Car declared sorn in our parking area

grayson

We live in a cul de sac where the road is tarmac. However, a section comes off the tarmac and is unadopted concrete.

The road has 5 houses built on it and opposite is a parking area which is unadopted. The area is for our 5 houses as the road outside our house is narrow so we are unable to park outside.

When I purchased the house the deed stated the parking area was the responsibility of the 5 House owners.

Now one of our neighbors who lives on a public road has declared his vehicle Sorn and parked it in our parking area. We have asked them politely to remove it. However, they refused. So my question, is there any way we can get it moved legally?

Thanks

foxy-stoat

Report to the DVLA, if its uninsured as well then they may come along and remove it for you. I wouldnt bother though as if the owner gets the hump and thinks you have grassed him up and has to pay a fine he may take it out on your car.

Is he allowed to park on there or is the parking private to your house?

Car_54

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Report to the DVLA, if its uninsured as well then they may come along and remove it for you. I wouldnt bother though as if the owner gets the hump and thinks you have grassed him up and has to pay a fine he may take it out on your car.

Is he allowed to park on there or is the parking private to your house?

The land is apparently unadopted, so he’s complying with SORN and the DVLA can’t touch it.

AdrianC

Car_54 wrote: »

The land is apparently unadopted, so he’s complying with SORN and the DVLA can’t touch it.

No, not that simple.

Plenty of public highways are unadopted - who's responsible for their maintenance doesn't affect their status.

If it's deemed to be within the scope of RTA, because of an expectation of public access, then it's fair game for DVLA. If it's not, then it's entirely down to the landowner to get the car removed, which won't be quick or simple - and the only way to prevent it in the future is some form of access control.

grayson

It's our land according to the deeds of House. However public do have access to get to a block of garages.

a.turner

AdrianC wrote: »

No, not that simple.

Plenty of public highways are unadopted - who's responsible for their maintenance doesn't affect their status.

If it's deemed to be within the scope of RTA, because of an expectation of public access, then it's fair game for DVLA. If it's not, then it's entirely down to the landowner to get the car removed, which won't be quick or simple - and the only way to prevent it in the future is some form of access control.

You're right when it comes to insurance but there's a requirement for it to be maintainable at public expense.

a.turner

grayson wrote: »

We live in a cul de sac where the road is tarmac. However, a section comes off the tarmac and is unadopted concrete.

The road has 5 houses built on it and opposite is a parking area which is unadopted. The area is for our 5 houses as the road outside our house is narrow so we are unable to park outside.

When I purchased the house the deed stated the parking area was the responsibility of the 5 House owners.

Now one of our neighbors who lives on a public road has declared his vehicle Sorn and parked it in our parking area. We have asked them politely to remove it. However, they refused. So my question, is there any way we can get it moved legally?

Thanks

The question you need to satisfy is this:

Is it your land and he has no rights to be there or is it a public place and he may not be meeting the insurance requirements?

If its insured and sorn you're on your own either way.

Goudy

What's already been written is correct.

There's nothing in the law (yet) to stop someone parking on your private property such as your driveway, though there is usually a council responsibility to remove abandoned vehicles from both public and private land.

If the car has no tax, MOT and insurance and is parked on your land, it shouldn't be hard to convince the council it's abandoned and have them remove it or at least trace the owner and threaten them with it's removal.

You already know it's Sorn'd.
You can check if it's MOT'd here https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-status
And insured here https://ownvehicle.askmid.com/

AdrianC

Goudy wrote: »

There's nothing in the law (yet) to stop someone parking on your private property such as your driveway

And the law actually banned landowners from taking the measures they used to be able to do.

Many people think even the very restricted currently available measures are terrible, and they should be free to park wherever they like with impunity and zero come-back. There are forums dedicated to helping them...

TooManyPoints

The issue is firstly the function of the land where the car is parked. If it is a "road" a SORN'd vehicle cannot be left there. If it is not a road (e.g. if it is a car park) then it can. Whether the area is adopted or unadopted, repairable at public expense or not is not the primary issue, it's whether it's a road or not. If it is a road then other factors come into play but before then, certainly in this case, the purpose of the land needs to be established.

The requirement for a vehicle to be subject to a valid SORN is that the vehicle is not used or kept on a public road. A car park is not a road. I imagine, as seems customary, what I write will be immediately challenged, rubbished or dismissed by at least one participant to this thread, so in a (probably unsuccessful) attempt to avoid that, here's my support:

Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 [penalty for using or keeping an unlicensed vehicle]

(2B) Subsection (1) does not apply to a vehicle if—

(a)the vehicle is being neither used nor kept on a public road [my emphasis], and

(b)the particulars and declaration required to be furnished and made by regulations under section 22(1D) have been furnished and made in accordance with the regulations and the terms of the declaration have at no time been breached.

Subsection (1) referred to sets out the requirements to license a vehicle. Section 22 (1D) sets out the requirements to complete a SORN.

The authority that determines that a car park is not a road is Clarke v Kato, House of Lords, 1998.

So, if the area is a "car park" the vehicle can remain there provided it is SORN'd. If it is a road then it possibly (depending on the status of the road) cannot.

Herzlos

Are they planning on keeping it SORN for the short term i.e. waiting on a repair, or is it likely to sit and rot in the car park? If the former and it's not a real nuisance I'd leave it for a while. Otherwise you can check with the council or offer to remove it for them. No point in inadvertently blocking it in since if it's SORN it's not moving anyway.

AdrianC wrote: »

There are forums dedicated to helping them...

You mean the parking sub-forum on here? They don't approve of parking anywhere you want and ignoring the signage - that forum is there to help people who've been trapped by unscrupulous parking companies who dwarf the real problem like the OP is seeing here. You could be sure that bringing in a private parking company would (potentially) get rid of this SORN car, but you'd then find that the car park doesn't bring in enough income so the legally allowed residents will still receiving huge fabricated invoices for the most pedantic of infractions.



No-one will encourage someone to park where they shouldn't, but at the same time there's no-one encouraging anyone to pay a private body £60+ for any parking violations - real or otherwise.