Complex flat parking problem - Help !

Mehullakhani

Hi All

Sorry if this is a bit long !

I need some advice with regards to a dispute over parking spaces.

The background to this is that I live in a block of flats that were newly built in 1997. The developer offered extra parking spaces to those people who bought the flats new in 1997. There were also 5 spaces overground within the complex, that were left unallocated, and these were deemed by all the residents to be visitors/guest spaces.

Over the next few years, the developer/owner got greedy, and sold off all the parking spaces overground, except one. They were all sold to residents within the block. The block has 18 flats total, and everyone was given one parking space with the purchase of the flat, and some people bought additional ones, so now, some people have 1 space, some have 2.

Anyways, in 2005 I bought the flat. It had the remainder of a 125 year lease on it , so in 2005 approx 117 years. I was told by the estate agents that I had only one parking space, and this is what my solicitors told me who did the conveyancing. This is what I had assumed anyway, and so left it at that, and carried on life with just one parking space.

I got married last year, and my wife works wierd and wonderful shifts, and by the time she gets home in the morning there is never any parking outside the development on the main road, as lots of people park on our road, and then walk to the tube station. She often has to hang around for an hour after a 14 hour night shift and wait for space, before she can park, and then go inisde. We could use the visitors space, but we are both reasonable people and therefore we dont abuse the space, and often people have workmen in the space, guests etc etc. Conclusion - we desperatley need a 2nd parking space.

I asked everyone in the block, and no one wants to sell their space. Chapter closed, so I thought . . . . . .

Approximatley 4 months ago, 11 of the flats got together and decided that we were fed up with the management company, and wanted to buy the freehold to the flats. We have had surveyors in, and our solicitor has done a huge amount of work, and we are very close to submitting the final notice to the current freeholder, in order to formally force the purchase of the freehold, and we plan to own 1/11 each, and form a limited company.

Whilst the solicitor was going through each of our original leases in detail, he noticed that I actually have been allocated 2 parking spaces - not 1 as I had initially thought.

The spaces are described in my lease, and also within the land registry document. We cant see exactly where the spaces are on the lease as the plan is done to such a scale, that the colours are like 'blobs'.

I am going to get a scanner out and try and enlarge the colour original lease documents that I have, and see if I can work out exactly what has been denoted - but I cant do that for a few days, and I am getting pressurised to sign the documents for the freehold purchase.

As you can imagine, I am uncomfortable doing this, as they state that I have only one parking space, and this is what would go down on the freehold - the solicitor is also unkeen on me signing anything until he knows where this second parking space lies within the complex.

My lease documents state that I definitley have 2 parking spaces, and it seems that the land registry documents also identify 2 spaces, although where they are exactly is unclear.

The solictors have been through all of the parking spaces in detail, and it seems that my 'apparent' space in one of the underground car parks is not available - in terms of every space is allocated completley to other people. So although I have 2 spaces, we cant find out where the 2nd one should be . . . . . . !

This could well get messy, in terms of neighbour relations, so I just want to ask some advice from the experts on MSE before I jump into any discussions with either my neighbours or the group of 11 who are buying the freehold.

Also, a parking space in out complex is probably worth £20k, and seeing as we want to move within 18 months - it is worth a lot to me financially also, and also for the safety/health of my wife :A

(a) How should I play this ? Get legal advice first, discuss with the group of 11 first ?

(b) What are my options if each and every space is shown to be owned ?

(c) Could I potentially lay claim to the visitors space ?

(d) Is there any legislation that would stop me from taking control of the visitors space - i.e. some sort of precedent being set as this has been a visitors/guest space for more than 10 years ?

(e) How strong is my legal case, considering that the 2nd parking space is outlined in my lease, and also in the land registry documents ?

(f) Is my case affected by the fact that I have only just found out about the second parking space, and that I never knew about it until recently ?


Thanks for all your help , sorry for the novel that I have just written !

R

Mehul

Fire_Fox

Sounds like your second space has been sold twice, oops. Why are you asking questions about the implications of us instead of the legal advisors you already have on the case??

Emmzi

*wonders why you don't leave the space for your missus and park elsewhere yourself but has nothing useful to add*

Pitlanepiglet

Is the solicitor acting for you now the same one that acted for you when you bought?

This is a pretty big screw up for whoever acted for you when you bought it should have been dealt with at the time.

You can't claim the visitors space, it's nothing to do with this situation.

What is very likely is that the original transfer plan was wrong, I did plot sales in the early 2000's and the majority of the staff dealing with them were untrained and as the use of colour photocopiers wasn't widespread then plans were coloured by hand and mistakes happened - a lot.

If you can prove that someone has been negligent your real difficulty is that you haven't suffered any loss. You bought thinking you got one space, so the price you paid was on this basis so there is no financial loss.

You have a lawyer dealing with this so talk to them, they will have all the facts. My guess is that it was a mistake at the time of the original sale. Very poor of your conveyancer not to notice though.