Parking problems with neighbours - want to sell

HouseFlipper

Hello and sorry about the long post, but please read and give me some advice.


I live in a end terraced house from ca. 1915 on a main road with double yellow lines, but a piece of cemented land at the back of my yard which has space for 4 cars (2left+2right) and also a street with houses at the back where cars can park.


I bought the house 4 years ago and the estate agency advert said "off road parking for 2 cars" and the seller confirmed to me several times that the house had 2 spaces one behind the other on the right side, looking from the back of the house.


I asked my then solicitors to check, but they did only the basic work and dismissed my concerns. The land registry titles are very unclear and there are several versions of them depending on which house title deeds you look at (I checked the ones of my neighbours online afterwards).


I still stupidly bought the house... Problems started and I was told by neighbour X living n the street at the back that she had the whole left side to park on, and that the right side was mine AND of another 3 houses to share due to old toilet blocks positions which belonged to the houses and had been removed. It was an old agreement since her land too was badly defined and she only had a strip of land near her house on the left of only 1meter wide and at the front of the land (so she said she could block access to everyone if she wanted). Neighbour X land was therefore not enough to park a car on either but with the agreement of her parking solely on the left it kind of made sense.


I reluctantly accepted the situation and kept parking on the right sharing it with other neighbours. A year ago, neighbour X sold her house to a lady who has "bullied" me into not even parking on the land anymore. I already hated the parking situation, but that really pushed me to depression as I felt/feel really unhappy in this house and area now.


She tried everything to make the WHOLE land hers as she parks badly and needs to park in the middle of the 4 spaces. Her house at the back also has on road parking in front of the house but she likes to have her options.


She put bollards up one day (1 fell shortly anyway) and gave keys to the other houses except me, and said it was because when I rebuilt my yard (4 years ago, when she did not even live there, but apparently she got the information from the old neighbour X who sold the house to her), I built it a bit too big and therefore lost my entitlement to shared parking.


The main neighbour that shared with me the spaces agrees with her as it is convenient for her since she then has the right side to park on most of the time now (unless the lady parks in the middle).


This has pushed me to want to move and sell. I am finally putting the house for sale next week and moving closer to my work, but I always struggle as to what to say to estate agents or potential sellers in future, when they ask me if the house has parking. I paid much more for the house because I thought it was a terraced house with 2 car parking spaces, and now it seems I may have to sell it as a terraced house with no parking. I know I could make my yard smaller but that costs money and I had made it very nice inside, and also I am not sure if they are in the right, as the title deeds are so unclear it is impossible to understand measurements.



Right now I park on the street at the back and to be honest I rather do that than deal with bullies who might scratch my car and leave notes on my car or that of my rare friends who visit (she did that many times because they were parked behind my car).


I also don't want to put people off by saying I have issues with my neighbours.


The house is otherwise beautiful inside and I have spent a lot of money unfortunately to make it very special, add bathrooms, modernise it, etc.


Please help with some advice and sorry about long post.

Thank you, M x

k3lvc

My personal view would be to sort the differences one way or another before you try to sell otherwise you're going to have to explain to potential purchasers why you answer 'yes' to the question about 'Have you any disputes with neighbours'.

Assuming all the properties are freehold then who actually owns the land ?

missile

Problems with neighbours can be a nightmare to resolve and if I were you I would sell and move too. I guess you will be using a different solicitor? I would ask him to take action to insist you are given a key or have these bollards removed.

If you cannot resolve the parking issue, you could advertise the property without the benefit of access to private parking.

HouseFlipper

Thank you for you replies. I definitely will not be using the same solicitors for the sale. I have a new solicitor who has been really good n other matters enquiring about many things, but she is on maternity leave.

The land is leasehold but no rent is collected (I think the land for the houses and parking area is owned by a bank nowadays).

The bollards in themselves are not that much of a problem in that if I wanted I could still park on my old spot. The bollard on my side fell as she had them done by a friend I think who did quite a bad job. Only the bollard on her side is still there.

What I wonder is if I can sell it saying it has parking space, because it does have it based on the old toilet blocks and agreement, and if my neighbours are so hung up on a few cm I took on my yardby mistake (which do not impact at all the size of the parking area) then they could always provide proof of where they got the measurements from and the new owner could choose to make the yard smaller to regain the entitlement to park. I don;t know if that is a good way of seeing it.

I think someone else would have dealt with the neighbours differently and not accept their bullying, but I let them walk all over me.

I also wonder if there is not some law about old agreements. Obviously it is all by word I think, but the new neighbour bought the house last year knowing I was parking on the right side and my yard size did not change since, and she imposed her changes.

Thanks again.

G_M

HouseFlipper wrote: »

....
The land is leasehold but no rent is collected (I think the land for the houses and parking area is owned by a bank nowadays).

So who owns the freehold?
And who owns the lreasehold?
Check with the land registry or get your solicitor to check.

thegirlintheattic

I'd get onto a solicitor to try and get the boundaries etc. clarified.

I'd also get this sorted before selling, because even if you advertise it with no parking (at that will put a lot of people off in most places) you still have to say yes to disputes with your neighbour.

pinkshoes

I wouldn't bother trying to sell it until this issue has been sorted out, or sell it as a terrace with NO parking. No one in their right mind would touch your property with a parking issue ongoing, which will only make you more depressed.

How much is it worth with NO parking, and how much is it worth with one and/or two parking spaces? Is it worth getting your solicitor to sort the boundary issues out? Why hasn't your old solicitor taken any responsibility over this, given they said it was "fine"?

The blunt answer will be either grow a pair, stand up for yourself and sort it out (call a meeting for all the houses who think they have the right to park there), or just sell it as a property with no parking, take the loss and move on.

motherofstudents

I agree with the others, try to get it sorted out properly before you put it on the market. How are you going to be able to answer when viewers ask about parking ? If you let the neighbour walk all over you, it does sound like she is a bully and I can totally understand why you would want to move. It's a shame that there are always people like that around but you are not really in a position to stand up to her without a definitive answer on the legal position.

missile

I would sell and move on. Life is too short it could be expensive and take months to resolve.

1886

I say get it sorted out and know legally what is your's and where you can park if anywhere. As said above, if you try to sell and you don't know fully about the parking it will get very confusing for potential buyers. They may pick up on the bad vibes from bullying neighbours and decide to steer clear