I have asked this question on The Consumer Action Group forum and received some very useful responses. I am now interested in the views of the members of this forum who may have have a different perspective. I apologise for my verbosity.
We are the owner occupiers (leaseholders) of an apartment in London. Our lease gives us "the exclusive right to park one private motor car in each such parking space..."
The lease also requires us "to comply with all reasonable regulations which the landlord may make and publish in respect of the use of car parking spaces within the Parking Area"
The property manager, acting on behalf of the landlord, has instituted a regulation that requires all cars to display a permit. Failure to display the permit, or (as in our case) displaying a permit which had expired by two weeks, results in a private parking charge being imposed by a private parking company employed by the landlord. Within the lease, there is no specific reference to permits or the use of parking companies to monitor the parking.
We recently received several private parking charges totalling £500 (5 x £100) when we left our vehicle in our authorised car space but without an up-to-date permit as we were out of the country on holidays. During our absence, the requirement for a new permit was advised to all leaseholders through a rote note in our letterboxes (to which we did not have access as we were out of the country). This approach was contrary to previous years when the notification was emailed to all leaseholders.
On our return and in my rush to get this sorted out, I appealed to POPLA only to discover after more extensive reading that I hadn’t really followed the format that they expect. As a result, I didn’t consider it likely that they would uphold my appeal and I (probably incorrectly) agreed to pay the parking company an ‘admin fee’ of £120 on the basis that I would remove my appeal immediately. I am now looking to how this awful situation can be dealt with in the future should a similar situation arise as it most likely will. We spend a great deal of time out of the country with our car parked in its allocated space within the apartment building.
Specifically, I would welcome your views on three issues:
(1)In Davey v UKPC (which I think offers a useful precedent), is it known if Mr Davey was a freeholder or leaseholder of his property? Does it make any difference?
(2)Any suggestions on how we might deal with our recalcitrant property manager?
(3)If we wished to seek recompense from the parking company to whom we paid £120 as their ‘admin fee’, would the Small Claims Court allow this type of claim. I don’t mean would they necessarily award in our favour but would they allow it to be heard under their jurisdiction?
I would welcome all and any advice.
We are the owner occupiers (leaseholders) of an apartment in London. Our lease gives us "the exclusive right to park one private motor car in each such parking space..."
The lease also requires us "to comply with all reasonable regulations which the landlord may make and publish in respect of the use of car parking spaces within the Parking Area"
The property manager, acting on behalf of the landlord, has instituted a regulation that requires all cars to display a permit. Failure to display the permit, or (as in our case) displaying a permit which had expired by two weeks, results in a private parking charge being imposed by a private parking company employed by the landlord. Within the lease, there is no specific reference to permits or the use of parking companies to monitor the parking.
We recently received several private parking charges totalling £500 (5 x £100) when we left our vehicle in our authorised car space but without an up-to-date permit as we were out of the country on holidays. During our absence, the requirement for a new permit was advised to all leaseholders through a rote note in our letterboxes (to which we did not have access as we were out of the country). This approach was contrary to previous years when the notification was emailed to all leaseholders.
On our return and in my rush to get this sorted out, I appealed to POPLA only to discover after more extensive reading that I hadn’t really followed the format that they expect. As a result, I didn’t consider it likely that they would uphold my appeal and I (probably incorrectly) agreed to pay the parking company an ‘admin fee’ of £120 on the basis that I would remove my appeal immediately. I am now looking to how this awful situation can be dealt with in the future should a similar situation arise as it most likely will. We spend a great deal of time out of the country with our car parked in its allocated space within the apartment building.
Specifically, I would welcome your views on three issues:
(1)In Davey v UKPC (which I think offers a useful precedent), is it known if Mr Davey was a freeholder or leaseholder of his property? Does it make any difference?
(2)Any suggestions on how we might deal with our recalcitrant property manager?
(3)If we wished to seek recompense from the parking company to whom we paid £120 as their ‘admin fee’, would the Small Claims Court allow this type of claim. I don’t mean would they necessarily award in our favour but would they allow it to be heard under their jurisdiction?
I would welcome all and any advice.
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