Car dumped by me ~ landlord not interested

interstellaflyer

111KAB wrote: »

I did not call a scrap metal company - your comment is incorrect. I have called the DVLA (Swansea). The management company just have not responded despite both a letter and telephone calls however other matters such as communal cleaning/lighting/grass cutting are not dealt with properly so their lack of interest in a 'dumped' car was to be expected.

Really! From your first post:

" I contacted a firm who advertise on the internet and they offered me £160 for the car - I explained I wasn't after any money but merely wanted the car removed and their response was that as I didn't want paying they would come within 30 minutes with their flat bed, I could sign the necessary paperwork and they would remove immediately. I informed them the car wasn't mine and I was reluctant to sign anything - they said they will come back to me. In the meantime I just wonder how anybody else would/I should proceed."


You were quite prepared for the scrap metal company to take the car, but backed down when you discovered that you would have to sign paperwork.

Whatever your issues are with the management company, you really need to talk to the other residents before taking any action.

neilmcl

OP, has as been posted numerous times now, if you want rid of the offendng vehicle then contact your local council to tell them it's been abandoned. There'll no doubt be an online form or link somewhere on their website.

TrickyWicky

interstellaflyer wrote: »

OP, without sounding blunt, what is your issue with this car? <snip> are any other residents bothered? Why make this your own little personal crusade?

Must be said I too was wondering.

Allow me to put a little perspective on this. I was the victim of someone like the op. I have my own personal car stored on someone elses drive as it is sorn and not displaying a valid tax disc. It's a scruffy old dog but is very reliable and keeps on ticking. It also has various green things growing out of it and is slowly being invaded by the spiders etc. Due to work issues, I decided to sorn the car and my neighbour allowed me to store it on their drive.

The next thing I know, I'm getting abuse from my neighbours neighbour days later because I didn't ask 'her' or tell 'her' and neither did the owner of the parking space. I was ordered to get rid of the vehicle, I didn't have consent to leave it there, didn't have permission to drive it up a shared non-barriered driveway to put it on the owners space etc.

The next day the council letter arrives with implied threats of:

• A fine for abandoning a vehicle
• Imprisonment for abandenment of a vehicle
• A fine for wrongful declaration of SORN
• Imprisonment for wrongful declaration of SORN
• Vehicle removal & costs

The council then had the ordacity to ask ME if I had permission from the land owner to leave the car there as if they thought they would have a hope in hell of prosecuting me for not even asking the owner themselves:rotfl: They also insisted that I contact them if I *wanted* to retain the vehicle otherwise I would incur removal costs etc. Nowhere did they actually warn me that they would remove the vehicle, they simply told me I would be liable for the costs of it after it had been removed. I was given no deadline to reply by either.

In fact I could of had the council charged with theft of a vehicle had they removed it as I had done nothing wrong and they took a complaint from someone who did not even own the land. I was under no legal obligation to reply to them and no law was quoted saying that I was.

The long story short is that I had done nothing wrong. I had permission to leave the car on the land owners land and the landowner and myself were under no obligation to explain our actions to anyone else. It was a private agreement and as such was nobody elses business including the DVLA or the local council. I did grace the council with a very short 6 page letter in reply and suffice to say they took note and have left me alone since.

Yes abandoned and scruffy cars are without a doubt a PITA however you need to tread very carefully. Some people (like myself) do put vehicles on other peoples property with consent and have *private* arangements to facilitate this irrespective of the amount of time it is sat there.

If you are not even responsible for the parking space then I would highly recommend that you leave this alone. My neighbours neighbour found this out the hard way unfortunately and has been left looking rather stupid. It is down to the person who is responsible for the land to deal with it.

TrickyWicky

neilmcl wrote: »

OP, has as been posted numerous times now, if you want rid of the offendng vehicle then contact your local council to tell them it's been abandoned. There'll no doubt be an online form or link somewhere on their website.

