Changes to the lease without my consent

loubel

So the lease gives the freeholder the right to bring in a rule that they will enforce the parking restrictions by employing a parking contractor and they notified you of this by writing to tell you they were bringing in enforcement measures and they put signs (on their property, they are permitted to) up regarding this.

All sounds completely ok and above board to me.

FUDbyDesign

loubel said:

So the lease gives the freeholder the right to bring in a rule that they will enforce the parking restrictions by employing a parking contractor and they notified you of this by writing to tell you they were bringing in enforcement measures and they put signs (on their property, they are permitted to) up regarding this.

All sounds completely ok and above board to me.

To be clear, the management of the property has been delegated to the management company by the leaseholders, of which I am one.  The management company are not the freeholder and it is not their property.  Do they have the right to take actions which will in effect resolve one problem (misuse of visitor parking bays) by the imposition of a new rule which does not relate to the visitor parking bays?  And even if they do have that right, wouldn't such a change require the consent of the majority of leaseholders? 

Schwarzwald

FUDbyDesign said:

My Situation
My garage is at the end of a block with no thoroughfare. For the last 4 years, I have been parking my car directly in front of my garage since it does not impede the movement of other vehicles at all. Nobody has ever complained about it and in fact the previous owner had been doing the same thing for decades prior. 

just a very simple question but also suggestion to make this all go away.

You have a garage.
Why don't you simply park INSIDE the garage?

the fact that nobody has complained and/or the previous occupier did the same are very weak arguments in favor of your case, especially in the UK where nobody ever complains directly face-2-face. The fact that this new rule came into place seems like a very clear indirect messaging that people might be indeed annoyed at it, but they simply just dont want to say it directly.

so, why dont you simply park INSIDE your garage?

eddddy

loubel said:

They are just enforcing the parking restriction (likely) contained in the lease - I doubt you are permitted to park in the common area so it would seem reasonable for the freeholder to take action to prevent this, just as it is reasonable to stop other leaseholders taking over the visitor spaces. 

Regarding parking in front of the garage -  in legal terms, it doesn't sound like the freeholder is enforcing the lease.


If they were enforcing the lease...

• The freeholder (or their agent) should have told @FUDbydesign that they were breaching their lease

• And the freeholder (or their agent) would send a (legally correct) Service Charge Demand that includes a Leasehold Administration fee, to recover their costs associated with enforcement

However, @FUDbydesign says they have received PCNs - Parking Charge Notices

• That would be a charge payable under a completely separate contract (nothing to do with the lease) for parking on the freeholder's land

Therefore...

• It's not a leasehold admin charge payable by a leaseholder resulting from a breach of their lease

• It's a parking charge payable by a private individual (any member of the public) for parking on a piece of private land

The route to challenging a Parking Charge Notice would be very different to the route for challenging a leasehold administration fee.

And/or maybe there is some legislation or case law or terms in the lease that prevents the freeholder charging private individuals for parking in areas which have been designated for communal use by a group of leaseholders. I don't know.

JM68

Don't think the OP has answered the key question here - does your lease expressly grant you the right to park where you have been parking?

If yes, then you have a legit grievance.

If no, then you have no "right" to park there, regardless of whether you or the previous leaseholder did, unless you get your lease changed to allow it, which presumably will require all other freeholders to agree.

FUDbyDesign

Schwarzwald said:

FUDbyDesign said:

My Situation
My garage is at the end of a block with no thoroughfare. For the last 4 years, I have been parking my car directly in front of my garage since it does not impede the movement of other vehicles at all. Nobody has ever complained about it and in fact the previous owner had been doing the same thing for decades prior. 

just a very simple question but also suggestion to make this all go away.

You have a garage.
Why don't you simply park INSIDE the garage?

the fact that nobody has complained and/or the previous occupier did the same are very weak arguments in favor of your case, especially in the UK where nobody ever complains directly face-2-face. The fact that this new rule came into place seems like a very clear indirect messaging that people might be indeed annoyed at it, but they simply just dont want to say it directly.

so, why dont you simply park INSIDE your garage?

I'm planning to do just that although I have some things to clear out beforehand and there's not enough space for the car plus the kids' bikes so I'll need to find a place for those. But that's my problem and it's neither here nor there.  The issue I have is that I was not consulted or informed about the imposition of a private parking contractor.  I don't even know whether there will be a cost impact in terms of management fees. 

FUDbyDesign

JM68 said:

Don't think the OP has answered the key question here - does your lease expressly grant you the right to park where you have been parking?

If yes, then you have a legit grievance.

If no, then you have no "right" to park there, regardless of whether you or the previous leaseholder did, unless you get your lease changed to allow it, which presumably will require all other freeholders to agree.

The lease does not expressly mention private parking rights in communal areas of the grounds except in relation to getting into and out of the garages.  As a leaseholder with a share of the freehold, do I not have certain rights and freedoms to the use of the land (of which I'm a partial owner), obviously as long as they do not impinge on the rights and freedoms of the other leaseholders? 

DullGreyGuy

FUDbyDesign said:

In January, a letter was hand-posted to every flat containing a letter informing residents that "at the Annual General Meeting it was agreed that parking control measures are to be introduced for the Visitors spaces in the form of 24-Hour Visitor Parking Permit scratch cards." There was no mention of what those "measures" would be, or how they would be enforced. And there was certainly no indication that a private parking contractor had been appointed.

Not sure what else you thought parking control measures would be other than ticketing those breaching the existing rules?

Inevitably the car parking section of this site will give you the tools to find a way to squirm out of it. 

Its never going to be possible to attend 100% of any meeting even with the best will in the world but does show the importance of attending AGMs if you're a shareholder in the freeholder!

user1977

FUDbyDesign said:

JM68 said:

Don't think the OP has answered the key question here - does your lease expressly grant you the right to park where you have been parking?

If yes, then you have a legit grievance.

If no, then you have no "right" to park there, regardless of whether you or the previous leaseholder did, unless you get your lease changed to allow it, which presumably will require all other freeholders to agree.

As a leaseholder with a share of the freehold, do I not have certain rights and freedoms to the use of the land (of which I'm a partial owner), obviously as long as they do not impinge on the rights and freedoms of the other leaseholders? 

Is that a legal principle you've just made up yourself, or have you found something which suggests it might apply in this situation? It's not something I've heard before - your rights are those stated in the lease. If you want a right to a parking space, you get your lease varied to say so.

FUDbyDesign

user1977 said:

FUDbyDesign said:

JM68 said:

Don't think the OP has answered the key question here - does your lease expressly grant you the right to park where you have been parking?

If yes, then you have a legit grievance.

If no, then you have no "right" to park there, regardless of whether you or the previous leaseholder did, unless you get your lease changed to allow it, which presumably will require all other freeholders to agree.

As a leaseholder with a share of the freehold, do I not have certain rights and freedoms to the use of the land (of which I'm a partial owner), obviously as long as they do not impinge on the rights and freedoms of the other leaseholders? 

Is that a legal principle you've just made up yourself, or have you found something which suggests it might apply in this situation? It's not something I've heard before - your rights are those stated in the lease. If you want a right to a parking space, you get your lease varied to say so.

Not at all. Perhaps I'm wrong but I don't think the lease can provide an explicit and exhaustive list of rights pertaining to the property, so I was merely asking if it's possible that I have certain rights outside of what's been defined in the lease. Anyway, I take it the answer is no.