Workshops and Neighbours

Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a business from home. I suspect that my neighbours (the ones with the noisy dog mentioned before) have made the complaint, as we recently informed them that they were in breach of the Party Wall Act with respect to the extension they are building, which didn't go down too well.
The good news is that the planning officer (very pleasant lady btw) happily confirmed that having a phone, desk, computer, and fax machine is perfectly ok as she could see from our website that this is just a local sales office, with the factory and toolroom being 25 miles up the road in Clacton, so the complaint has been closed almost as soon as it was opened. Having a lathe & mill in the garage for hobby use is no problem either apparently.
I suspect that the next avenue of tit-for-tat complaints from them will be excessive noise (although there isn't) when the machines are being run. Has anyone else had problems with neighbours complaining about their hobby workshop, from noise or other activities?
Peter

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Of course, if they have a neighbour dispute, then legally they are required to tell any prospective buyer about it should they decide to sell...

Peter Neill wrote:
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We have a file with most council departments relating to 'anonymous' complaints, but since half the people down the road work from home, those sorts of complaint get ignored at source :)
The last visit was about not having planning permission for our swimming pool, which the planning office had already confirmed was not required but asked if she could come out and take some pictures fro training purposes to show 'permitted development'. Now I just need the poxy 30 year old ex Christmas tree to die so I don't have to keep clearing the filter and covers of pine needles - and can get the fence to stand upright on the boundary :(
While I would like to paint the end wall of the extension, I'm not allowed on my neighbours land even for maintenance purpose, so we assembled the gutter and fascia on the ground and installed it from above, then finished the end roof working from above. AH - multimaps takeover by M$ does have some benefits - http://www.multimap.com/maps/?&t=l&mapT.2922561503807,-4.32150991458675 |15|4&loc=IM:54.2922561503807:-4.32150991458675:15#mapR.04903,-1.85728|20|32&loc=GB:52.04869:-1.85691:16|wr12%207ep|WR12%207EP I can even see the car out the front :)

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In our experience, most neighbours make more noise than anything we do. The doors to the workshop are pretty solid, the walls are bl**dy thick and the windows are double-glazed, so not a lot, if any noise leaks out.
On a summers day the door might be open the I 'might' be drilling on the Progress 3A by the door, but the neighbour's dog or kids always drown that out!
We did get planning consent originally in 1986 for battery assembly, although it never happened that way....
Peter -- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel http://www.stationary-engine.co.uk http://www.oldengine.co.uk

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Slightly OT. I was once shopped to the tax man by a disgruntled ex-partner in my model railway etching business. (He had been fiddling the books so I tipped him out). The tax man had a look at my books, and turned out to be a model railway enthusiast himself. The bottom line was a letter saying he regarded my business as a 'hobby' and provided my actual profit did not exceed a particular figure (quite high) he was disregarding it, as he was sure I could produce 'expenses' sufficient to wipe out most of the positive cash flow which I had. There is always someone out to wreck your life if they can. I still have that letter in my files somewhere after 22 years in the 'hobby' business.
Alistair Wright

I do not have a workshop I have a shed. If you tell anyone you have a workshop you asking for trouble. If you have a workshop to some people you are in business.
Find the letter from the tax man and burn it. Things have changed in the last 25 years. If you make a profit you pay tax, and the more profit the more tax. Been there done that and had to pay accountants.
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Absolutely! But my tax man quizzed me about how much I might claim against my positive cash flow. He pointed out I could charge for a room in my house, car and subsistence expenses going to exhibitions, drawing materials, books, and copying costs etc, etc. He totted up his guess for these figures and compared it with my so called undeclared profit. He then said it wasn't worth their while claiming tax on what was left.
It was bit like the time I got made redundant when the firm I worked for went for went belly up in 1972 as so many small Midland outfits did in the wake of the R-R collapse. 620 skilled engineers and graduates arrived on the local jobs market all on one day. I was retained by the Receiver to complete some drawings, working as a contract draughtsman. This was kind of ironic, as I had been trained by R-R as a designer! I was paid in cash every Friday. Six weeks of this before I found a new job in my substantive rank of Chief Engineer. As a draffy I had earned 'gross' about the same amount as if I was still in my old job. I didn't pay tax during this spell (though I was stamping my cards) and when I rang the tax office to find out how much I owed, they asked me my name. My name begins with a 'W'. Oh, he said "W, - we'll never get to you - forget it!" I suppose it was some compensation for the month's notice I was owed.
I have always found my local tax man very friendly if you come clean at the outset.
Alistair W

Peter, Any chance of a bit of that No 2 plastic to make machineable wax out of ? Got some big candles from Ikea last night for 50p each, far less than bulk paraffin wax
Harrogate show in just over a week so go to get some blanks made up. -- Regards,
John Stevenson Nottingham, England.
Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:- http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk /

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:44:57 GMT, John Stevenson
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Oops sorry should have been email to Peter -- Regards,
John Stevenson Nottingham, England.
Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:- http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk /

John Stevenson wrote:
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What's the No 2 plastic?
-- Peter Fairbrother

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It's the recyclable number on the plastic. 1 is PET, plastic bottles, 2 is LDPE Low density etc. 3, dunno and 4 is HDPE high density etc.
No 2 is some plastic sheeting, bubble wrap etc when mixed with paraffin wax in a 75% to 25% LDPE and allowed to set it makes a form of machinable wax.
Our's wasn't too bad, not as good as the professional gear but the candles were a bit spurious as they were in two parts, a flaky outer and a hard inner.
Did the job though at the show but won't bother again, now we are stup with enclosures and coolant it's as cheap to cut steel.
John S.

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:21:11 +0100, Peter Neill
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Had a very slight problem with one of the neighbours sons a while ago when scrap prices were low. He decided he was going into the used car game and collecting MOT failures to repair.
Problem was we started getting out of MOT and out of tax cars parked all along the road.
Telling said plonker didn't do anything and plod wasn't interested.
Thinks came to a head when he 1/2 blocked the driveway and I couldn't get the truck out early one morning.
Just managed to squeeze it tighter on the drive and got the fork truck out. Picked the offending car up and stacked it on top of another one outside his house.
No more problems after that.
Have you tried signing them up to readers digest ?
Do your houses have the square BT box on the front of each house like some of the newer housing estates ? If so they bring a multi core cable into the end box and loop it box to box.
First box uses two cables, next box uses two different ones etc, etc.
Nip out one night and pull the cover off their box and note the colour's, next time they go away for a couple of days connect a spare phone to those colour's in your box then ring the talking clock in Australia and leave the phone off the hook.............
If they have external electric meter pull the mains fuse when they go away for a week and put it back just before they return, no one ever checks the seal.
I know a couple of better ones for if they really piss you off........ -- Regards,
John Stevenson Nottingham, England.
Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:- http://www.homeworkshop.org.uk /

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ROFL! Always wanted to be able do that!

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:58:57 GMT, John Stevenson
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Next time, you could at least do the decent thing & sell tickets in advance <G>
Regards, Tony