Bought a flat which was incorrectly advertised

davidmcn

tp86 wrote: »

the management company went to the land registry to figure out who owned which spots with a view to marking each space clearly (and charging maintenance fees to those apartments with parking). That search by the management company has revealed that our flat in fact does not have a parking space.

Are you taking their word for it, or are you planning to seek legal advice on whether what they say is true?

In general yes it is part of the normal remit of your solicitor to check that the title includes what you're expecting to buy, but as said they won't necessarily know what marketing information you've seen. It is likely that your solicitor saw your survey - did that say the valuation was on the basis of a parking space being included? Did your solicitor report to you on what the title said?

davidmcn

tp86 wrote: »

But that wouldn't be the case for normal goods, so why would it be the case for a house purchase?

House purchases are different because it's expected that everybody is employing professionals to protect their interests.

AlexMac

You need to identify who was at fault, compalin to the EA or solicitor (if culpapbel) and when they flannel, seek legal redress equivalent to the difference in value between a flat with, or without parking. So you may need a new solicitor, or an ambulance-chaser (google 'how to sue...")

I've maybe been lucky, but on the basis of my own experience....

Conveyancing Solicitors have always alerted me to the precise ownership of, or rights to any parking spaces attached to the flats I've bought.

Custom and practice often differs from the legal title- people may park legally or not - and EAs often take what vendors say as gospel- but owners are inclined to talk up what they sell. So just cos they park somewhere don't mean they own the space.

But my solicitor has always checked what I'm actually buying. So while there might be a case against the vendor or estate agent for misrepresentation, 1st, you need to check what your solicitor reported that you were buying.

In my currently owned flat, with six flats and six parking spaces, I've actually bought the leasehold not only to the flat, but to one space outside, which is clearly indicated in the lease in that its 'red lined' on the associated plan (and presumably on my land registry title).

In another past flat, the six parking spaces out front were in unallocated communal space, and while we all six leaseholders parked out front, the lease actually said no one had rights to park there. So we occasionally met as shared freeholders and divvied up the spaces (e.g. giving the widest ones to people who needed to jiggle child car seats in),

But new owners sometimes got 4rsey because they didn't read their lease and/or assumed they owned 'THIER' space... which they didn't becuase all spaces were defined in the leases as communal and they only parked there by the tolerant consensus of neighbours!

So in your case, who fouled up-
- your solicitor, for not advising wot you bought?
- you cos you engaged a carp solicitor (albeit still prosecutable- google law society complaints)
- the EA for saying you had a space? https://www.contactlaw.co.uk/sue-estate-agents.html
- or you for not listening to or reading the solicitors advice?
- or who?

Fletchasketch

Hello. A very similar thing happened to me two years ago. The solicitor hadn't done anything wrong, but the flat had definitely been advertised as having a parking space. I made a complaint to the estate agent and then escalated it to the ombudsman when they were unable to resolve it. The ombudsman awarded a small amount of compensation, so it's worth persuing.

tp86

Thanks Davidmcn.

I've requested the evidence from the management company so will indeed be getting that reviewed.

I'm currently on an extend trip with work so trying to get the documents sent to me - I will certainly review the survey as you suggest.

I think it's your point around employing professionals to protect my interests that annoys me slightly. In my own line of work I am an expert in my subject matter, and my clients are not. Hence, I ask an abundance of basic questions up front to ensure I serve them appropriately

davidmcn

tp86 wrote: »

I think it's your point around employing professionals to protect my interests that annoys me slightly. In my own line of work I am an expert in my subject matter, and my clients are not. Hence, I ask an abundance of basic questions up front to ensure I serve them appropriately

Yes, I would expect them to check something as obvious as whether or not a parking space was expected. But evidence that they would have seen mention of a space would be helpful ammunition for you.

pathtofreedom

Do you have a form the vendor filled out about the flat? I have one I filled out a few months back, and I have one completed from the vendor for where I'm buying soon. They are both freehold though so I don't know if it is any different for leasehold / flats, but they did mention parking so would be interesting if you had the same form what it said with regards to that.

HouseBuyer77

To achieve any success with a claim you'll need to have something in writing saying the flat comes with a parking space. The advert itself probably doesn't count as it will have a disclaimer on it saying you need to confirm things for yourself.

The property information form would be a good place to start, I think the standard one has questions about parking.

As for your solicitor you might hope they'd ask you if you're expecting that the flat comes with parking but equally at some point they will have sent you a title plan and copy of the lease and asked you to review to make sure you were happy it described what you thought you were buying (mine highlighted the bits of the lease I should pay attention to). Check the correspondence you received from your solicitor, did you get anything like this?

steeeb

Assuming the vendor was under the impression it came with parking it'll be in the questionnaire they filled in, so check that.

Who actually owns the spaces then?

Hoploz

Moving on, in an effort to look forwards with this, who does own the spaces, and are there enough for all the residents? I'm just thinking I wonder whether some could be unallocated, eg visitors spaces, and you could investigate whether you could gain use of a space, either by buying it or perhaps renting it?

If you could clarify some way you could gain the parking rights, you might then have a specific £ loss to reclaim if you were ever to be able to find out who was to blame.

I'd say the vendor probably assumed they did own the space, as they had always used it unchallenged - the problem has only come up since this new investigation happened.