Private Lands rules

[afcwben]

A question for you guys out there.

 

I have a wheelchair bound son and I bought him a car to transport him, he is unable to drive himself.

 

Recently one of my sons while driving it had a prang with a boulder so the car is now off road while we sort out quotes to repair.

 

Whilst it is offroad I have sorn'd the car and cancelled the insurance and it is outside his bungalow in communal parkling used by all the residents.

 

The neighbours who are a bit stuck up have complained to the managing agents about the fact the car is an eye sore. The managing agents have stated unless it ir repaired within a certain amount of time the car will be towed and crushed.

 

Also they have stated we need to insure and tax the car whilst it is on the communal land.

 

I am sure that they are unable to take the car away and taxing and insuring the car is not needed while it is sorn'd and not on roads governed by the RTA.

 

Can you confirm if I am correct and could someone point me to the regs so I can draft the managing agents a letter pointing them as to what they can an cannot do.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Raykay]

As far as the Vehicles Excise & Registration Act 1994 is concerned, a SORN is valid as long as the vehicle is not used or kept on a public road. However, there may be conditions attached to the use of the car park - in the property lease for example.

[ericsbrother]

Yup, look at the lease and if there is nothing in it they dont have a leg to stand on. There is probably a general bit about repairing vehicles on the communal bits but I bet nothing specific that covers this situation.

The POFA actually prevents them from towing, they can call the police to complain and request it towed but as they know who owns the vehicle the police will tell them to go away.

You could tell the managing agents that since they care so much about the matter they can pay for the repair and you will reinburse when the insurers cough up (or stop being such busybodies and cease the harassment).

[Homer67]

I once bought a new build home which had allocated parking spaces, as my home was freehold my parking space was also freehold, there were other homes which were leasehold and their parking spaces were also leasehold.

 

I'd been there a while and as I only had a motorcycle my parking space was free, friends and family used it when visiting and eventually a mate asked if I would look after his old Camero as he needed the garage space to work on another project, I agreed and he brought it round and left it parked in my space

 

After a couple of months the tyres started going down (this was before the days of SORN) as the vehicle wasn't being driven and eventually I get a knock on the door by Plod

 

Conversation went like this (I'm not a fan of authority)

 

Is that your car?

No why?

We've had a report it's an abandoned vehicle

It's on private property though

Is it?

Yes, I own that space

Oh well then it is your car

No it isn't, I'm just looking after it

'Laughs' well you're not doing a very good job, it's got flat tyres

Is that illegal then?

Well no but it doesn't look very nice and people are complaining

Is that illegal then?

No although your tenancy agreement may require your vehicle to be in a roadworthy condition

It doesn't

And you just happen to know that do you

Yes

'Sighs and rolls eyes' How is that?

Because I don't have a tenancy agreement, is there anything else you want?

You must have a tenancy agreement, you need to look into that

No I don't

You should, you could be illegally occupying this property without the owners knowledge (see how we've gone from an untidy car to my status as a resident?)

The owner is aware I live here

And he (typical misogamist Plod) doesn't mind? the other residents do

Look, I'm the owner of the property, that's my space and I can park what I like there, do you want anything else?

Other people are raising complaints and that's taking up my time having to come out and deal with them, don't you think there's better things for the police to do?

I'm sure there is, so take it up with the people raising the complaints and leave me out of it

I shut the door.

 

A few days later I get another knock on the door, this time it's the local busybody - I mean Residents Association Chairman, a wizened old pervert if I ever saw one.

 

I understand the police have been to see you

Do you? About what?

That car (points angrily at the beautiful Camero)

Yes, and?

Well when are you going to move it?

What has that got to do with you? It's on my property

We (he means the Residents Association) want it gone, it's an eyesore

Listen mate, now you've demanded that it will stay there even longer, now f**k off before I knock you out

 

He left, quickly

 

Moral of this tale is that no matter where you go there will always be some jumped up little Hitler who thinks he can tell you what to do, never back down or give an inch because bastards like them will take a mile.

 

The car stayed there for about 18 months in total and my mate then picked it up and sold it on.

 

After I moved out I read in the local rag that someone had been in court and given a non custodial sentence for entering people's houses on that new build estate via the joined loft spaces (they had a kick out wooden panel built in for some reason)

 

Yep, you guessed right, it was the old perv from the Resident's Association who had been entering both his neighbouring properties while they were at work - apparently one of the neighbours got suspicious when things weren't where she left them and set up a hidden camera which caught him coming through the loft hatch

 

I nearly p***ed myself laughing

Edited September 5, 2013 by Homer67