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Workshops and Neighbours

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Peter Neill - 24 Apr 2008 16:21 GMT
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
IEB - 24 Apr 2008 17:10 GMT
> Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer
> following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a
> business from home.
.....

> Has anyone else had problems with neighbours complaining about their
> hobby workshop, from noise or other activities?
>
> Peter

...in answer to the question Peter, ... my neighbour used to complain
about our apple and pear trees overhanging and dropping fruit into his
garden, yet has never mentioned the bridgie, compressor and grinder
running despite the fact that at times all 3 are going at the same time.  
(..and also despite the fact that I'd already told him I was happy for
him to help himself to the fruit on the branches that grew over the
fence). I chopped the damned trees down last year to shut him up because
it had become such a pain.

Aye, as they say, ... there's nowt as queer as folk!

Ian
Nigel Eaton - 24 Apr 2008 18:00 GMT
>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?

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...

Signature

Nigel

When the only tools you have are a Bridgeport, a CNC Taig Mill, a Colchester
and assorted other stuff, every problem looks like a steam engine.

Lester Caine - 24 Apr 2008 18:03 GMT
> Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer
> following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Has anyone else had problems with neighbours complaining about their
> hobby workshop, from noise or other activities?

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&map=54.2922561503807,-4.32150991458675|15|4&l
oc=IM:54.2922561503807:-4.32150991458675:15#map=52.04903,-1.85728|20|32&loc=GB:5
2.04869:-1.85691:16|wr12%207ep|WR12%207EP

I can even see the car out the front :)

Signature

Lester Caine - G8HFL
-----------------------------
Contact - http://home.lsces.co.uk/lsces/wiki/?page=contact
L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://home.lsces.co.uk
EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/
Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk//
Firebird - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php

Peter A Forbes - 24 Apr 2008 19:44 GMT
>Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer
>following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a
>business from home.

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: diesel@easynet.co.uk
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel
http://www.stationary-engine.co.uk
http://www.oldengine.co.uk
Alistair Wright - 24 Apr 2008 22:15 GMT
> Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer
> following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> they were in breach of the Party Wall Act with respect to themachine
> is perfectly ok as she could see from our website that this is just a

> extension they are building, which didn't go down too well.
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Peter

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
Bill - 24 Apr 2008 22:39 GMT
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.

>> Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer
>> following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>
> Alistair Wright
Alistair Wright - 25 Apr 2008 13:21 GMT
>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
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> 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.

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
John Stevenson - 24 Apr 2008 23:44 GMT
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/
John Stevenson - 25 Apr 2008 00:00 GMT
>Peter,
>Any chance of a bit of that No 2 plastic to make machineable wax out
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
>Harrogate show in just over a week so go to get some blanks made up.

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/
Peter Fairbrother - 27 Jun 2008 23:21 GMT
>> Peter,
>> Any chance of a bit of that No 2 plastic to make machineable wax out
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> John Stevenson

What's the No 2 plastic?

-- Peter Fairbrother
john@stevenson-engineers.co.uk - 27 Jun 2008 23:35 GMT
> >> Peter,
> >> Any chance of a bit of that No 2 plastic to make machineable wax out
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> -- Peter Fairbrother

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.
John Stevenson - 24 Apr 2008 23:58 GMT
>Just had a call & visit from the local planning enforcement officer
>following an 'anonymous' complaint that I was illegally running a
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
>
>Peter

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/
newshound - 27 Apr 2008 12:05 GMT
> Thinks came to a head when he 1/2 blocked the driveway and I couldn't
> get the truck out early one morning.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> Picked the offending car up and stacked it on top of another one
> outside his house.

ROFL! Always wanted to be able do that!
Tony Jeffree - 27 Apr 2008 12:37 GMT
>Picked the offending car up and stacked it on top of another one
>outside his house.

Next time, you could at least do the decent thing & sell tickets in
advance <G>

Regards,
Tony
 
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