Paying to park on my drive although I own 1/4 of it

vantroad

Hello,
I am an equal freeholder and own 1/4 of a single parking space, along with the other 3 freeholders.

The other 3 freeholders want to rent out the driveway and all of the money charged, would go into the sinking / reserve fund for the 4 flats.

If I want to park my car on the driveway, should I have to pay the full price, or should I get a reduction of 1/4 as I own a 1/4 of the space?

One of the other freeholders is looking to seek legal advice if we don't all agree, at the moment they all think I should have to pay full price.

Is anyone able to assist please?

Thank you,
Vant Road

DE_612183

well yes, as all 4 contribute to the sinking fund - or you could only pay 1/4, but when a bill comes up that is paid out of the sinking fund - you have to pay 1/4 of it every time.

Coupon-mad

IANAL but this sounds like a truly daft idea and I'd warn against this.  Just think what this oppressive arrangement will do to your property resale value.  Nobody will want to buy your place (nor theirs) and you won't be able to reverse it unilaterally.

Never cede property rights that you already enjoy. I predict you'd all end up in court, fighting and paying tens of thousands for barristers, just to restore normality.

Browntoa

Nothing to stop the others carrying out this using just park and using the revenue to form a sinking fund.

Assuming the drive allows a single space for you to be reserved 

Everyone wins , no costly legal fights 

Grizebeck

This could turn out to very costly 

Grumpy_chap

vantroad said:

Hello,
I am an equal freeholder and own 1/4 of a single parking space, along with the other 3 freeholders.

The other 3 freeholders want to rent out the driveway and all of the money charged, would go into the sinking / reserve fund for the 4 flats.

If I want to park my car on the driveway, should I have to pay the full price, or should I get a reduction of 1/4 as I own a 1/4 of the space?

One of the other freeholders is looking to seek legal advice if we don't all agree, at the moment they all think I should have to pay full price.

Is anyone able to assist please?

Thank you,
Vant Road

What are the current rules for the use of the single parking space between the four freeholders?

Are you the only person to regularly use that single parking space?
Will you end up paying £10 per day to park and, because the other freeholders are not using the space, you have essentially been the only contributor to the sinking fund?
What demand is there to sell the parking space via Just Park or similar services in the location?

fisherjim

The whole thing seems a daft nightmare, are you saying there's one parking space owned by four properties?

If so, I assume that the other three don't use it and think as such lets get some pay back and you can whistle, what a silly set up, I wouldn't have moved there with that arrangement.

If they want you to pay full whack that isn't fair, as stated you will be contributing everything, it's not your issue that they don't use it.

If they want that arrangement they should buy out your share.

Surely the answer lies in the title deed covenants/conveyancing documents prepared by your solicitor when buying the property

vantroad

Grumpy_chap said:

vantroad said:

Hello,
I am an equal freeholder and own 1/4 of a single parking space, along with the other 3 freeholders.

The other 3 freeholders want to rent out the driveway and all of the money charged, would go into the sinking / reserve fund for the 4 flats.

If I want to park my car on the driveway, should I have to pay the full price, or should I get a reduction of 1/4 as I own a 1/4 of the space?

One of the other freeholders is looking to seek legal advice if we don't all agree, at the moment they all think I should have to pay full price.

Is anyone able to assist please?

Thank you,
Vant Road

What are the current rules for the use of the single parking space between the four freeholders?

Are you the only person to regularly use that single parking space?
Will you end up paying £10 per day to park and, because the other freeholders are not using the space, you have essentially been the only contributor to the sinking fund?
What demand is there to sell the parking space via Just Park or similar services in the location?

Thank you Grumpy_Chap.

6 months ago I tried to sell my flat and advertised it with off street parking (I have been using it, uninterrupted for over 12 years).  When the purchaser looked into the deeds, we found out that the single parking space (directly outside of my flat) was actually owned by all 4 freeholders.  I asked if they would sign a deed of variant which they all declined to do, as it would reduce their property value, by owning a 1/4 of a single parking space.

The sinking fund is paid into by all 4 freeholders each year as part of our Management Fee.

vantroad

My email to the freeholders:
I would also like to put on hold any decisions made with regards to the parking until the new purchasers have moved in so they have a fair 1/4 say on how they would like to proceed.  No, I don't know if they have a vehicle.  If they decided to park on the drive, they would pay 3/4 of the price, as they will own a 1/4 of it. 

An email received from one of the freeholders:

As there is a disagreement about how we move forward with the car parking space, I suggest we need another meeting with all directors. XXXX I completely understand you want your new purchaser to be involved in any decision making, however, as part owner of the space, I am not willing to continue forgoing income that the space generates. Especially considering we have no indication as to when a new buyer will be in.  XXXX and XXXX, where do you stand on this? 

Furthermore, if any one of us did want to use the car parking space (and it was agreed by all freeholders), I would have thought the full price would need to be paid.  The income from the space benefits all freeholders (not any one individual), so paying only ¾ of the rent would mean the person parking is not contributing to the Vant Road sinking fund, but benefits through reduced service charge (so effectively they get reduced parking and reduced service charge). If at any point a director of Vant Road wanted to rent the space, I'm assuming we could serve notice to anyone else renting the space so that directors (including a new purchaser) are prioritised. 

I am going to suggest we all look at the disagreement resolution clauses on our leases re how disagreements can legally be managed if we cannot reach a consensus. 

vantroad

Browntoa said:

Nothing to stop the others carrying out this using just park and using the revenue to form a sinking fund.

Assuming the drive allows a single space for you to be reserved 

Everyone wins , no costly legal fights 

Thanks Browntoa, it is a single parking space that is owned between 4 freeholders.

DE_612183

@vantroad
So what happens today?

who parks there just you?

If it's outside of your flat, what if someone else wants to use it?

Also if it does got out for sale / or even offered via Just Park - what happens if someone parks a van or motorhome outside - does that then impact your flat?

A photo or two might help!