Neighbour from hell reported homeowner to the council for operating business from home

A woman has been reported to the council by a busybody neighbour for operating a business from home.

Lucy Scott, from Selsey, West Sussex was decorating a multi-tiered wedding cake when she received a call from Chicester District Council.

She was decorating a multi-tiered cake when the call came in.

"My heart began to thump, my stomach sank," she told the Daily Mail.

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A neighbour had anonymously complained about her business - a cake shed, which operates from her front garden and is host to a number of customers every Saturday.

Cake sheds, otherwise known as honesty-box bakeries, are small shacks where customers can buy homemmade bakes and deposit money on an honesty-based system.

The council worker told Ms Scott: "They are concerned about the number of people toing and froing to your house and, indeed, entering it."

Ms Scott responded, saying the only people entering the home were her husband, her five children and a few other friends.

"Everyone else was simply visiting the pastel-painted wooden cupboard in my garden to help themselves to cake," she said.

The baker later received a visit from one of her neighbours, who complained to her about the number of cars at the property on Saturday.

But this was not the only intervention from the council she would receive.

A couple of weeks later, Chichester District Council reported a second anonymous complaint.

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This complaint alleged the cake business had attracted rats to the neighbourhood.

Despite Ms Scott previously receiving permission from the council to sell cakes from the property, an inspection would have to be made.

The inspection from the council did not turn out any evidence of hygiene issues, Ms Scott said.

Ms Scott said the inspector deemed her home and garden to be "spotlessly clean".

The council dismissed the complaint, but the baker admitted she began to feel there was a "sustained attack" on her.

Her feeling of paranoia continued when a third, final anonymous complaint was lodged against her.

This complaint again alleged her baking was bringing vermin to the area.

She was never able to determine which of her neighbours were placing the complaints, but the increased scrutiny on her business and some damage the shed received forced her to close it last year.

But a TikTok video she posted talking about the causes of the closure received widespread support, and she now plans to reopen the cake business.

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