baisicaly i live in a block of flats in yeovil somerset, outside i have an alloted parking space wich is long enough to easily fit two cars in it i also have a garage wich opens out onto the long car parking space these faccilitys are joined by everyone else's carparkingspaces/garages.
i do all my work to my car including my turbo conversion and any other work that needs doing on my daily corsa (quite alot cause its a bag of shit !) either in my garage or on the car parking space out side. now i know this isnt a work shop but i thought i was well withing my rights to do all the work i want on my cars as long as i obviously stay withing my alloted space. i recently had a phone call from the letting agents to say somone has been complaining of me keping 6 cars there !!! and always working on my car !
im pretty pissed of and am sure its just busy bodies who should just fuck of and mind there own buisness but i dont want to get into the hassle of stupid arguments with the neighbors and have them keep complainng to my landlord. ive got loads more work to do to the car including changing the engine in the not to distant futre and im sure having an engine crane out there will attract the attention of said busy body!
So my first questions is do you all think im well within my rights to be doing what im doing and work on my car out there when ever the hell i like seeing as i pay my rent. Or do you think im taking the piss and should find somwhere else to work on my car
Secondly just wondered where other people work on there cars ?? or any ideas where i can find a space i can work on my car in peace and quite ! theres no way im stopping messing with my polo its my hobby and i enjoy it just because i dont own a decent garage or have a workshop i dnt wanna let it stop me enjoying my car . so any ideas thoughts ??
Depends on your contract mate - like whether you can smoke in your own flat.
Working on a car on the road is for only essential repairs to get you going again.
Most council garages are for storage only too.
I work in my back garden, enclosed, paved. Near brew facilities.
hmmmmm i do see what you mean. so i suppose i need to try and find somwhere where no one will bother me really .... just trying to avooid the cost of renting any where to do it! would be great if i worked in a garage o somthing then i could use that but i dnt :(
just for the recond i dnt live in a council flat its a privatly owned flat with a private landlord and when i read my terms and conditions it said nothing about what you use your garage for although im sure theres a clause in there that they can turn to stop me doing anything they dont like.
wish i had somwhere to work on my car that i didnt have to pay for :'(
so do you have 6 cars or are they exaggerating? As I see it then if you're not making excessive noise and not working anti-social hours (i.e. very early morning or after about 10 or 11), not making a mess and not leaving half dismantled cars on the street then I don't think anyone has a valid reason to complain.
But it just seems like busy-bodies love to kick up a fuss when someone does anything with cars. I'm sure if you were doing loads and loads of gardening they wouldn't say anything!
If they are just making things up and exaggerating then just talk to your landlord, if they are reasonable then they'll understand that it's just someone complaining for the sake to complaining. However, if your landlord also doesn't like people messing about with cars then you may be a bit stuck as they'll find some way of kicking you out if they decide you are annoying other residents.
just in general work inside your garage with the door closed when you can, people prob wont even notice you are doing anything with a car then! has the added advantage of keeping it hidden from any scallies that might happen to notice it outside.
i had the same problem working in my garage door closed mid day 1pm to 4pm maybe. iv had no problems i see my neighbours and they never mention they have a problem if they did! but i have had a complaint that i am running a business operating industrial machinery and nicking power lol and have to many cars maybe only one more than any one else! just people complaining for the sake of it!
well i dont do it unsocial hours dont make any noise the loudest it got has been when i used a batery drill a couple of times n that isnt much noisier than say a car pulling up any way !!
At no point have i or do i intend of having 6 cars out there sometimes my girlfriend stay around at the weekend so that totals my daily my polo (in the garage ) and her car but they all ft in my space so i dont see the problem.
i spoke to my landlard/leting agent and he said theres quite a few old people that live there and its porbably one of them that does the complaining he said its proably best just to ignore it so thats what im going to do. ill try n work with the garage door shut in future i think as you say i think what they cant see they cant complain about, although ive just bought philj's engine so they may have to put up with an engine crane out there for a day (if any one local has done and engine swap before and fancys giving me a hand to speed the process up i will be willing to give them a few bob) the letting agent is pretty cool about it at the moment so i think ill carry on but if he starts to get pissed of i mite end up finding somwhere else to live again ... i hate moving so much to do :-\ oh and im glad its not just me that it happens to cheddar !!
if that's what your landlord said then I'd not worry about it. He obviously realises it's just people with nowt better to do but moan about whatever they can think of.
dub-disaster i am just getting my G40 threw an MOT give me a PM ill help you install your Engine i am free every day rain or shine after the 15th got to move in to my new flat hectic trying to get MOT and pack and move with no transport!
I have the same kind of set up as you but I only have the one car. There is nothing that says I cant work on my car so I dont worry. If there isn't anything in your contract that states you can't do what your doing I wouldn't worry. Ring them and explain and give your side of the story though.
Even when you're working in the garage it's probably best to hold back on the shouting and swearing when things aren't going well! :D
man i remember in my younger days i broke a G40 in the road! i didnt have any complaints lol
infact thinking back it is quite funny!
im blessed with a work yard round back of my house that i take full advantage of, in a way i wish i didnt have it, as if you have the space, you just naturally fill it!
I think everyone lives near a busy body in one way or another?!
I've had afew complaints over different things and I've noticed one old chap being too nosey round my cars so I have a damn good idea who it is! He's even knocked on the door to return a spanner I left UNDER the car to finish a job off with later on! I just ignore everyone now and get on with what I have to do. If they have a problem, they can talk to me like a sensible human being instead of whinging down the phone to the council like a chicken!
Rant over ;)
Glad to hear it's not just me that has this mosey neighbor syndrome !! It's a sad time in life if you havn't got anything better in your life to do than complain !!! It could be worse at least I'm into somthing constructive and not having partys and playing loud music taking drugs or anything else that would realy give them something to moan about !! And thanks for the offer of help cheddar I'll definantly take you up on it I'll drop you a pm n let you know when.
I lived in a block of flats years ago in Croydon. We had complaints of revving the car up in the middle of the night and "leaving the garage door open making the row of garages look untidy". In fact I always made every effort to be as quiet as possible but they are just looking for something to complain about. The old woman in the flat next door actually complained to the people above that she could hear them walking across the floor. When we finally left I treated them all to a wheelspin the full length of the garage block.
At the end of the day you are not being a nuisance or taking the **** doing a few DIY car repairs. Your landlord would have to take you to court to get you out over something like that and he's not going to be interested in doing that.
Once I had some old idiot threaten to call the police as I had parked outside his house for a whole day (public road with no parking restrictions, valid tax, MOT, insurance). I thought it was so funny I offered him the use of my phone.
Yeah - I find it hilarous how people think they own the street in front of their house. On my row of terraces, the first house has a zebra crossing chevron, so it tends to push the cars further down the hill - its ok as we are all chilled out about it, sometimes I have to park about 10 doors down, but I don't really care. Some people hate it though - leave notes, spit on cars etc.
theres an old man in my village that me and my mates find hillarious. we all have old cars ie 205, rs turbos, xr2 etc and every time you go past him or he see's you he will stand in the middle off the road to get you to slow down even if your doing less than the speed limit. what we did was start dropping a gear and flooring it and he soon shifted of the road. i work in my back garen ,there is houses near but they never complain.