Allocated parking but current owners not using

Gavin83

I'd consider this a red flag. Parking issues can be a major problem and one of the leading cause of disputes between neighbours. It's amazing what people feel they are entitled to and if someone has been parking there for a while they may well feel they have some claim on the space, even if someone else is moving in. Personally I'd want this resolved before I bought.

YoungBlueEyes said:

A few years ago I had a problem with people parking outside my house. So I popped a note on the windscreen that said something like "Jeez you're brave parking here, I wouldn't do it twice if I were you". They never did.

Did you actually own the space outside your house or are you one of these people who feel they have more of a right to park on the street than someone else just because the space is alongside their property?

People are often unjustly territorial about others parking outside their property even though in most cases they have exactly the same right to park there as anyone else. As someone who has experienced issues with this in the past it does get my back up a bit.

ReadingTim

Gavin83 said:

I'd consider this a red flag. Parking issues can be a major problem and one of the leading cause of disputes between neighbours. It's amazing what people feel they are entitled to and if someone has been parking there for a while they may well feel they have some claim on the space, even if someone else is moving in. Personally I'd want this resolved before I bought.

Problem is that there really is no way to resolve it.  The best outcome you can hope for is that the current occupiers of the space are reasonable people, and stop using it when you move in and start to want to use it.  However, you might have to be fairly "assertive" in reclaiming it, which might cause a bit of tension.  The worst case is that they continue to use it, whereupon you have little (legal) remedy - the management company won't give a monkey's, and can't do anything anyway.  If that's the case, you can only hope they move out, and the new people are more respectful of what isn't theirs.  

Sadly, the only way to guarantee a parking space is on your own private, gated drive.  But even then someone might park across the access way, blocking you in or out.  The OP is therefore going to have to decide if he's willing to accept this as a risk, as it's a "problem" that can't be "solved".  

BungalowBel

My son's flat comes with a garage.  He has no car.  When he first moved in, one person in particular used to park in front of his garage. Despite  putting a note on his garage asking the person not to park there, it still continued.  When he asked the person face to face not to park there, they said 'oh well you haven't got a car', to which my son replied 'that doesn't mean I don't want to use my garage!'  In fact he uses it for storage and to park his cycle.

The person did stop parking there after that.

I would get it sorted out before you move.  Ask the seller.

born_again

NameUnavailable said:

I would insist that the matter is dealt with before you exchange contracts. Put the onus on the vendor to deal with the liberty taking neighbours. If not I can imagine some of the responses you might get - like "we agreed I can use this space" or "I paid them £ to store my bikes here, you can't tell me to move".......

Seems no one has mentioned that as current owner does not have a car, that they have agreed to others using the space, or never go there so may not know.

But they should be the ones to sort it as current owners.

YoungBlueEyes

Gavin83 said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

A few years ago I had a problem with people parking outside my house. So I popped a note on the windscreen that said something like "Jeez you're brave parking here, I wouldn't do it twice if I were you". They never did.

Did you actually own the space outside your house or are you one of these people who feel they have more of a right to park on the street than someone else just because the space is alongside their property?

I did own it yep, it was a private space that came with my house.

It was too tempting for people that were "only gonna be 2 minutes!!"  The anger in some people is frightening sometimes.

Gavin83

YoungBlueEyes said:

Gavin83 said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

A few years ago I had a problem with people parking outside my house. So I popped a note on the windscreen that said something like "Jeez you're brave parking here, I wouldn't do it twice if I were you". They never did.

Did you actually own the space outside your house or are you one of these people who feel they have more of a right to park on the street than someone else just because the space is alongside their property?

I did own it yep, it was a private space that came with my house.

It was too tempting for people that were "only gonna be 2 minutes!!"  The anger in some people is frightening sometimes.

Fair enough then. You’ve obviously got a right to be upset about people parking on your own land!

Skiddaw1

YoungBlueEyes said:

Gavin83 said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

A few years ago I had a problem with people parking outside my house. So I popped a note on the windscreen that said something like "Jeez you're brave parking here, I wouldn't do it twice if I were you". They never did.

Did you actually own the space outside your house or are you one of these people who feel they have more of a right to park on the street than someone else just because the space is alongside their property?

I did own it yep, it was a private space that came with my house.

It was too tempting for people that were "only gonna be 2 minutes!!"  The anger in some people is frightening sometimes.

Goodness, that takes me back to previous house. We lived on a street of Victorian terraced houses with a park opposite. There was permit parking on our side and time limited parking on the other but it didn't stop people just randomly parking and using the street as an alternative park & ride/place to advertise cars for sale/location for commercial travellors to stop for a kip (we weren't far from the M4). It used to drive us nuts. So glad we (a) live in a village now and (b) have a private drive... 

YoungBlueEyes

Bladdy hell, that sounds like a nightmare Skiddaw! Private drive here too. It actually nudged a couple of 'must haves' off our list when we were house-hunting, because of those people. 

I can see how folk get into shouting/screaming matches, when someone is adamant they will only be 2 mins!!! Like Gavin said - it's the entitlement of them.

That's why I changed tack with my notes. "This is a private parking space, please don't park here again" didn't make a bit of difference. Whereas when it became the same car every day I left a note of a different tone  

Slinky

Skiddaw1 said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

Gavin83 said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

A few years ago I had a problem with people parking outside my house. So I popped a note on the windscreen that said something like "Jeez you're brave parking here, I wouldn't do it twice if I were you". They never did.

Did you actually own the space outside your house or are you one of these people who feel they have more of a right to park on the street than someone else just because the space is alongside their property?

I did own it yep, it was a private space that came with my house.

It was too tempting for people that were "only gonna be 2 minutes!!"  The anger in some people is frightening sometimes.

Goodness, that takes me back to previous house. We lived on a street of Victorian terraced houses with a park opposite. There was permit parking on our side and time limited parking on the other but it didn't stop people just randomly parking and using the street as an alternative park & ride/place to advertise cars for sale/location for commercial travellors to stop for a kip (we weren't far from the M4). It used to drive us nuts. So glad we (a) live in a village now and (b) have a private drive... 

This reminds me of when we for no reason anybody could fathom, had a car main dealer from about 25 miles away started leaving a car in our street, with 'this car available from £X a month' plastered all over it. It wasn't a car connected with any of our neighbours, the street was a culdesac with only 7 houses on beyond where it was parked. As a marketing tactic it seemed pretty useless.  They changed the car periodically. It was particularly unwelcome as our neighbour opposite, their daughter was dying there of cancer at the time and they had several visitors and this useless car was taking up space.

My immediate neighbour who calls a spade, a spade phoned the garage and told them to shift it in no uncertain terms, which eventually they did.

Altior

We have a private forecourt, shared between four properties. I have an allocated space in the forecourt (unmarked) which I rarely use. One of the other properties changed hands recently, and the new neighbours started parking in my space. The cheek of it! Although the space is not marked, it is very clearly not part of their property or land, they have their own bays (which are back to back).

Of course I could have knocked on the door and asked them to desist, but I resolved it by purchasing a blue traffic cone for circa £20 and plonking it in the space.