Private Road, Abandoned Car, SORN and ownership query

paul_c123

I don't believe its been established the vehicle is "illegally there" yet anyway. That explains why neither the council, police nor the private estate management firm have been able to take action. And why the suggestions to move it are either of dubious legality, or won't work.

One man's "abandoned fly tipping wreck of a car" is another man's "restoration project, currently awaiting restoration".

Mildly_Miffed

paul_c123 said:

I don't believe its been established the vehicle is "illegally there" yet anyway.

It's SORNed. It's on the road.

It's got no MOT. It's on the road.

It's almost certainly uninsured. It's on the road.

It's almost certainly unroadworthy. It's on the road.

It may or may not be parked causing an obstruction.

That's at least four things that render it "illegally there", right there.

The registered keeper is disavowing any knowledge of, or responsibility for, it. That's an offence on their part - failing to update the keeper change.

The car is undoubtedly abandoned. The body responsible for the land would be well within their rights to remove it.

Since it is not a council adopted road, that body is the management company. They are failing the residents in not doing so.

One man's "abandoned fly tipping wreck of a car" is another man's "restoration project, currently awaiting restoration".

So that man needs to get it off the road, ideally in dry storage, while it's awaiting restoration...

Titus_Wadd

Hi all, thank you for contributing everyone, I don't mind any conversation on or around the subject and just typing things out when my mind was kind of churning in it's own echochamber, has helped me collect my thoughts.  That's worth a lot   👍 

We have been asking for feedback from these authorities for 4+ years including on some of the statutes quoted above, particularly the Refuse disposal one re abandoned vehicles but answers have been vague such as "we don't do that", "it's not a road", "N says he owns it so it can't be abandoned", with no attempt to explain or justify their answers.  For the Council, the ombudsman has twice found injustice resulting from poor communication on this matter but nothing has improved.

I'll attend this meeting and wait for them to tell me what they can do, not focus on what they might or won't  do.  It seems ridiculous that over 4+ years we have had regular meetings with senior officers, these bodies have taken legal advice. - what a waste of tax-payers' money! 
There are live criminal harassment investigations and a member of the neighbour's family has been charged with a dozen counts of criminal damage. 
The dumping of the car is part of this "targeted campaign" as one Chief Inspector described it, but there is reluctance to include it in the harassment case but no one can tell us why.  The neighbour has made admissions to a PC and also to a council officer that they want us to "comply" with their view, to control our lives and ideally see us move out.
I'll report back if anything miraculous transpires at tomorrow's meeting...or better still when the car is gone, but that might take some time.

P.S. the condition of the car is dreadful- inside is a biohazard petri-dish environment and I wouldn't ask anyone to get in and try to start it without a full haz-mat suit!  Flat tyres, rusty, a self-seeded weed patch growing underneath and hasn't moved for 5 years.  Even so, the council lawyer suggested last month that the landowner "may have granted lawful authority to abandon a derelict car on their road" for 5 years.  It's not a legal angle I've been able to cross-ref on the Internet  🤓 but I can confirm the MOT ran out in April 2020 and shows as SORN, so not taxed on the DVLA records
Cheers again x

Car_54

Mildly_Miffed said:

paul_c123 said:

I don't believe its been established the vehicle is "illegally there" yet anyway.

It's SORNed. It's on the road.

It's got no MOT. It's on the road.

It's almost certainly uninsured. It's on the road.

It's almost certainly unroadworthy. It's on the road.

It may or may not be parked causing an obstruction.

That's at least four things that render it "illegally there", right there.

The registered keeper is disavowing any knowledge of, or responsibility for, it. That's an offence on their part - failing to update the keeper change.

The car is undoubtedly abandoned. The body responsible for the land would be well within their rights to remove it.

Since it is not a council adopted road, that body is the management company. They are failing the residents in not doing so.

One man's "abandoned fly tipping wreck of a car" is another man's "restoration project, currently awaiting restoration".

So that man needs to get it off the road, ideally in dry storage, while it's awaiting restoration...

It’s an unadopted road, so it can be legally parked while SORNED.

Wittykitty10

Hi we have similar problems we live on new build estate managed by a management company and all the residents pay a service charge

We have car with foreign number plates which is broken down we seen them leave it on 10/4/25. 

The road at the moment is unadopted but soon will be hopefully.

we have reported to the Police it’s of no interest as it’s not causing any parking restrictions, not stolen, or committed any crime.

The local council who we report abandoned cars antisocial behaviour to said they have traced owner and this owner wants to keep the car and that the car is road legal until 2026. Also the land is private. We’ve contacted land owners Developers not interested.

1.   The car is broken down We reported because it’s antisocial behaviour the owner kept coming back doing repairs on the road side blocking our driveway with his other car and tools walking over our property. 

Also left a pile of bricks on the pavement but we have managed to get the council to move them.

2. They have not been back since 20/7/25.

3. We thought cars with foreign number plates can only be used in Uk for six months. 

4. The owner does not live on our estate. Not sure they are in country who knows?

This car is broken down the normal thing to do would have it recovered to your home address or to a garage not leave it elsewhere.

it does have a smashed wing mirror passenger side. 

Weeds growing around the car which are you into trees.  Making the road look like a dump.

We don’t think the owner is coming back to collect it no intention.  

Cause it has foreign number plates can’t check insurance or tax.