Legal issue, property left empty - who owns it?

lincroft1710

sevenhills said:

user1977 said:

And it might be simpler if they posted here rather than us playing Chinese whispers via their friend.

With council tax payable, we are probably wasting our time speculating.

Council Tax is not payable on garages. A stand alone single garage used to house a private motor car is exempt from both CT and Non Domestic Rates. If the garage is capable of housing more than one car, then it is subject to NDR 

Tiglet2

t8769 said:

A friend went out of the country, leaving a garage empty for 20 years.
He would like to know who owns it now, and if he can legally take possession of the property again.

The car in the garage are now for sale on the internet, so someone's been in there and helped themselves.
Is there anything he can do about this?

He doesn't have money, I wonder if a lawyer would take this on, on commission, so far haven't found anyone.

Advice appreciated.


Thank you

It's half term, so most lawyers are on holiday.

pretamang

are you looking for advice for your 'friend'? or have you found the garage and started selling the cars?

Titus_Wadd

https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax Check the status via this link.  Assuming the cars were SORNed around 2002 if they are still showing as SORN from that time then no one has registered ownership since then: A new registered keeper has to re-SORN the vehicle if it's to be kept off-road.  An easy on-line check from anywhere in the world.

The current seller might not be the car thief if the car has changed hands since someone opened the seemingly abandoned garage and though "Finders keepers!"

Even if you do some amateur sleuthing I wouldn't expect the Police to be highly motivated to pursue any criminal activity uncovered. 

Section62

thegreenone said:

Does friend have proof (DVLA etc) the cars are his?

DVLA only records vehicle keepers, not ownership of vehicles - so although being the registered keeper might help build a case that the 'friend' owns the cars, by itself the DVLA record is not 'proof' of ownership.

sevenhills

lincroft1710 said:

Council Tax is not payable on garages. A stand alone single garage used to house a private motor car is exempt from both CT and Non Domestic Rates. If the garage is capable of housing more than one car, then it is subject to NDR 

In his first post the OP stated there was a car in the garage, in his second post he stated "cars".
Perhaps English is not his first language?

lincroft1710

sevenhills said:

lincroft1710 said:

Council Tax is not payable on garages. A stand alone single garage used to house a private motor car is exempt from both CT and Non Domestic Rates. If the garage is capable of housing more than one car, then it is subject to NDR 

In his first post the OP stated there was a car in the garage, in his second post he stated "cars".
Perhaps English is not his first language?

Whether a garage holds 1 car or 100, it is still not subject to Council Tax

Bradden

lincroft1710 said:

sevenhills said:

lincroft1710 said:

Council Tax is not payable on garages. A stand alone single garage used to house a private motor car is exempt from both CT and Non Domestic Rates. If the garage is capable of housing more than one car, then it is subject to NDR 

In his first post the OP stated there was a car in the garage, in his second post he stated "cars".
Perhaps English is not his first language?

Whether a garage holds 1 car or 100, it is still not subject to Council Tax

Is it really that simple? I'm surprised no business has used this potential loophole to avoid paying by claiming that they just have a large garage and not a workshop etc.?

lincroft1710

Bradden said:

lincroft1710 said:

sevenhills said:

lincroft1710 said:

Council Tax is not payable on garages. A stand alone single garage used to house a private motor car is exempt from both CT and Non Domestic Rates. If the garage is capable of housing more than one car, then it is subject to NDR 

In his first post the OP stated there was a car in the garage, in his second post he stated "cars".
Perhaps English is not his first language?

Whether a garage holds 1 car or 100, it is still not subject to Council Tax

Is it really that simple? I'm surprised no business has used this potential loophole to avoid paying by claiming that they just have a large garage and not a workshop etc.?

They pay Non Domestic Rates, not Council Tax

easy

Bradden said:

lincroft1710 said:

sevenhills said:

lincroft1710 said:

Council Tax is not payable on garages. A stand alone single garage used to house a private motor car is exempt from both CT and Non Domestic Rates. If the garage is capable of housing more than one car, then it is subject to NDR 

In his first post the OP stated there was a car in the garage, in his second post he stated "cars".
Perhaps English is not his first language?

Whether a garage holds 1 car or 100, it is still not subject to Council Tax

Is it really that simple? I'm surprised no business has used this potential loophole to avoid paying by claiming that they just have a large garage and not a workshop etc.?

I'm sure someone has used this 'loophole' in the past,  but councils do have inspectors,  and there are other aspects - such as the status of the premises will be checked if one tries to get business insurance.