When you buy/move into a leasehold property, please do not take it for granted that you have a parking space.
Within most leases documents it will stipulate if you have an ‘allocated’ bay or a bay ‘demised’ to the premises, this will be accompanied with a title plan highlighting your bay. Some will say you have use of a car park but it may be on a first come first serve basis only.
What restrictions are there on leasehold property parking?
The use of the car park will also be governed by certain restrictions, such as ‘the Lessee must use the Car Parking Space for car parking only of a single roadworthy private car …..and must not carry out any servicing repairs or painting of any car on the Car Parking Space’, ‘The Lessee must not store anything on the Car Parking Space that is or might become untidy, unclean unsightly or in any way detrimental to the Estate or the area generally’ or ‘The Lessee must not keep or store any caravan or movable dwelling or commercial vehicle or boat in the Garage (or) on the Car Parking Space.’
Should these or similar covenants be breached then the Management Company has a right to take action against the Leaseholder at fault.
How are leasehold property parking restrictions enforced?
Some clients may opt to put Parking Enforcement in place if there is a reoccurring problem with parking. Since the law changed in 2012, you can no longer clamp vehicles on private land, however permit parking is still permitted.
Enforcement companies are appointed by the client to patrol non-demised areas and ticket vehicles that either do not display the correct permit or are parking illegally. Residents or visitors that do not conform to the parking regulations in place can find themselves in receipt of a parking fine.
Please check your property deeds when moving into a new leasehold development and familiarise yourself with your allocated bay (if applicable). Nuisance parking is frequently discussed on developments and it is often down to residents not looking at their lease or the tenants not being correctly informed by their letting agent/landlord.
If you have any queries related to leasehold property parking restrictions or any other aspect of leasehold property management, then please contact us to discuss your concerns.
Lucie Shaw-Director of Property Management
