Freehold garage with no right of use

Ditzy_Mitzy

NameUnavailable said:

molerat said:

So on what grounds does the other  person have the right to use it as op states it belongs to the property in question.

This. If you own the freehold that's it. You can't have a freehold otherwise. If it's a flying freehold over the garages and the neighbours garage is on a lease that is a fairly common arrangement.

If the neighbour doesn't have a lease, what do they have that proves their right to use YOUR freehold garage?

Something is missing in the detail here.

The lack of a lease is not necessarily 'it', as freehold land or buildings can be subject to rights of access, or rights to park motor vehicles.  There ought to be a 'right of access' or similar noted in the deeds to the house incorporating the garage.  
Such rights tend to be used with communal car parks or leaseholds that don't include their parking spaces within the lease demise.  The ground the space is on remains the property and problem of the freeholder, but he has to allow another a right to access and/or use it. 
Whilst there's nothing wrong with such an arrangement in principle, it is insufficient legal remedy for the situation here where the garage is an integral part of the freeholder's house.  A right of access is, generally, a clause.  It doesn't have the scope to cover all the complications associated with this arrangement.
The whole thing seems shoddy to me.  

Silvershine

We are a Residential Management Company and this is our dilemma:  All of our Flats (2 private purpose built blocks of flats) are Leasehold.  The RMC was set up by the Developer in the 70's and part of that set up was that all garages (built for the development) were transferred Freehold to the RMC.  In the 90's the roof needed replacing so a previous Board of Directors (short sighted I know)  sold the Freehold Garages to some of the Leaseholders (to raise money to carry out roof works).  Subsequently some of those Leasehold flats have been sold on but the Garages were not (we did manage to trace of one of the Garage Freeholders who assumed that when they sold the flat the garage was sold with it - and he was most happy to be told he was still the Freeholder of an such a prized asset and promptly sold it on the private market).  There are more that a few Garages which have been "abandoned" in the same manner & we cannot trace the owners (some of whom had their Leasehold property re-possessed in the 80 / 90's recession - without the Freehold Garages).  We now need to carry out extensive driveway repairs (there is a clause in the Land Registry Titles that state we can charge for maintenance - not Service Charges - and that Garages must only be used for parking a vehicle) and seeing that now over half the Garages belong to Freeholders who are not Leaseholders and do not live in the development, we wish to claw back some of the driveway repair costs.  Due to the "abandonment" of the Garages we are in limbo as we do not know what to do with them (e.g. could we - should claim adverse possession?).  It also seems some of the non resident Freeholders are using their Garages to store items for selling (a business) and again we do not know what rights we have as the RMC to halt this behaviour. Also just under half of the garages are "flying Freehold" and have no building insurance.  We cannot insist the Garage Freeholders insure the buildings as they are Freehold plus we also cannot insure the buildings ourselves as they do not belong to us.  It is an unholy mess!  Any help / advice would be appreciated !!! 

Slithery

@Silvershine
It would be better if you started your own thread, otherwise you'll just end up wifh confused posters answering the original OP's question instead.
Thanks.

teachfast

Just a thought on the original post: is there anything to stop you charging for the use of the second garage, even if you can't use it - not a lease, but a service charge to cover your costs.

eddddy

teachfast said:

Just a thought on the original post: is there anything to stop you charging for the use of the second garage, even if you can't use it - not a lease, but a service charge to cover your costs.

I imagine that the garage user wouldn't pay the service charge - because they don't have to, and it is unenforceable.

And it wouldn't really help the OP's concerns about what the garage is used for, and insurance risk etc.