By-Law Regarding Auto Repairs

[#-3]

Letter of the law aside, an oil change or a tire swap every other weekend, constantly banging away at engine repairs on, a half dozen cars in a single family home, you appear to be adept with tools so there are probably a number of other projects you get upto in a fairly public setting.

I would be shocked if you didn't have neighbors whos buttons you were pushing. People don't really mind the guy with a hobby car or personal project, but your description sounds like allot more than that.

[topfiverecords]

I guess the only solution to this problem is your uncle is going to have to move in too.

[speede5]

[malcolmk14]

Tell your uncle that bylaw paid you a visit and what you’re doing is illegal. If he wants to continue to have oil changes and tire rotations done by you he has to pay what it costs for you to get the proper licensing, or take on the risk of you getting a fine.

Otherwise he can take his car to jiffy lube like the rest of us!

[wooohooo]

I like to work on my cars as well but if my neighbor was doing that much work in his garage constantly that would be incredibly annoying. We suspect one of our previous neighbors would buy cars off auctions fix them up and resell them. It was terrible because there were always 6 of his cars around the neighborhood and there wasn't a ton of parking.

[Hockeyguy15]

I imagine we can lock this thread up, OP has only posted in here and I doubt he is coming back.

[bensonchuong]

Originally Posted by Corral

By the time bylaw officers get around to investigating a dispute between neighbours, in my experience things are already pretty bad along the street because it means everyone is past the point of trying to resolve differences amongst themselves - likely because stuff has been going on for years.

Rarely if ever are these sort of disputes simply because of one or an isolated set of circumstances.

No ones ever approached me, that would been appreciated.

[bensonchuong]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I imagine we can lock this thread up, OP has only posted in here and I doubt he is coming back.

I'm very much here if you have anything further to discuss.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by bensonchuong

I'm very much here if you have anything further to discuss.

On this topic? Not really, it seems to have run it's course.

[The Yen Man]

My neighbour always has 2 or 3 different cars parked in front of his driveway for a week or so at a time, and he's a mechanic. So I'm guessing he probably does repairs on the side. But the guy is always super mindful of making sure not to block my driveway. Plus he's an awesome dude, so I have no problems with him fixing cars on the side. I hope there's no nosy busybody neighbours on our block that rats him out. Guy's just trying to make a living. Not sure why other people care so much about things that don't affect them.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by bensonchuong

No ones ever approached me, that would been appreciated.

And what would you have done if someone did approach you about the issue? I doubt that you'd sell some of them or stop working on them.

Look at it from your neighbor's point of view. They've bought in a nicer part of town and have to live beside someone with a driveway full of old cars, deal with you doing major work on several of those cars and some kind of work being done on probably a weekly basis. If there weren't six cars at your house, you weren't constantly working on something and you did work with the garage door closed, there probably wouldn't be complaints.

Like it or not, the way you take care of, and present, the outside of your house does affect others. The appearance of your house is irritating at least one person (most likely a lot more just didn't complain) and will affect people around you if they try to sell. Curious as to where you're storing the 24 extra tires and wheels if you have the garage full of cars.

[Knalus]

I'm still baffled at how much other people get so annoyed by stuff like this. Why does other people's stuff bother you so much? I honestly don't know.

The other thing that baffles me is how often people immediately call the bylaw whenever there is an issue. That's your first line?? really??

I once had a problem with a neighbor like this. I was doing something with my firepit, and I had just cemented the thing up, so there was a lot of moisture in it. First fire, there was a ton of smoke. I knew it was a problem, and was trying to mitigate it. However, the fire department was called. Had to talk with them, turns out I wasn't doing anything wrong, just perhaps inconsiderate. I knew that in the first place, but really didn't feel bad after getting the authorities called on me. At that point, I made a point to personally go over to the neighbour's house, to ask him about the issue. He seemed honestly scared. I told him that if he ever had a problem like that, he should talk to me first. He seemed uninterested in doing so.

Fast forward 3 months or so - I forget now how long it was. The guy hits my car with his truck in the street. Hits perhaps is a strong word, his mudflap dragged against the side of my parked car, and pulled the front bumper partially off. I ask if it was him, and he is apologetic and whatnot. I get that. so I go and fix the car. Didn't take much more than a few plastic clips and some buffing polish from Autozone, fixed it right up. The guy seemed honestly surprised, and shocked, that I would be able to deal with the situation myself, and that I wouldn't immediately stick him with some massive bill from the insurance company. From that point on, even though we had absolutely nothing in common, we were pretty friendly. Chummy even.



It's amazing what being neighborly can do. Some of you people should try it sometime.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

And what would you have done if someone did approach you about the issue? I doubt that you'd sell some of them or stop working on them.

Look at it from your neighbor's point of view. They've bought in a nicer part of town and have to live beside someone with a driveway full of old cars, deal with you doing major work on several of those cars and some kind of work being done on probably a weekly basis. If there weren't six cars at your house, you weren't constantly working on something and you did work with the garage door closed, there probably wouldn't be complaints.

