New build - Parking woes

AJ84

Hi all,

Bit of a strange one as I think some of the responses will be favouring the developers/deeds etc but it's raining outside so why not.

In short, we moved into a new build 2 years ago and pay a service charge as with most new builds. It is private not council/social housing.

We have a drive for 1 car but own two and so with 6 visitor bays in front of us, we park the second there. Our immediate neighbour to the left (single house then dead-end) and two on the right are all private and all own 2 cars bar 1- so between the 4 houses, 7 cars with 4 sitting on the drive way and 3 in the visitor bays.

The above works - all the neighbours on this side (private side) all get along, have a mutual agreement with the visitor bays and even driveway share should one household have more cars than usual and need extra space where the driveway is free.
I know we do not own the visitor bays - I'm just saying how we have all worked for 2 years.

Why is this an issue? A few days ago we got a letter to suggest there are parking issues and there is a likelyhood permit system will come into effect - permits for residents, visitor permits for visitors and a 24/7 moped circling round booking cars without the above.

What I do know is this side of the road so around 30 houses all private have no issue - the other side of the development however is all social housing with I think everyone having one allocated space. The issue is most likely with those who have 2 cars (or more) where they're parking in other peoples spaces/clogging up the roads and so on.

So to the point... I guess I don't know what I am trying to ask apart from being blunt and saying the issue is not with us so why penalise us... is there a way around this?

What will most likely happen if this gets implemented is people will park up outside the development which is a non-permit/non-restricted road for residents living on that road (council owned).
The residents there will suddenly have an issue and a whole new game starts there.

Just curious on what your thoughts are really or is this a potential losing battle - failing that, once the 5 years no modification rule is up, we'll just knock get rid of our front gardens/extend the drive and/or park the car across the front door :rotfl:

Thanks!

getmore4less

get onto the parking board for help stopping this nonsense by alerting every one to what will happen if they introduce a parking company.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

check your deeds very carefully

da_rule

Unfortunately, the fact that you have a system that works does not really matter. The land belongs to someone and they can impose what ever restrictions on it that they see fit in order to effectively manage the land. Why don't you approach the management company and make an offer to lease one of the spaces? There maybe a planning restriction that prevents them doing this but might be worth a try.

In terms of waiting 5 years, don't forget you'll also have to apply for a dropped kerb and get land owner consent to install it. Driving over a raised kerb and causing damage would also not be advisable.

Red-Squirrel_2

You might think the system works on your side, but what if there are people that it isn't working for but who don't feel able to say so as they are in a minority and don't want to risk neighbourly relations?

AJ84

Thanks for the reply and I thought as much although the leasing option is an intersting one and will raise this so thanks again.

As for drive-way, the kerb is wide enough and the second car small enough to be able to use the same one so it would not be an issue however point taken and something the neighbours may have to consider as the private houses all seem to have a quirk be it two front gardens like us, angled in a different way (also like us) or a bigger drive way and so on

AJ84

getmore4less wrote: »

get onto the parking board for help stopping this nonsense by alerting every one to what will happen if they introduce a parking company.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

check your deeds very carefully

Thanks for your reply - what exactly am I asking that board...how to stop a permit system or if there is a way around it once it is implemented?

The latter is an option at the very least on the private side - whether the social housing side will all go for it I'm unsure given a number must have complained to raise this in the first place. I suspect those will be houses without cars but with allocated spaces other residents/visitors are parking in meaning the household in question cannot have their own visitors parking in the allocated space if that makes sense.

Given todays world and the known issue with parking, it's amazing they cram so many houses in with not enough spaces - bare minimum should be 2 spaces per household. 3 is pushing it but as the population grows older, the now children will grow up get cars and suddenly you have 3/4/5 cars which is WHEN the issue really starts.

Amazingly, it seems they've put families with the most children all on this development so naturally cars will increase eventually albeit hopefully by then I'll have sold up and moved to a better place

tykesi

AJ84 wrote: »

Given todays world and the known issue with parking, it's amazing they cram so many houses in with not enough spaces - bare minimum should be 2 spaces per household.

No it isn't, they're a business and more houses means more money. What's amazing is people still buy these places when they've got more cars than there is space to park. I have two cars and when buying my house earlier in the year I knew I'd need space to park them so I made sure I only looked at houses with enough space for both of them.

There's a story on the BBC news site today about a couple who bought a house with a drive so narrow they can't open their car doors. Why would you if parking is a requirement?

Just one of the many reasons I wouldn't touch a new build with a bargepole.

AJ84

Agreed and if circumstances were different, we would have happily gone for a house with more...character lets just say.
There are pros in warranty, being the first people to enter, cleanliness and the fact nothing needs to be done but there are equally cons such as parking, and how close the rear houess are.

Unforuntely with parking, we were naive in accepting the developers word that despite being visitor bays in front of us, we would be able to use them for day-2-day parking as there are more than enough spaces + visitor spaces around...clearly not it now seems

MrsNubs

I just don't understand why people buy houses that don't have enough parking for their needs. When we were house hunting one of our musts was a driveway where we could park a minimum of 4 cars. We only have 2, but we don't want our visitors to be unable to park. We ended up buying a house with driveway parking for 5 cars, and allocated on-road parking as well.

You say everything works well with you and your neighbours, but are you sure? What happens when one of you has visitors and all the visitor bays are taken up by the neighbours cars? That would annoy me if I was your neighbour

AJ84

Well it's happened in the past where we've had a party of 8-9 cars or the neighbours have and we have all been fine with it.
When I say it works...we all are similar age, all young couples, all moved in on the same date and all have got through the 2 years doing similar things so it's become quite a nice side to be honest.
There is enough distance between the house and the visitor bays to not cause issues backing out of the drives etc and as its a close, one neighbour is fine with us blocking them in if they're not going out etc but even then, there is enough space for everyone to move around.

Parking often crops up in our conversations outside on how lucky our side is so it does really work :- )

gycraig_2

I'd be pretty annoyed if parents had to walk miles because other tenants where parking in the visitor bays.

I'd question why someone with 2 cars bought a house with 1 space to be honest