Is it legal to use a front garden as a workshop?

I live in a Close on a private estate near the coast, a neighbour is building beach huts in his front garden. The noise of an electrical saw and the hammering of wood is driving neighbours mad. What can be done. The direct approach does not work.

Is it legal to use a front garden as a workshop?
This is a clear and blatant breach of planning regulations as your neighbour has effected a change of use of the property from a dwelling house to a mixed use of dwelling and industrial use. This would of course require planning permission which would not be granted in a month of Sundays.





Your local planning department will have an enforcement section whose duties include investigating this type of unauthorised development. They have a raft of powers to deal with it and they are required not to disclose who has complained. So simply get in touch and tell them - you do not have to put up with this and nor should you.





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Reply:Firstly there's the environmental health aspect (noise pollution), which you may be able to get him to stop under . See your local council.





Then there's the question about any covenants on the properties, specifying whether a business can operate from the house? Solicitors and other expensive things get involved here. Try noise pollution first...
Reply:The answer is NO contact the planing dept but best might be the council tax office,one needs too declare a business and pay ex council tax
Reply:The deeds of a property usually has a list of restrictions as to what is not allowed to take place on that property. It may well be that running a business is included on that list.





When the home business is web-design, nobody cares. But when it is a small industry, that is the kind of activity that may well be covered.





Check your own deeds first. That may give you some insight.
Reply:I'm guessing by your use of words that are unfamiliar to me, that you are not located in the U.S. Here, we would call the Police %26amp; make a noise complaint, then call the City %26amp; check to see if there was a business liscense for that address %26amp; name, then call the building codes %26amp; zoning inspector to have them write this person up for a violation. If the Police tell them to reduce the noise %26amp; they don't, they could face a day in jail or a citizens arrest %26amp; then it goes to court for a decision by the Judge. You could also sue them in small claims court of any loss of wages %26amp; pain %26amp; suffering if you end up having to seek medical treatment from your stress that the neighbor has caused you. Don't you have a property management service that manages your private living area? Perhaps they could help you %26amp; your other neighbors. I'd think that this would be a good time to vote some rules in so that this does not happen again in the future! If your town has a clean air act, then this person may be in violation due to the sawdust they are putting into the air %26amp; a person who is building wooden huts for sale would be considered to be a MANUFACTURING Business %26amp; would need to have all the appropriate business liscences %26amp; permits to sell items. I doubt outdoor manufacturing is allowed on the beach, but then, I don't know how your area is run. I'd be curious to find out what happens! Good luck dealing with your noise polluter!
Reply:Call your local code enforcement department and ask how to make a complaint. In our city, we had to document when the power tools were being used in violation of the code and discovered that the structures a neighbor was building were in violation of our codes because he did not permit them. It did take our department several days to inspect, after we ganged up on the neighbor to report his illegal building project in writing and with accompanying photos, but not only was he fined, but had to disassemble his structure.
Reply:Most cities and town have ordinances to regulate exactly this kind of problem. If the property of your neighbor is zoned as residential, then home occupations will be limited. Almost always they are restricted to those kinds of occupations that do not appreciably add to traffic, are contained within the home, do no present a danger to themselves or neighbors, and do not otherwise increase the noise level beyond that of the ambient noise level in the area or cause or contribute to electrical interfearence that diminishes the quality of TV, radio, or other FCC regulated devises. Finally, they cannot be performed outdoors, cannot increase airborn particulates, cannot introduce hazderous material and cannot be displayed through the use of any kind of signage. So you need to call the city and ask for the ordinance officer (zoning officer, ordinance enforcement department, etc) to file a complaint. They are often located in the building or planning department at city hall, but sometimes they are part of the police department. Ask that you be kept informed of the progress and get their name ad phone number. Ordinance normally works to get compliance from the property owner and only issues tickets if the person is not cooperative. At that point the officer probably won't need your help since they are now aware of the issue and have witnessed it themselves. If the person still does not work out a plea in court then what happens is the issue goes before a district court judge as "X" vs. City of "Y". You may get a supeonea from the officer to come in and testify on behalf of the city. Normally the officer will have plenty of evidence to present and the person is found guilty. They then normally charge them with the cost of the whole mess and order them to cease any more work at the home. Then, if the person has no further issues for the following one to two years, the judge often dismisses the case so no permanent record exists. However, very few cases actually get to court. Almost always the issues is resolved through complaince once the offender is notified that they are in violation of a city ordinance. If the problem is not abated and the city does not persue the issue, then the thing to do is to go to a city council meeting and complain that your issue is not being handled and that you would like to know why, in writing. This puts you on record in case they continue to do nothing about it. The city attorney must respond to you in writing as to the status of your complaint. If they don't or still don't resolve the issue, then hire an attorney and make a few bucks off the deal suing them for not enforcing their own laws (persons doing work diminishes the value of your property and therefore requires compensation from the city, the neighbor, as well as attorney fees and emotional distress for the lack of sleep, etc. that you had to endure).
Reply:in the UK he would need planning permission to build huts on the front of his property.





Check with the local council to see if it has been given. I suspect not.





Part of the decision making process by the council for his planning application would include contacting his neighbours to see if their was any objections to his planned construction.

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