Stopping neighbour parking in our allocated space

[PatsyTheCat]

Hi,

 

Not sure if this is the right place for this as it's not strictly a consumer issue but I couldn't see anywhere else for it.

 

Background: Myself and my partner live in a flat which is part of a block of 4. There are 5 parking spaces allocated to these flats - One each and a visitor. Unfortunately these spaces aren't numbered although each flat does have a designated space in the deeds AFAIK. Because they're not numbered each flat just uses which ever space is more convenient. We have one car between us. Opposite the entrance to our block are two semi detached houses. These houses each have a garage (for 1 car) and a drive way (for 1 car). The driveways also have an additional 3rd space between them presumably for a visitors space. There is also possibly another space to park in front of the car that's in each driveway.

 

Our problem: Our "neighbor" in the house opposite insists on parking his battered old work van in one of the allocated spaces for the flats. The first time we noticed this, the van was left there for 3 months with no tax. We weren't exactly sure who it belonged to at first and we were on holiday for part of this time so we didn't report it to the police quick enough. Just as we got ourselves together with the other guys in our block and were about to report it, it was moved. Problem solved, or so we thought. Then a few days later it's back and since then it's back every day and is now taxed. Now when the van is not there it's switched with a Vectra which is also connected to the neighbor in question. So either way the space is always taken preventing anyone else from parking there and ensuring he always has a space. Day = Vectra. Night = Van.

 

We were coming home from work one day and saw the "neighbor" in question loading the van. We politely mentioned that the spaces were allocated to the flats. We asked if he would be reasonable and park it somewhere else considering he has a drive way and a garage and we only have one parking space. As he has 3 vehicles at anyone time (4x4, Mercedes + Van/Vectra) I offered a solution to his problem by suggesting he either parked it at the end of his drive or went and spoke to the people in the terraced houses which are also part of the same development as they have a big double drive way each, which some of them don't use. His response? He said it would be more convenient for him if he could park in our space so he could unload his van more easily and suggested we speak to the guys in the terraced houses to see if WE could park there. I really had to hold onto my temper at that point but did manage to. After some more discussion he said he would sort it and we assumed this meant he wouldn't be parking there again.

 

Next night we come home at about 11:00PM and surprise surprise he's parked there again leaving us nowhere to park. As all the lights were on we took the decision to knock at his door and ask him to move it as we didn't have anywhere to park. After some debate he decided that he didn't have the keys so couldn't move it. We asked if he expected us to knock on someone else's door to ask them to park in their driveway at 11:00 at night. He said "Well you knocked on my door at 11:00 at night" and "the spaces aren't numbered" etc etc. After this it became quite heated, with him starting to become quite aggressive and ending with him slamming the door in our faces.

 

The next day we spoke to the management company who have confirmed that the spaces are allocated to the flats as we had been told previously - We had to confirm this as we rent and don't have access to the deeds. The management company have promised to send out a letter to everyone on the development outlining the parking restrictions. Failing this they said they will paint numbers on the spaces.

 

This is all well and good, but after dealing with this guy I can't imagine he's going to take any notice of either of these steps and is going to carry on parking there anyway. My question is what can we do to stop him. My initial thought was to call the police and report him for trespassing or something similar but I've recently read that the police don't generally get involved with this kind of dispute. I also read that we could call a car removal company and they would tow the vehicle. Is there any truth in that? What do we need to do legally to make this happen? Is there anything else we could do or another approach we should take?

 

Sorry for the rambling post but I felt the need to vent a bit of anger while asking for a bit of help.

 

Any comments or advice would be very welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

PatsyTheCat

[pompeyfaith]

clamp the damm thing and ask for a £50 release fee does the council know he is operating a business from his address ? can the managment company send him a letter ?

 

Regards

 

Leon

[raydetinu]

Yep buy a clamp and clamp him, or park in his space/drive!

you put one of those removable posts in front the spaces with all the flat owners having the keys.

get a solicitor to send a letter that you will take him to court for tresspass and loss of amenity, i.e.damages, if he persusts.

[tomo28]

we had the same problem as this it all boiled down to who maintains your parking area is it part of the highways, private ownership, or a service company that acts for all the tennents of the flats.

if your car park falls under the council or highways agency as ours did this is easy all you do is go on to this site Reporting an untaxed vehicle :

DirectgovDirectgov

- Motoring

they came and just took the van that a person had lefcarparkr carpark to the crusher he was at work when they came but that did not stop them.

They will remove untaxed motors from maintained car park if owners not sorn the motor

Edited November 16, 2008 by tomo28

[PatsyTheCat]

Thanks guys. But where do we stand legally on clamping him? I would assume you need some kind of license to do this which is why maybe using a company to do it would be better? Aren't there a number of steps that need to be taken first or is it OK to just go and clamp someone as soon as they park on your land? There must be some legal guidelines, or what's stopping us charging him £5,000 to get it released for instance?

 

We have considered parking in their drive when they're out so when they return they can't use the garage or the drive but it's mainly my partners car and she's worried about them damaging it.

 

tomo28: Unfortunately the van is now taxed.

[SharpmanTF1]

Take a peek at this website -another forum. May shed some light on your predicament.

 

Neighbours Abusing Allocated Parking - Complainers!

Are your neighbours as bad at parking as mine? - Page 2 - General Discussion - Digital Spy Forums

 

Also take a look at this site. Download the notice and slap it on his windscreen

 

youparklikeanasshole

 

sharpman

[buzby]

I'd think clamping would only cause more problems. Especially if it was done without lawful authority - even the rogue clampers need to have signage in place and employ staff capable of 'looking after' themselves.

 

Only the owner of the ground can take or delegate enforcement action, so providing you can show this you can then start advising all parkers that enforcement action will be taken. Of course, there's nothing to stop you reaching an agreement with a parking firm to regulate your parking spaces, but this may cause more problems that it is worth.

 

Fitting a barrier to each space and ensuring that it is raised when the space is empty should be better and provide a practical resolution to this problem.

Edited November 16, 2008 by buzby

[Boobaby]

Take a peek at this website -another forum. May shed some light on your predicament.

 

Neighbours Abusing Allocated Parking - Complainers!

Are your neighbours as bad at parking as mine? - Page 2 - General Discussion - Digital Spy Forums

 

Also take a look at this site. Download the notice and slap it on his windscreen

 

youparklikeanasshole

 

sharpman

What fantastic sites! I have just printed off a couple of the notices from the last site.

I live in a quiet road with parking for about 23/24 cars. There are 19 houses with one of the houses having been made into two flats. The upstairs occupant of one of them has four cars, seems if one goes wrong rather than get it fixed who goes out and buys another.

They are all of course big cars - two estates and two large BMW's. He insisted on parking all of the cars in the limited spaces in our road which is partially residents parking. A number of us asked him to move his vehicles which eventually he did - well one of them anyway! Until that is one of the others broke down, which was then towed back into the street and the moved vehicle was repaired and that is also now being parked back in the street along with two others which aren't road worthy but have tax plus of course the only one he drives!!

I personally have given up on him, but its' so annoying because I can never park anywhere near my house. I only have a little car, but when it's full of shopping I could personally punch his lights out, so will try the tickets and see if that works.

Don't know if that's the way to go with that neighbour of yours though, strikes me he could be the kind of guy that could potentially carry out a revenge strike and also park all four of his vehicles in your spaces!

Sorry