Here is a question to the blog clinic from Adrian who is a tenant
I rent a flat and moved in 3 months ago . The development has a private car park with a gate which is ideal for me because I drive a van for work and it gives extra security.
The parking space with my flat number above has what looks like two dismantled motorbikes under a tarp. I don’t know who they belong to and have asked the agent who let me the flat to sort it out.
I cannot park my van in the car park because other residents are very protective over their own spaces and will not let me park there. Instead I have to park it on a street 10 minutes walk away.
This week after countless phone calls and emails I have been told that there is nothing that the agent or landlord can do and told me to write a letter to all the other flats asking the owner of the motorbikes to come forward.
As a tenant I don’t think this should be down to me. Is the landlord in breach of contract by not providing the parking space if it was clearly advertised with the flat?
Also can I move the junk myself if the landlord does nothing?
Please help – my insurance premium is going through the roof.
Answer
Well if you are paying for a private car parking space but are unable to use it, that is very wrong.
I would suggest you check your tenancy agreement first to make sure what your rights are regarding the parking space.
However assuming that your tenancy agreement confirms this, I would be tempted to withhold part of your rent until the matter is sorted.
If you do this DON”T spend the money, keep it safe and say to the agents that the money will be paid over just as soon as this situation is resolved and you have your car parking space.
If they threaten to sue you for the withheld rent, say that if they do so, you will be counterclaiming for damages for breach of contract, which will include the extra insurance costs you have incurred as a result of not being able to use the secure car park.
I suspect that will galvanise them into action.
As regards moving the junk yourself, unless you are able to move it to another part of the car park, I would be careful about this. If it turns out that the items are actually valuable, you could be vulnerable to a claim.
See also this post here.
Assuming you check and your tenancy agreement does allow your use of the car parking space then how about putting a notice on the bikes/tarp asking for the owner to contact you? Find out from the freeholders or managing agents (or a neighbour)who owns those bikes and ask if they can be removed. Ask what their rules are regarding vehicles left their for long periods of time without being moved and whether you might be able to arrange for them to be removed to one side so you can park? I am surprised your landlord isn’t keener to help on this!
Flats generally have a managing agent for the whole block. It is often written into the leasehold agreement about parking spaces, that vehicles have to be taxed/insured to park there.
Speak to the landlord and get him to talk to the management company and ask them to deal with it. Alternatively complain to the management company yourself.
I’d also be asking for a reduction in the rent as the parking space isn’t available.
Assuming that the lease does extend to the identified parking space, then it seems to me that your landlord is in breach of the lease in failing to give you vacant possession. Feel free to seek compensation for that.
But in the short term, have become involuntary bailee of the pile of motorbike parts. That imposes a duty on you, but the duty is slight. I would – with all appropriate care – move them off the parking space and leave them somewhere else in the car park (not in a parking space, as that would impinge on another tenant’s property), putting the tarpaulin back over them. They would be just as safe there, behind the locked gates, as they were in your parking space; and they then become the landlord’s problem.