Oh dear! Just had visit from council officer about not having dropped kerb...

Wicked_witch

Thanks for posting this thread, Ellie007, as I have a house with a drive but no dropped kerb and had no idea that I would be doing anything wrong by parking there! I don't drive atm but am planning to learn this year in order to be able to give my visually impaired husband more mobility, as we are sick of people taking up disabled spaces on the bus with pushchairs so he cannot get his guide dog into a safe place and also of cab drivers who have no idea of their obligation to take guide dogs *quickly jumps off soapbox before derailing entirely*

I've contacted my council for a quote, which seems to be free and although the price of the work is high, starting at £750, you can elect to pay it in interest free installments for up to 2 years, which makes it a little less horrifying. Possibly your council would do the same?

facingthefuture

picnic maybe you should worry your neighbours will at some point demand it as a right of way?

picnic

to be honest.. i dont really mind them using the dropped curb, it has no effect on me... my only worry is that if they cause damage to the path with their cars, would I in anyway be liable for 'allowing' them to use the curb??
I also would not want either of them to get into trouble... I get on quite well with them both.....

Spendless

Ellie007 wrote: »

So.....just had a knock at the door from a Council enforcement officer advising that I am committing an offence by parking on our drive which does not have a dropped kerb.

We bought the house last summer (described as having off street parking) and it came up on the survey that it had no dropped kerb. It may seem silly that we had not noticed, but the kerb is so shallow anyway that it was not obvious. My solicitor advised that the chances of ever having a problem was so minimal as not to worry about it....and as the sale was so far progressed and we had to exchange or lose our buyer, we went ahead.

Anyway, I've been advised that unless we have a dropped kerb put in the council will erect bollards in front of our house at £150/each (we would have to have four apparently and be liable for paying for them). I am happy to go ahead with the kerb but am worried that the application will be refused as the distance from the front of the house (i.e. front of bay windows) to the pavement is 4.66m and the council website states it needs to be 4.8m. The frontage of our property is 10.3m wide though so will common sense prevail as there is plenty of room for both cars to fit without protruding onto the pavement? How likely are the Council to refuse anyway, as it seems like a nice earner (apparently I am looking at approx £1,000 bill - ouch!)

Does anyone have any experience or advice?

Thanks

Ellie- when I had my house valued the EA told me that they couldn't advertise the house as having off road parking UNLESS there was a dropped kerb. He said they got round this when taking a photo of the house by making sure a car on the drive was in the picture.

Are your neighbours houses in line with yours and if so do any of them have dropped kerbs?

Ellie007

Spendless - yes, it seems as though the vendors misrepresented the situation as the brochure clearly stated off road parking. However we were made aware of the issue just before exchanging so it was our choice to continue (mainly because pulling out at that late stage would have been awful). When I spoke to the EA they just shrugged shoulders and said 'oh well'.

Neighbours all have dropped kerbs and most have slightly less frontage than us. But council says that doesn't matter, each case judged on own merit so just because neighbours have been allowed dropped kerbs, it doesn't set a precedent.

oasisfeverish

Ellie007,

Contact the council to see it there is any planned reconstruction work of the pavement areas in your street. Don't however speak to the same dept. that have told you you need a droped kerb.

The reason for this is when councils decide to replace the pavements and kerbs, you can ask for a droped kerb to be placed there instead.

As the council are already going to take up the old stuff and replace, it doesn't cost a lot to change their plans.

We paid £158 for the droped kerb, whilst some of our neighbours had paid in excess of £800 only a few months before.

You never know.

lilac_lady

Would you need planning permission if you had a drive with a dropped kerb and then drove from the drive onto the front garden? Do you need permission to use your front garden as a parking space?

bobby-boy_2

picnic wrote: »

Infact my neighbours and also their neighbours both use my drop curb to drive up on to the path and then drive along to gain access to their driveways....

should i warn them that they may be fined??????

yea picnic who cares about parents with pushchairs or kids on the pathway why should they expect to be able to walk on a path without a car driving along it!!!!!!!!

last time i looked pavements were for people to walk on and roads for cars to drive along.

beer_tins

My FiL also had the council put in a dropped curb when they were replacing the pavement. Didn't cost much at all. Well worth doing!

*jobags*

Re your husbands disability and the need to park near the house

If you can get an Occupational Therapist (from Social services) to say you (or any member of your household - including children) need to park near your house due to mobility problems or a disability then you may be able to get financial help with the work

If you are a council/Housing Assn tenant then the OT will pass the report to them and they should carry out the work using their Aids and Adaptations budget and they should actually do the work at no cost to you

We do about 30 - 40 per year down this route

If you are an owner occuppier then you can apply to the council for a DFG (Disabled Facilities Grant) which is means tested and you may get some financial help but could have to do the work yourself

In the first instance contact the Social Services and ask for an Occupational Therapy Assessment

This is generally much better than have a disabled bay painted outside your house as anyone with a disabled sticker can park in these

Jo - sorry for going off the original subject matter!!!