Landowner Responsibility / Parking Company

Tron103

Hi,

Apologies for the unclear title - I couldn’t figure out how to word it more effectively!

We are currently renting a property that includes an allocated parking space in the lease. We requested a permit but this took over a month to arrive and in the meantime we’ve received three separate parking fines. We have followed the NEWBIES thread, an appeal has unsurprisingly been rejected. 

I’ve now reached out to the Property Management company who manage the land including the car park on behalf of the landowner. They however have said that they have no authority over the parking company as they do not pay them to operate on the land.

This has confused me. And I was wondering if I’m missing something. If they aren’t paid/instructed to operate on private land, how are they able to do so? 

I’ll continue to fight as I think it’s ludicrous all round (the property management company also said it takes over a month to issue a permit because the company are WFH - I WFH, it doesn’t give you an excuse to be crap at your job) but if anyone has an answer to this one I would be super grateful.

D_P_Dance

These are not fines, please read the newbies, google "primacy of contract", read these, and complain to your MP

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

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

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/324523-ukpc-liable-for-trespass-success/

Half_way

Most rking companies operate on a so called free service, that is if you invite them onto the land they will set up shop free of charge to you , on the condition that the pakring company gets and keeps the revenue for "pakring charge notices" in some cases they even operate a self ticketing option where someone will "volunteer" to issue pakring chage notices and in return get a reqard from each ticket issued.

If the managent company has invited the pakring company onto the land then tey may be half right in tat they dot pay them, however as principal they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents - even if those agents are acting free of charge.

So the big question is - who hired the parking company??

and secondary who is the management company?

D_P_Dance

It could be that the PPC was engaged by the headlease holder.

Have you complained to your landlord about this.  He/she may have far more clout with th e manco tahan a tenant.   Have you complained to your MP.

Umkomaas

Which parking firm please?  Their identity will have some influence on how we guide you from here. 

Tron103

Hi all - thanks for replying.

PPC is UKCPM. The Management Company has confirmed that they engaged their services two years ago on behalf of the landowner but will not share the contract / scope of services. They also refused to share a copy of the lease with me but I got hold of this through the LR so can clearly see there is no parking clause stating that the occupant of the property has to display a permit when parking in an allocated bay. 

I’m following the NEWBIES thread in detail and will write to my MP highlighting the unethical, inefficient and unfair practices but was curious as to how these agreements work in practice given the contact at the Management Company seems to think she has no power to do anything (my understanding is that the Management Company does).

Thanks again!

D_P_Dance

If the lease is silent on the matter,  if they then proceed to court, consider a counter claim under the housing acts, or asking for costs under CPR27.14(2)(g).

Fruitcake

As well as complaining to your MP, ask her/him to forward it to Michael Gove MP and Neil O'Brien MP at the department for levelling up, as they are responsible for producing the new mandatory parking code of practice that it is due to come into force next year.
You have an existing right to park that cannot be varied, amended or removed by an unregulated parking company that was not a party to your lease.

In addition, a lease cannot be varied without a ballot of all leaseholders and landlords, and a result in favour of the change as required by Part IV, Section 37 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. You should ask the MA when (not if) this ballot was carried out because it is unlawful to vary a lease without it, therefore the MA may have left themselves open to legal action against them by not following the requirements of the Act, the Law.

Tron103

This is brilliant - thank you. The MA has only told me that they informed leaseholders at the time. No discussion of a ballot. 

I’ve been somewhat nice to the MA so far but they have been completely unhelpful and said unless I can prove I had a permit or a temporary code displayed they can’t help and they can’t ask the PPC to rescind.

I’m going to gather all evidence including the above and respond to them highlighting that I’m also contacting my MP. Is it worth also writing to the Landowner who engages the Management Company?

Half_way

My guess is that the management company would have effectively steam rollered this through, in otherwords they would have signed the deal with the parking company and then told people they need a permit - no discussion or legal poll etc, just here it is  - show your permit or get a parking ticket.

 

One of the things with residential and similar cases is that you do need to be pro-active in objecting to the entire scheme - almost as soon as you are aware of issues, like now.

 You must ask the management company for the results of the poll under the landlord and tenant act , D_P_dance knows more about the particulars of that aspect.

you must also tell them that you have been miss led on the need for a permit and as you do not need to display one you are giving formal notice that you are withdrawing from the scheme, that until now you only took part in as a courtesy. as you were miss sold a permit you expect a re-fund of any fees paid

 You also need to tell/remind the management company that they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents - even if they do not pay for their services. And this could also include breaches of GDPR where an agent/contractor has accessed personal data of a Tennant/resident in order to generate a parking charge notice for parking on land where they have a pre existing right granted via the lease/rental agreement

Fruitcake

I suggest you also complain to the DVLA because the sold your personal data to the PPC without justification. You have an existing right to park. Include the information already posted about this.
They will come back with a bucket of whitewash. At that point, complain to the ICO about this unlawful sale of your personal data by the DVLA, and the unlawful processing of your data by the PPC.

There is actually a test court case being prepared against the DVLA for misuse of personal data. If it is successful, the floodgates will open and thousands of people will be included in a group claim against the DVLA.
Watch this space.

Again, you should include the misuse of your personal data by the DVLA in your complaints to your MP that you want forwarded to the MPs at the department for levelling up.

I suggest you also contact the PPC and MA, telling them you withdraw any implied right of access to your demised space as well as instructing them that you do not wish to participate in a for profit scheme on your demised space.