Like it or not, the way you take care of, and present, the outside of your house does affect others. The appearance of your house is irritating at least one person (most likely a lot more just didn't complain) and will affect people around you if they try to sell. Curious as to where you're storing the 24 extra tires and wheels if you have the garage full of cars.

WHO CARES!?!? (Besides the neighbour and apparently most of you). This thread is ridiculous. I can’t believe how whiny some people can be.

Like it or not, your neighbours are going to do what they want to do. And as long as they aren’t breaking any laws (he can own 9 cars and fill his garage, driveway and street if he wants) then there is nothing to actually complain about. You are just bitching.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Knalus

I'm still baffled at how much other people get so annoyed by stuff like this. Why does other people's stuff bother you so much? I honestly don't know.

The other thing that baffles me is how often people immediately call the bylaw whenever there is an issue. That's your first line?? really??


It's amazing what being neighborly can do. Some of you people should try it sometime.

If you lived next to a house that looked like a parking lot and had constant work being done to vehicles (not to mention visitors arriving for OP to work on their cars), would you be fine with it? Especially in what many would consider to be a nicer neighborhood.

Do you believe that OP would reduce the amount of cars they own or stop working on them if someone said their home was creating an eyesore?

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

WHO CARES!?!? (Besides the neighbour and apparently most of you). This thread is ridiculous. I can’t believe how whiny some people can be.

Like it or not, your neighbours are going to do what they want to do. And as long as they aren’t breaking any laws (he can own 9 cars and fill his garage, driveway and street if he wants) then there is nothing to actually complain about. You are just bitching.

So you feel that so long as the activity is legal, then the impact on other people is meaningless?

[jammies]

Isn't the problem that what he's doing actually isn't legal? Whether or not you agree with the law, arguing that he's not doing anything against the law when he actually is, is a pretty poor argument.

[Corral]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

WHO CARES!?!? (Besides the neighbour and apparently most of you). This thread is ridiculous. I can’t believe how whiny some people can be.

Like it or not, your neighbours are going to do what they want to do. And as long as they aren’t breaking any laws (he can own 9 cars and fill his garage, driveway and street if he wants) then there is nothing to actually complain about. You are just bitching.

The whole point of bylaws is that people living in suburbs cannot just 'do what they want to do'. One objective of bylaws is to try and set a standard that everyone abides by so that we don't have to deal with endless disputes between neighbours. This sort of thing is more common than some of you want to believe or care to see.

As for the 'breaking any laws' - often these bylaws are written with terms like keeping your property 'unsightly' or making an 'unreasonable' amount of noise .. etc. So it is unfortunately sometimes a judgment call on whether the bylaw is being contravened or not. It ain't black and white most of the time.

The main point, however, is that most people do try and resolve their differences without resorting to bylaw calls and bylaw officers do not jump out to visit after just one complaint ... so in this case i would suspect there is a reason why nobody is approaching the OP about this before calling bylaw and i would have to believe there has been many complaints over a length of time.

[Red]

Nothing like paying a huge premium to move to a nice neighborhood only to see a neighbor run a chop shop.

Can't blame people for complaining. I guess it's best to not stick out like a sore thumb. If you do this in Dover you will be just another one on the street. No one will say a thing.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Swarly

sure for a repair shop charging money with constant cars coming and going, get a licence, but helping a few friends/family out should be allowed. What's the difference between helping a couple people or someone who loves to restore old cars and works in his garage all the time? should we outlaw repairing your own car next?

The law is generally like that, where do you draw the line? In a school zone 31 is over the limit, 30 is legal. You only gong over by 1, its still a violation.

I am sure they drew the line with ownership because its a simple matter of checking the documentation. There is no way to verify if someone is charging money.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

So you feel that so long as the activity is legal, then the impact on other people is meaningless?

I’m sure you could make an argument for several scenarios where I would change my opinion. But someone owning 1 additional vehicle to the 5 that are regularly used is a silly thing to be upset about. Especially when said person has the ability to park all of them inside their property lines (even if they aren’t always).

We aren’t talking about someone living in an apartment complex and taking up all of the visitor spots with their vehicle collection. Or someone who has a yard full of inoperable vehicles.

[Amethyst]

Maybe instead of expecting the person who is annoyed by your activity to come to you before calling bylaw, you should go to them first?

I was helping someone with a new dog once. They were training the dog to be quiet, but it was taking a bit of work. Instead of waiting for neighbours to be annoyed, these people went to all the neighbours first, told them what was happening and how they were working on the issue, then gave the neighbours a number to call if it was ever a problem, and a box of chocolates.

That way the neighbours might be annoyed, but they knew things were being done to remedy the issue and that the "bad neighbour" was happy to listen and address any concerns they would have.