Residential Management and Parking Restrictions

cbm64chris

Good morning forum, 

I am not completely sure this the correct forum for such a topic, so I ask forgiveness in advance if not.

I am an owner occupier of a freehold property on a residential road of 13 homes. There are two spur roads from mine for which this is the only entrance and exit to the estate. The other two roads are a mixture of houses and apartments. The estate is built upon an old nurseries and has a management company to maintain the apartments and green spaces. I pay a fee to the management company which, whilst not happy,  agreed to upon purchasing the property 6 years ago. The fee has been rising year on year, no surprise, for what is essentially grass cutting etc for the houses.

The management company are extremely lax is responding to questions, and have not held any public meeting for two years. Out of the blue yesterday we received, by email, a notice attached below. We do live near the hospital, about a mile away and there is a special needs school adjacent to the estate. The teachers of the school use the road in term time to park. I had spoken with the school independently a couple of years back to ask that the teachers be asked to park considerately after a couple of incidents, after which everything has been fine.

My question is this; can they just do this without consultation or providing details as to how this might affect residents access to their homes and any financial impacts prior to painting the "road lines". I have reached out to the management company for comment via twitter because on previous attempts to reach them on the phone they never call back and the named management agent is never available. The twitter request has been answered but as yet no contact has been made. I am not necessarily opposed to parking controls, but I would like the details up front, not for them to just be implemented then be told I am liable for parking outside my home. I do have a driveway that I use but we have visitors on occasion and I want to be prepared.

Thanks for any advice!

daveyjp

If the roads are private and there is a parking "problem" a parking (mis) management company is not what you want.

What rights the management company have to paint lines and introduce a parking mismanagement company will be down to your agreement with them.  Flat leaseholders may have stronger grounds than yourself as a freeholder.

Jenni_D

Message a board guide to get this moved to the Parking board.

A managing company cannot arbitrarily impose parking restrictions if they weren't there previously and were not mentioned in the leases. Any material changes to the leases must be approved by at least 75% of the tenants/resident properties, with no more than 10% against. (This is the law - Landlord & Tenants Act). It is almost certain that any clause in the leases about estate management will NOT allow them to take the actions they plan, as such actions would be to the detriment of the leaseholders.

PS - if they're planning to paint double yellow lines on a private (non-adopted) road then they are meaningless - they are simply painted lines, they have no legal relevance.

AdrianC

They own and manage those private, unadopted roads, so - yes - they can choose to paint lines on their tarmac. As many as they like, in whatever colour they like.

The lines will carry zero legal weight, of course, unless and until "parking control" is implemented. Then you'll have a private company issuing invoices, providing all the legal signage requirements are complied with.

Jenni_D

AdrianC said:

They own and manage those private, unadopted roads, so - yes - they can choose to paint lines on their tarmac. As many as they like, in whatever colour they like.

The lines will carry zero legal weight, of course, unless and until "parking control" is implemented. Then you'll have a private company issuing invoices, providing all the legal signage requirements are complied with.

There's more to it than that ... if the leases aren't properly amended then the parking company would be a 3rd party stranger to the contract and would have no legal rights at all. (That won't stop them of course. And once the non-resident parking "problem" is resolved they'll target the residents and their visitors. The OP is quite right to kick up a fuss before this even starts).

cbm64chris

Thank you @Jenni_D I am seeking a response from the management company and will post back with their response.

D_P_Dance

These s may be of interest

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2016/11/residential-parking.html

https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum/residential-letting-questions/1053920-private-parking-companies

user1977

Jenni_D said:

A managing company cannot arbitrarily impose parking restrictions if they weren't there previously and were not mentioned in the leases. Any material changes to the leases must be approved by at least 75% of the tenants/resident properties, with no more than 10% against. (This is the law - Landlord & Tenants Act). It is almost certain that any clause in the leases about estate management will NOT allow them to take the actions they plan, as such actions would be to the detriment of the leaseholders.

The OP said they have a freehold property.

Coupon-mad

cbm64chris said:

Thank you @Jenni_D I am seeking a response from the management company and will post back with their response.

But please get your thread moved to the parking tickets forum because you and your neighbours must object to this blight and kick the idea of ‘considering’ a PPC out, like this:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5997200/pcm-company-introduced/p1

Call a neighbours’ meeting or start a WhatsApp group and make sure they all object and tell the management company NOT to ‘consider’ inflicting some scum ex clamper firm on you all or you will be the sitting ducks, at £100 a pop. Plus any delivery drivers, taxis and visitors.  All the targets.  A permit scheme is not a good thing, believe us.

but you need this thread moving to the right board and to read other similar threads.  Stop this before it starts or move house, it will blight the estate.

Jenni_D

user1977 said:

Jenni_D said:

A managing company cannot arbitrarily impose parking restrictions if they weren't there previously and were not mentioned in the leases. Any material changes to the leases must be approved by at least 75% of the tenants/resident properties, with no more than 10% against. (This is the law - Landlord & Tenants Act). It is almost certain that any clause in the leases about estate management will NOT allow them to take the actions they plan, as such actions would be to the detriment of the leaseholders.

The OP said they have a freehold property.

Correct - but not ALL properties there are freehold so the OP can use the arguments to inform their neighbours. There will (probably) also be a freeholder agreement with the ManCo, so the OP should read that in detail to see what it says. I suspect the freeholder rights will be somewhat similar.

cbm64chris

So, the management company have claimed the road is private. However, it’s not and is an adopted road as stated transfer of covernent