Resurfacing a private car park when nobody wants to pay

Mortgage_Moog

I live in a house with a private car park outside and each house owns one of the bays, I've checked this on land registry maps.

There are 8 bays and after 30 years of use they are just starting to crack and potholes are appearing so I had a look into the cost of resurfacing the whole car park. I planned on approaching the neighbours and proposing that sometime in the next few years we get it done and each pay our share.

The quote I had for the work is totally stupid. They want £20,000 for a days work to resurface 8 bays! That means we'd each have to pay £2500 and this is where the trouble starts.

Two of us have said we would even thought it's a lot.
Two of us have said it's too much
Two don't have a car so have said no because they don't care
Two houses are rented so we'd need to contact the landlord

The question is: how do you go about getting a car park resurfaced when only some of you will pay? It will have to be done one day and although it's not that bad just yet, it'll only be 3 to 5 years before it's getting bad.

Does anyone have any past experience of this or suggestions?

AnotherJoe

This is "the tragedy of the commons" and there is no simple answer, and maybe not even a complex answer.

tykesi

Why have you only had one quote?

Davesnave

Three quotes minimum before I'd discuss it, if I was in your block.

Or perhaps you could use a bit of initiative, like the 85 year old next door to me, who used to fill developing potholes with cold-mix tarmac (about £7 a bag.) She is now in a higher place, but staved-off expensive repairs long enough whilst in residence in this one. Smart lady!

stator

Have you checked exactly who owns what?
If you own the freehold to your specific parking space, who owns the freehold for the entrance and turning areas that aren't someone's space?

tori.k

Are you all able enough to make this a community project and make good the area yourselves for a fraction of the cost.

G_M

Yes, the legal owership seems strange. More info needed.

* Does the car park have a separate freehold Title?
* presumably then with each house havng a right to use aspace, not ownership? Or erhaps a Leasehold Title to the space?
* who owns the freehold itself?
* as stator says, if each sace is part of each house's freehold, what about the shared areas/access? Who owns that?
* does each property have a Right Of Way across the shared areas?
* and critically, what do the various relevant Titles, and/or related Deeds/conveyances, say about maintenance?

One quote? I would not have considered speaking to any neighbours till I

a) had 3+ quotes, and
b) fully understood the legal set up and maintenance arrangements.

PasturesNew

For those who think this strange, I own the freehold to my parking spot.

My house is freehold - and within the boundary there is a marked parking bay and the approach/turning spot. I have the freehold to all of this; neighbours have the right to drive over the approach/turning spot to access their own parking spots. To get to my parking spot I have to drive over the freehold access/turning areas of the others.

Every house owns their house/garden area AND the land immediately beyond the garden fence (approach/turning area) AND the marked parking bay.

All residents have the right to drive over this area to reach their spots.

It avoids management companies in small/new developments.

Who is responsible for maintenance etc, repairs, digging it up if there's a major underground issue .... is all in the deeds.

The thing is - each spot is owned by somebody, privately. It is their choice whether to ever do something about it.

It'd be like all having the same front doors on Day One ... and somebody arbitrarily knocking on everybody's doors 10-15 years later suggesting they have got a quote to replace everybody's front doors. Some will be interested, some not - but you can't make anybody do it.

It's similar to those people who come here enquiring about a "Right of Way" by 4-6 neighbours past their back door in an old terraced house.... but applies to parking spots instead of gardens and a wide access strip instead of a footpath... same thing though:
Building ... Land with Right of Way over it .... Owned Land.

bap98189

Resurfacing the whole thing seems OTT for a car park. Cracks and potholes can be filled for far less cost.

You can even do it yourself - just buy some ultra-crete or a similar product and it will only take a few minutes for each pothole.

stator

IF the ownership is clear then you don't really have any options.
As long as the land is passable in your vehicle then you don't really have grounds for complaint.
You'll have to resurface only the sections owned by the people who want to resurface.

Mortgage_Moog

Thanks to everyone for replying. I'll answer these questions because it should cover what everyone has asked.

G_M wrote: »

Yes, the legal owership seems strange. More info needed.

* Does the car park have a separate freehold Title?
* presumably then with each house havng a right to use aspace, not ownership? Or erhaps a Leasehold Title to the space?
* who owns the freehold itself?
* as stator says, if each sace is part of each house's freehold, what about the shared areas/access? Who owns that?
* does each property have a Right Of Way across the shared areas?
* and critically, what do the various relevant Titles, and/or related Deeds/conveyances, say about maintenance?

One quote? I would not have considered speaking to any neighbours till I

a) had 3+ quotes, and
b) fully understood the legal set up and maintenance arrangements.

1) The car park forms part of the freehold. Each house owns the space and it's shown on the land registry maps as a square for the house with a long thin bit extending from the top of the square stretching into the parking space. The whole car park is owned by the houses, the turning bits and access are all someones land. The pavement you drive over to get into the car park is council owned as is a large tree in the corner causing cracks to the car park surface.

2) The freehold is owned by the people living in four of the houses, me being one of them. Two of the other houses are privately owned and rented out, two others are leasehold because they never bought the freehold and are now stuck with a 60 year lease that they can't afford to extend and nobody can get a mortgage to buy them so they've been for sale for years. The freehold for those is owned by the developer.

3) The shared areas are all freehold and it's up to each person to maintain them, i.e the path that runs in front of the houses. We each have to repair our own bit when it needs doing.

4) Maintenance is just up to each individual freeholder to do themselves. I did check this before I bought and they just said each owner must look after their own bit, that's it.

I did get more than one quote but they're all around the same price. £20,000, £24,000...it's a lot more than I thought whoever I ask.

I didn't speak to neighbours formally. We haven't called a meeting or anything, I just mentioned in passing that it would cost 20k to see what people said. The renters don't care because it's not their problem, in fact they often park in other peoples spaces and they come and go every few months so they just don't give a damn.