Private landlord unreasonable demand to remove vehicles

[silverlady]

We live in a very rural part of Cornwall with only a couple of neighbouring dwellings, one of which is our landlord. It's a 4 bed barn conversion with a large gravel drive and an outhouse, surrounded by fields.

 

We rented as joint tenants almost 2 years ago, myself, my daughter, her husband and their two daughters, one of whom is disabled so we had 2 cars, one of which was a motability car. My disabled granddaughter has just turned 16 so the motability car will be returned next week pending her learning to drive.

 

Meanwhile, since last February, I have had a visitor staying for a few days each week and his car is obviously parked here while he is here, making 3 cars outside half of the week. My daughter has bought another car to replace the motability car, so at present, there are 4 cars parked here half of the week.

 

My daughter recently bought a horsebox in order to move their horses to events.  

 

The landlord contacted us and said that the horsebox would have to be removed as it was an eyesore and that we had too many cars (she has been told of the circumstances).

 

I have to say that, since we moved here March 2020, there have been a lot of repairs needed which the landlords have done but made us feel guilty about asking for them, we have an outstanding leak that I notified them about last week (no response yet) and the Aga oven still doesn't work!

 

There is nothing in our lease about vehicles, so is she entitled to require us to remove any of them? I don't want to rock the boat by arguing in case she gives us notice. We have a standard lease from month to month, after the initial 6 months.

[mantis shrimp]

You might start by looking at exactly what has been let to you, i.e. the extent of any land beyond the actual building.

 

Beyond that, what, if anything has been agreed with the landlord as regards parking of vehicles? 4 cars and a horsebox seems quite a lot.

[silverlady]

Thanks for replying. We rent a large plot consisting of the house and outbuilding with a fence surrounding a really large outside space front and back. There's plenty of room for many more than 4 cars, in fact, we bought a 16ft swimming pool which is at the back of the house but, as I explained, one of the cars is being returned to Motability this week and one of the cars belongs to a visitor who stays a few days each week so really there are only two cars here all the time.

 

It's essential, in the countryside where there is no public transport, for my daughter to have a car to get to work etc and for my son in law to get to his work. My granddaughter is 16 now and as soon as she passes her driving test, (she can take it now as she is disabled) she will have another Motability car, again essential for her independence and if she gets a job.

 

There was no specific mention of how many vehicles we could have when we signed the lease.

[mantis shrimp]

If all vehicles, horseboxes etc are being parked on a suitable space within the area let to you, then you can point this out to the landlord.

 

Try to do this in a friendly and polite manner. It may be open to the landlord, should he so wish, to take steps to end your tenancy. But that is another question, for another day which may not come.

[stu007]

Hi

 

I think before jumping to the previous posts conclusion we would really need to see a copy of the Agreement that you Signed with the Landlord of the Property to exactly see what it states.

 

Can you post up a copy of that Agreement (fully redacted) in PDF Format

[mantis shrimp]

the first word of post #4 was "if". 

[silverlady]

Well, my daughter has moved the horsebox onto her friend's land and the Motability car has gone so, at the moment, there are only two cars parked at the property. I don't see the need to post my lease. (Not sure I even know how) but there's absolutely no mention of vehicles. Thanks for taking the time to respond 

[mantis shrimp]

Thank you for the update. Let's hope that you can now continue with a friendly relationship with your landlord.