Being Invoiced Monthly by Owners

[nimjacole]

Hi all,

 

I was looking for some help with regard to a letter we received over allocated parking spaced.

 

We have received a letter to say that in order to regularise matters going forward they are enclosing an invoice for parking charges due in the sum of £147 plus VAT to reimburse for the period following notification up to the end of October 2013 and charged at £3 per day. Whilst the additional space continues to be used we will continue to invoice you for its use.

 

At the moment we are using three bays for parking because we have two broken down cars which we cannot afford to get fixed. The person who owns the land, which is a company, came round on 12 September to say that their gardener could not get to the grass and we would need to move the vehicles to allow him access and in any event we should move the broken down vehicles. At no time was any dates mentioned to remove the vehicles and no notice period was given when they should start charging for the parking space. Matters were left that we would make arrangements to move the vehicles as we realise we were taking up more bays than we were allocated and rightly so I agreed that I would move the vehicle.

 

Can anyone let me know how I should go about replying to this letter. My main worry is that we were not given a time period in which to do any of this and obviously we will do all we can to resolve the matter but I cannot see how they can charge us for something that we have not entered into. They say that they can revoke this temporary arrangement at any time.

 

Can someone please let me know whether they are entitled to charge us £147 plus £3 a day until the vehicle is removed since no agreement was ever made in this respect.

 

PS. we have been at the property for five years without any problems.

 

Regards,

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

I think if you have one properly allocated parking space and are then using 2 others then then you must expect to be charged for the extra spaces.

Using spaces for storage of broken down vehicles is usually prohibited in private parking areas.

 

There is also a problem if these vehicles are not reported to DVLA if untaxed as 'stored off road' so if the vehicles are untaxed, no MOT, no insurance I am surprised you have not been ordered to remove them.

In this scenario the landowner could have them removed at your expense.

[reallymadwoman]

Can you confirm that you were asked on or around the 12th September to move one or more vehicles? How many spaces are you entitled to use, and how long have you been using the extra space(s)?

 

How much inconvenience are you causing - is it just blocking the gardener's access or are you blocking someone else from parking?

[nimjacole]

No the vehicles have been properly sorn off by the DVLA.

[nimjacole]

We have 2 parking bays and three cars, one is broken down and we cannot afford to fix it at the moment.

 

I did say that I would move it as really we cannot afford it anyway.

 

The vehicle does not cause any nuisance whatsoever, it does not block any other vehicles.

 

The gardener has been coming for the last five years and it over hangs about an inch onto grass that he cannot cut! and now this is a problem.

 

We have been using the extra space now for about 4 years! The vehicle was going in the four years we were using the parking bay but recently in the last six months or it has been sorn off road until we decided whether to fix it, sell it or just get rid of it if neither could be achieved.

 

Thanks for your reply.

[reallymadwoman]

I think you need to dispose of the broken down vehicle urgently then write to the landowner saying this has been done.

 

Either ignore the invoice and hope they're satisfied with that or ask them to justify the charges when there is no contractual basis for them. Alternatively if you want to 'keep friends' perhaps offer to pay half in recognition of any inconvenience you may have caused.

[ericsbrother]

They can certainly charge you £3 a day from the day after they gave you the letter so you must decide how long you want to pay the 3 quid. The important point is that the owners of the land have instructed you to do something and you have agreed to their terms by saying you will move the dead cars. No they dont have to say when you need to move the cars by as you have been contracted to pay the money by keeping them there after the notice date.

The entire point about the argumants on this board is that the PPC's DONT have the authority to tell you what to do and that they (try to) enforce an unfair unilateral contract. Yours is a bilateral one and thus not really any room for getting out of it unless you can prove in writing that the agreement is revoked or annuled by the action of the landlord. They would have to be breaking the law somehow to get that one to stick.

Best move is to get rid of your junk by selling them to a scrappie for £20 and offer that to the LL as settlement. I would imagine the money is less important than ridding themselves of eyesores that have obviously caused complaints by your neighbours.