Orbit Homes Housing Estate - New Parking Regulations - How to fight?

zoonyx

A relative of mine bought a house about 1/2 years ago. Actually I don't see any benefit in keeping this bit quiet - It's an Orbit Homes estate on the outskirts of Northampton at a place called Booth Park.

Orbit helpfully have a complete site plan here:

http://www.orbithomes.org.uk/documents/booth%20park/development-plan/booth-park-site-plan.pdf

You'll see the spaces with numbers - these are spaces for the occupants (although bizarrely they show PLOT numbers, not house numbers -- particularly intelligent). Blank spaces, and the side of the road spaces are I assume for visitors, but almost all are used as second car spaces by whoever claims them first.

Today the relative has received this amazingly unprofessional letter:

http://oi64.tinypic.com/2957aef.jpg

NPM look small fry, though have a bad enough name already.

I want to help fight this, but not sure how, and I can't find any similar threads apart from single car parks for flats etc.

No tickets have yet been issued, but the relative is taking the letter are basically saying visitors are now banned from the entire estate unless walking, and actually to have an entire housing estate patrolled by these scum bags could possibly even lower the house value. Would you want to live there?!

I want to argue with Orbit about their choice of operator - IPC member so automatically scum, automatically out to find low hanging fruit and/or victims. I know people have spoken before about 'peaceful enjoyment' before - does that only apply to rental properties?

As far as I know:

The house is shared-ownership (with Orbit Homes)
A yearly management fee is charged to all on the estate
No survey was conducted, and indeed there has been no contact with residents other than the letter I linked to. Residents have had no say
Signs have been put up requiring a permit, which haven't been supplied, and aren't mentioned in the letter.
As far as I know, the space itself belonging to the property my relative lives at is part of the deeds (So actually I'm not sure a permit can be demanded).

Although I can't promise anything, I'll happily argue with them about this - but could do with some facts to hit them with.

http://www.orbithomes.org.uk
http://www.npmpay.co.uk/

pappa_golf

whats in the deeds/lease/contract say about car park management , permits and extracting monies from people that live there .


don,t those signs look hideous , they need to "fall" down in the next gust of wind , and keep falling down


very windy in Northampton at this time of year

Jim_AFCB

dear god Glad I do not live there. This is not going to be pretty.

pappa_golf

the PPC has already had one listing about itself today https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5400008


watch that thread see how they squirm

zoonyx

id guess the deeds and contract dont mention anything about parking. however i will check.

youre right - this is going to be a big mess isnt it.

has it happened before - an entire housing estate covered by a ppc?! its crackers

pappa_golf

yes it has happened before , fightback time http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?377246-UKPC-liable-for-trespass-**SUCCESS**

Coupon-mad

Yes, plenty of housing estates are covered by parasite PPCs.

This is truly awful and LOADS of residents & their visitors will get scammed. Good plan to argue this NOW. Peaceful enjoyment is relevant for a tenant too:

I want to argue with Orbit about their choice of operator - IPC member so automatically scum, automatically out to find low hanging fruit and/or victims. I know people have spoken before about 'peaceful enjoyment.'

tincombe

You've got a contact number for Orbit, so why not get your relative to contact them to 'expand' on their letter?

This would be the normal response to receiving such a letter which you say has come as a bolt from the blue. The normal response would not be to focus exclusively on a PPC, after all whichever one is used Orbit intend to change the arrangements. Can they? Can they do this unilaterally?
Looking at PPC issues seems to be well down the list of priorities to me.

zoonyx

http://oi65.tinypic.com/23it3xk.jpg

^ Here is a pic of the signs.

As awful as these signs are when on a retail park etc, imagine the land around your house being covered by this crap Feel bad for them!

Relative is going to ring Orbit, and I will to - anonymously for now. I'm the militant one, the relative is not, but is furious about it anyway.

I agree I need some answers from Orbit to progress, and also think they are a better option than the PPC.

(Also I hope if anyone else is in the same boat specially with this estate - post your ideas etc)

zoonyx

This any good?

---

Dear Sir/Madam,



I am in receipt of a letter from a company trading as NPM. They appear to believe they control parking at your Booth Park estate in Northampton. Due to the unprofessional nature of the letter, I wish to confirm the contents.



The letter is available online here: http://oi64.tinypic.com/2957aef.jpg



Firstly, please can you confirm that the letter is genuine, and has been sent with your approval.



Assuming it is, please could you elaborate on what rights you believe you hold to establish a contract with this company? Please also confirm you hold these rights without the need to survey the residents and those who pay your management fee, about any such changes.



I also take issue with the parking company you have chosen. NPM was originally a member of the BPA (British Parking Association), but as with many unscrupulous private parking companies, chose to move to the IPC (Independent Parking Committee) in order to the use the 'services' of the IAS Appeals service. I suggest you read about the IAS in more detail to educate yourselves about their practices, and their frankly comically flawed adjudication process. Do you really want your own 'customers' put through this process?




The homes were sold as having parking spaces, and visitor parking. I suspect having an entire housing estate covered by a parking control company could even affect property prices - would you want to live on an estate which appears to have unilaterally banned visitors or second cars? You have sold houses, then completely moved the goal posts with this move.


New signage in the area suggests permits will be issued - yet haven't been. Although the roads remain unadopted, the parking spaces are in the deeds, so any access to 'ticket' a vehicle could be considered trespass. Please see information regarding a similar success case here:


http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?377246-UKPC-liable-for-trespass-**SUCCESS



In summary: The case was dismissed, and the parking company was liable for costs - including damages for trespass.




Finally I'd like to make my position as clear as possible, so at the very least you reconsider your proposals and delay implementation. I will fight these offensive changes to the estate parking provision with every possible legal route open to me. I will also remove any implied right of access to my house and parking space to the parking company. I will also pursue them for costs against any trespass that may occur. Needless to say, I will not pay a parking charge of any amount to this parking company unless instructed to do so by a court.



I HOPE you have simple misunderstood the situation and will cancel any contract with NPM immediately. Please advise me of your position, and answer the questions I have asked.



Thanks for your time,



Resident

Booth Park

Saint4given

I'm a resident at the Booth Park Development in Northampton. I have spoken with Orbit Homes this morning and they will be taking the signs down today, alongside posting a letter explaining their mistake.

It is worth noting that they mentioned that there will be changes to parking onsite in the near future, but this has yet to be agreed upon and will be more openly discussed.

Hope this helps!