PDA

View Full Version : Warning, bit of a rant!


OberonSH
06-08-2007, 10:39 AM
Hi guys, just wanted to get something off my chest. As most of you know I have a craft shop in the UK, which I'm either going to sell or just close when we move out. I run the british goods site from the back of it at the moment, and have the shop as a correspondence address.

Today I got a snotty letter from the Council, who have found the site, telling me to remove the address and stop trading IMMEDIATELY!! Even included a copy of my lease, which does say I can't offer anything otehr than handicraft & knitting throug the shop.

Well, I've already had a set to with the council, as when my ex husband left he ran off with all the money, and turned out had only sporadically paid the rent. They came down very hard on me (bearing in mind I had no idea about the rent, as they had never bothered to write to me about the arrears) and threatened to chuck me out over Xmas. I came to an agreement with them, and they wanted £200 A WEEK to start with. As you can imagine this was only sustainable for a short time, and actually did my business a great deal of damage. They got very upset at the reduced payment of £50 a week, and have been harrassing me ever since. :(

S I perused my lease, and found that yes, indeed it would be aproblem. If I was selling he HP sauce etc through the shop. But as I'm not, and there's not mention in the main shop about it, and it's all internet based I fired off a snotty letter of my own telling them this. I'm sick of them picking on me!! The council want to sell the valuable piece of real-estate our marekt bulding sits on, and already have a couple of major supermarkets fighting over it. Trouble is, there's no plans on the table for a replacement hall, and they can't sell it withus traders still there, and on 3 year leases. First they tried to cancel our leases, and are now resorting to trying to hound traders out of the market. I'm a fairly easy target, being a young (ish) preganant woman, and so for the last 6 months have been fending off various nit picking schemes of theirs in an attempt to get me to leave.

I'm really cheesed off about the whole thing, and once I get a woolwebsite set back up, I'm planning on simply closing the shop becasue I'm sick of being hassled by various council workers. I just want to be left alone to get on with my business!!

Arrrghh!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: So I hope you guys are having a great day, cos it's grey and threatening rain here in the north of england. I'm so looking forward to swapping one set of beaureaucratic (sp?) nightmares for another!!! :fit: :fit: :fit:

Dustin
06-08-2007, 11:32 AM
It must be a UK thing I too am having a bad day!. Lets hope we both get what we want. I too having problems with the council who fired me dont let them win.

Regards

Dustin

OberonSH
06-08-2007, 01:23 PM
Sorry to hear you're having a tough time - my parnter got unfairly dismissed, and is still waiting for his pay, plus a tribunal date. It's sickening to think these big places think they can get away with it.

Chin up, we'll be in the sunshine, next to our pools with a whole new set of annoyances very soon.

tracifrost
06-08-2007, 01:27 PM
OBERONSH you mentioned that when you come over, you are either going to sell the UK business or close it.
Was you aware that the UK business has to keep running, whilst you are on the L1?

OberonSH
06-08-2007, 01:33 PM
Yes, That's why we set up the UK side of the British goods business! The craft shop has never fgured in the plan.

tracifrost
06-08-2007, 02:06 PM
oh yes!! forgive me having moment.
ha ha

OberonSH
06-08-2007, 02:09 PM
It's all that sunshine and orange juice.............

SHEILA 13
06-08-2007, 03:11 PM
Hi Obi,Keep your chin up.
Heres a:hug: from me.
Take Care
Sheila

OberonSH
06-08-2007, 03:21 PM
Cheers love. Some days you just wish you could hop on a plane. Sure, you'll still have troubles, but at least the sun will be shining!

Kriz1
06-08-2007, 03:55 PM
And then the AC breaks down......:rofl: :rofl:

chris
06-08-2007, 03:58 PM
Oberon,
The british business can be totally different to the US business. You could run the craft shop in the UK and do something completely different in the US. They don't have to be compatible or complimentary for L visa purposes.

Munish
06-08-2007, 06:10 PM
Good luck to you Oberon.

OberonSH
06-09-2007, 09:23 AM
Chris, I know I can run something different. But we went with our brit goods business, as it makes more money!!

The shop we have has never figured in our plans, apart from possibly being sold to provide some cash. I don't want to run it from abroad, or leave someone in charge of it. Not to mention the fact that the building it's housed in is shortly (and I mean the council's 'shortly' ie. any time between now and the second coming of Christ) going to be knocked down to provide Tescos with another opportunity to kill a high street.

I do appreciate your advice, but the shop is immaterial to our visa - it simply doesn't make enough money, and to be honest I'e got so sick of the sight of it I'd torch it myself if thought I could get away with it! I just wanted to let off steam that the council were trying to screw me over yet again.

Sharon
06-09-2007, 06:03 PM
Never mind oberon tomorrow is another day and hopefully the sun will shine down on you

OberonSH
06-11-2007, 09:29 AM
I'm sure it will. Done my figures, and it's actully costing me money to open the shop. So we're looking for more suitable premises to run the internet side (i.e. a bigger house) and as soon as it's sorted, we're losing the shop. I'm not putting more money into a place with so uncertain a future, and as the council has put paid to any chance of selling, it's really my only option. Going to be scary waking up that first day with no shop to go to, but I'm sure I'll cpe. And we'll be in Florida bfore you know it.

Thanks for the support guys, nice to know there's people out there who back you up.

blytht
06-11-2007, 09:58 AM
Shh..................

Don't let the council know your running a business from a residential property
otherwise your council tax will be reviewed for business rates!!!!

OberonSH
06-11-2007, 10:15 AM
We've already factored that into account in our budget, but I'm not going to tell them if I don't have to..........more money to spend on advertising!!