Careful with that advice, only the person responsible for that piece of land can really declare a vehicle abandoned. Read my post above, I had a neighbour try this on with my vehicle and they landed themselves in hot water.

TrickyWicky

Strider590 wrote: »

They'll be chasing the owner if it's not taxed.

Seriously though, it's probably someone down the road dumped it there, have it dragged onto the road and then let the DVLA deal with them.

Just hope its not an automatic in park. If it is you've just recommended the op perform an act of criminal damage to both the tyres and the gearbox. If the owner is local and they catch the op having this done they'll get the op seriously busted.

mattyprice4004

111KAB wrote: »

I did not call a scrap metal company - your comment is incorrect. I have called the DVLA (Swansea). The management company just have not responded despite both a letter and telephone calls however other matters such as communal cleaning/lighting/grass cutting are not dealt with properly so their lack of interest in a 'dumped' car was to be expected.

I would love to hear how you did not call a scrap metal company... yet you say in your first post that you did?

111KAB

Mattyprice4004 and interstellarflyer please refer me to where I said I contacted a scrap metal company. Via the internet I made an enquiry from a firm advertising that they could remove cars and deal with the owner, the LA and any management issues ~ they did not say at that point (hence my post) that they were a scrap metal company and indeed insofar as I am still aware they may not be but you obviously know different so please explain to me how you know this. I am thankful to those people who provided useful information, after all that is the intention of a forum such as this and indeed I have taken due consideration of the positive comments and will thank those people accordingly.

interstellaflyer

111KAB wrote: »

Mattyprice4004 and interstellarflyer please refer me to where I said I contacted a scrap metal company. Via the internet I made an enquiry from a firm advertising that they could remove cars and deal with the owner, the LA and any management issues ~ they did not say at that point (hence my post) that they were a scrap metal company and indeed insofar as I am still aware they may not be but you obviously know different so please explain to me how you know this. I am thankful to those people who provided useful information, after all that is the intention of a forum such as this and indeed I have taken due consideration of the positive comments and will thank those people accordingly.

What did you think this company did, of course they were scrap metal/ car breakers and you did contact them, whether it was over the internet or on the telephone makes no difference. you would have let them come out if it wasn't for the fact that they required you to sign paperwork.

You should not be discussing this here, you should be talking to the other residents, you can't just take the law into your own hands.

From your first post:

" I contacted a firm who advertise on the internet and they offered me £160 for the car - I explained I wasn't after any money but merely wanted the car removed and their response was that as I didn't want paying they would come within 30 minutes with their flat bed, I could sign the necessary paperwork and they would remove immediately. I informed them the car wasn't mine and I was reluctant to sign anything - they said they will come back to me. In the meantime I just wonder how anybody else would/I should proceed."

neilmcl

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Careful with that advice, only the person responsible for that piece of land can really declare a vehicle abandoned. Read my post above, I had a neighbour try this on with my vehicle and they landed themselves in hot water.

Anyone can contact the council and says they "think" there's an abandoned vehicle if they have a reasonable suspicion that it is, you're not going to get into "hot water". It's then up to the council to investigate further.

TrickyWicky

neilmcl wrote: »

Anyone can contact the council and says they "think" there's an abandoned vehicle if they have a reasonable suspicion that it is, you're not going to get into "hot water". It's then up to the council to investigate further.

Public land yes, I agree with you however we're talking about private land in this thread.

The problem there is that the council can then lift a vehicle based on anyones accusation of a vehicle being abandoned. What happens if you're in a coma in hospital for instance? This is why you should leave these matters to the land owner rather than poking your nose in when it comes to private land.

They never even checked with the owner of the land before making implied threats against me by post. That is not right is it.

As for hot water, yes you can if the person on the receiving end of your harassment decides to take things further and you're able to prove (as I can) that they knew who's car it was when reporting it. My neighbour alleged she'd never seen the car in her life and had no idea of who it belonged to. Odd considering I have many photos of it from the last 2 years being parked next to her house.