risk of fire with a PC left on in the house, but happy for this to be in the garage. cheers for the advice!

[where did my id go?]

Then it sounds like you have reasonable grounds to make a complaint to the council planners just for that - check their website you should be able to find the original application online if it was recent and there will be some FAQs somewhere on how to lodge a complaint. It may not achieve anything ultimately, but the council will have to investigate and respond.

Yep. Read the planning guidance, some is national and some is council specific, lots of crappy stuff to read but worth it. You will not be able to appeal, but you can make a formal complaint that the council are not following their own rules.
Two things that jump out are building forward of the existing building front and reduction of amenity space (building on the garden). Both of those would kill an application round here.