Brought a flat on the assumption it has a parking space when it doesn't!

ChloeLangford

Hi!
So looking for a little advice here! I have purchased my first flat in Brighton in the last 2 weeks and all was going so smoothly!

The small 1 bedroom flat was sold to me for 153,000 and I was told when viewing the flat that it came with an allocated parking space in the underground parking however the estate agent didn't have the keys to the parking. I have viewed another flat in the same block of flats, so as I have already seen the parking area once before I wasn't too fussed about going down there.

In the sellers questionnaire the previous owner has stated several times that the flat comes with an allocated space in the underground parking and that he has both a fob and a code for the parking and that the space will be painted with my flat number on it.

As you can imagine Brighton has very restricted parking so this was a big bonus for me. Especially as it was underground and I rarely use my car.

Upon sale of the flat I received the code and fob to the underground parking as I expected and the estate agent confirmed once again that the space would be clearly numbered with my flat number. After getting the keys I went down to the garage to explore where my space was to find that all 33 other flats have allocated spaces, but my flat did not have a space!

I immediately got in contact with the managing company to see if there had been some sort of mix up with the freshly painted parking spaces, although they confirmed that the property is the only one that does not have an allocated space and that there is parking at the back of the building for visitors and that I should have priority for these spaces (Please note these are not allocated and every time I have come home they are full!)

I am extremely upset about this and feel as though if I had known sooner it may of swayed the amount I paid for the property. I have contacted both the estate agent and my solicitor with no response yet, but am I even entitled to anything or is this a buyer beware situation where I have learnt my lesson?

Many thanks for all your help!

Chloe

sal_III

The answer to your question is in the Lease. If there is no specific provision in your lease for parking spot I'm afraid there is not much you can do about it.

davidmcn

What did your solicitor tell you about parking?

westernpromise

sal_III wrote: »

The answer to your question is in the Lease. If there is no specific provision in your lease for parking spot I'm afraid there is not much you can do about it.

Partly correct I'd have thought. Yes, what the lease says isn conclusive in the sense that if there's no space there's no space. But if the selling EA and the vendor on the paperwork have both asserted there is a space then that's a misrepresentation and likewise if the conveyancing solicitor was aware of those representations but didn't validate them against the lease then he may have been negligent.

I don't see a way for the OP to get a parking space, unfortunately, but he may be able to reclaim the difference in value between a flat with one versus what he has, which is one without.

Smodlet

What kind of an idiot must the planner, to say nothing of the builders have been to build a block of 34 flats over an underground parking garage for 33 cars? Are you certain there is no mistake, OP?

I would definitely get back to your solicitor as, if you have it in writing there is an allocated space for your property's exclusive use, you have been miss-sold, it seems to me.

Could it, however, simply be some idiotic mistake by whoever was engaged to paint the numbers in the slots? Could they have painted the same number twice, for instance? Crazier things happen in the world. Just a thought and HTH.

ChloeLangford

Hi, davidmcn,
At no point did me or the solicitor discussed parking. The Seller did state that there was allocated parking and me being a new buyer assumed that she would take care of this, flag up anything that didn't match up with what the Seller was saying.

It has been a rental for the last 5 years the Seller has owned it so I believe that he may not have known it doesn't come with a parking space, although it seems strange that he had a key and code to get in.

Barny1979

Smodlet wrote: »

What kind of an idiot must the planner, to say nothing of the builders have been to build a block of 34 flats over an underground parking garage for 33 cars? Are you certain there is no mistake, OP?

I would definitely get back to your solicitor as, if you have it in writing there is an allocated space for your property's exclusive use, you have been miss-sold, it seems to me.

Could it, however, simply be some idiotic mistake by whoever was engaged to paint the numbers in the slots? Could they have painted the same number twice, for instance? Crazier things happen in the world. Just a thought and HTH.

I would presume some flats have more than one space.

ChloeLangford

Hi Smodlet,

Thank you for your reply! Exactly what I thought when I first went down there! The numbers have clearly been painted very recently and are in ascending order so at first I assumed that they just missed number "22" out and that I could get another one added somewhere, however the managing company doesn't seem to think that this is the case!

To me it also seems strange that the previous owner even though it was rented for 5 years, seemed to have no knowledge of this and also had a working fob and the alarm code!

Smodlet

Barny1979 wrote: »

I would presume some flats have more than one space.

Yet one flat has none? Does not seem quite right, does it?

eddddy

ChloeLangford wrote: »

In the sellers questionnaire the previous owner has stated several times that the flat comes with an allocated space in the underground parking and that he has both a fob and a code for the parking and that the space will be painted with my flat number on it.

Do you mean a document that you received from your solicitor?

Perhaps the seller's answer to TA6 Property Information Form question 9.1?...

9 Parking

9.1 What are the parking arrangements at the property?

If so, that forms part of the contract, so you might have scope to claim damages from the seller for misrepresentation - if the information given is misleading.


BUT... it'll only be part of the contract if it came via your solicitor.

Anything in the EAs property description, emails (or letters) from the seller or EA, things the seller or EA said, won't be part of the contract.

davidmcn

Smodlet wrote: »

Yet one flat has none? Does not seem quite right, does it?

Or possibly several flats have none. It's not all that unusual (and we've had very similar threads here before!). There may have been buying and selling of spaces among the flats.