New landlord blocking access to garage

fuchsiaperfect

We rented a garage from the council several years ago, and spent £2000 on a new garage building as the old one was falling apart. We pay the rent annually, and still have 10 months left to run on this year's rent. A month ago the council sold the plot on which all the garages stand to a private landlord. For the past 3 weeks we've been unable to access our garage at all, as the entrance is blocked with brushwood which has been dumped there from another part of the garage plot. Most of the other garages seem to be used for storage and we haven't seen anyone else using the garages. What bothers me is that the local kids may set the brushwood on fire, it would destroy the garages and this would be convenient for the landlord - we heard he wants to develop the site as residential property. Any advice? I think we're going to be bullied out whatever we do.

AdrianC

Move the wood so it's not blocking your door?

As far as redevelopment goes - it's his land, if he wants to give you and the other tenants notice, then that's his prerogative.

macman

Have you tried asking him to move it? He may not even be aware of it's presence.

Herzlos

Your agreement presumably still stands although it's with the new landlord, so I'd contact them and ask them to remove the obstruction. Or if there's not much contact them to notify them that you are moving it yourself.

fuchsiaperfect

My OH has tried moving it and says he can't, and he's a big lad. He left a note attached to the branches asking for it to be moved 2 weeks ago, but since then the pile has got bigger. To be honest, I've not been there to have a look (the garage is 2 miles away from where we live - no garages/free parking locally at all!) We got the new landlord's name from the Council when they sold the land, but not an address. I'm going to go down today and take some photos. What might help us is that there's an electricity substation adjacent to the plot so the fire safety aspect is important. There's also a fire station almost next door but I don't know if it's their job to step in before someone sets fire to a pile of wood! I realise that the new landlord can give us notice but we have 10 months left to run on our rental. We were told by the Council that our tenancy wouldn't be affected by the sale (but then it runs from year to year so we probably don't have much protection at all).

bod1467

Walk around the corner to the fire station and ask them?

Ectophile

Have you tried badgering the council to find out who they sold the garages to? They really ought to pass you that information.

The Land Registry would also know, but would charge for the information.

kazwookie

Who do you pay the rent to?

facade

forgive the irrelevancy of the questions, but out of curiosity, what earthly good is a garage 2 miles from your house?
And why did you spend £2000 refurbishing it if it belongs to someone else?

TrickyWicky

Does it have a vehicle in it? If so, you can call the police and tell them that your access to the public highway is being obstructed. Initially they'll try to fob you off and say it's the councils parking dept that deal with this but it is not - only the police can take action for obstruction to the highway on private land.

AdrianC

facade wrote: »

forgive the irrelevancy of the questions, but out of curiosity, what earthly good is a garage 2 miles from your house?

Umm, I rent a garage 150 miles from my house...