Doing this as a favour for SIL. Her small cul de sac is apparently being used by a car trader.This makes it difficult for residents to turn and park. Up to five or six cars at a time are often there and cash has been seen to exchange hands. The council have received at least one complaint but have not got 'evidence' to prove illegal trading. When their man went to have a look, there were only two cars on the driveway and none on the road. What kind of evidence is needed? Five cars were there last night when I was visiting.
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Have you got all day to sit behind net curtains with a long lens...? Might not be cars he's trading, of course.
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One distinctive vehicle led easily to a firm. Got their own website with lots of vehicles for sale , some of which I saw on the cul de sac. 'Small family run business with 30 years experience etc. etc. Up to SIL and the council now.
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Good move! Enforcement may take forever. Honest man trying to make a living in these difficult times etc. I hope your SIL gets a quick result and hope that the trader doesn't know she is involved in the perfectly legitimate complaint.
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Is it a council house? Trading is against rent agreement.
Is it a private owned house? Maybe against land / planning permission.
Either way he is breaking the law selling cars from the street.
A few photos of car trading - cars / exchanging cash etc etc send to council! Are the cars taxed? DVLA site to report.
A friend of mine had problem of builder trading from home and having permanently a skip on the road - council acted after 6 mths / letter to Scottish Exec asking them to force council to act - builder did business from council so they were in each others pockets!!
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Have a cctv camera set up overlooking the area. You can simply have a webcam looking out from inside the bedroom for example. You can record exchanging of money, him moving cars etc.
Start a petition, ask neighbours to sign a document complaining of his activities.
If it is a regular job of his selling cars then inland revenue will be keen to know and claim unpaid taxes etc
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It might not be ilegal but it probably is these questions need answering:-
1) Is he pretending to be a private seller? Where is he advertising the cars? This is a trading standards issue.
2) Is he paying income tax? Only Inland Revenue will know that, if he is pretending to be a private seller then there likelyhood is no.
3) If its rented then its probably not allowed to use it the premises for business puproses, if he has a mortage then his mortage company needs to know.
4) If a large part of the property is being used for business use then he must pay business rates.
5) Depending on the exact circumstances planning permision may be required.
6) Are the cars being advertised in the street or just parked there?
7) Does he have the correct traders insurance to allow people to test drive these cars etc?
What he is doing may not be ilegal providing its been done by the book but I suspect he isn't and what he is doing is highly ilegal.
Having a quiet word with your neighbour (e.g a polite threat) may be enough for him to either go legal or stop doing it.
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Thanks for all the advice.
His trading website, which I found easily, shows lots of pictures of the cars for sale, on the road outside the private house.So I think that is evidence for the council. Will pass the info on to SIL.
Edited by Glaikit Wee Scunner {P} on 11/03/2009 at 13:29
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> 4) If a large part of the property is being used for business use then he must pay business rates.
Unfortunately, unless he has a permanet building set up for office use or a work shop or storage, he won't be liable for business rates. You can't rate a pavement for non-domestic use. Even if he had a spare room with a fax machine, desk and pc it woudl be classed as 'de minimis' by the Valuation Office Agency and deemed too small to rate separately from his domestic property.
Mind you, a resident with a pc and a printer could design a letter telling him he's going to be rated for business rates. It would put the frighteners on him!
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If he has a website that suggests its legit. You would have to be pretty dumb to have a website selling cars and then not tell inland revenue about it!
I am not entirely sure parking cars on the pavement is ilegal either providing they are taxed, however they may not be insured and this is probably where you can get him.
As stated there is nothing ilegal about trading from home, I do myself from a tiny area of my bedroom. The council and mortgage company were informed though.
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sorry is it me or what?
we have no idea if what this chap is doing is illegal or not.
why not ask him what hes actually doing and why its annoying to the rest of the street and take from there.
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What has been described above, if substantially true, is illegal. For one thing parking and offering cars for sale (more than one) is usually a breach of local council byelaws.
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