Q&A - Car Parking

All the leaseholders, when they purchased their apartments, were told by the freeholder that there were three visitor parking spaces for use by the leaseholders. This is the reason why a lot of the leaseholders bought into the complex.

This has now been withdrawn from the leaseholders and these spaces have been allocated to his rented block for their use/visitors. They have also stated that the leaseholders are allowed only one car on site (he has given permission for his renters to have two cars in the car park), and any visitors to the leaseholders should park in a nearby public car park.

Is there any discrimination law that would stop them from doing this, when it was a verbal promise when the leaseholders were purchasing, that there were visitor car parking places?

ANSWER

I have not seen any of the documentation but is appears from your email that the situation regarding the visitor car parking spaces was a “verbal promise”. Was the position ever clarified in either the actual lease documentation, any of the sale particulars/material or even in the enquiries/pre-contact documentation that passed between the solicitors through the purchase process?

If the position was not clarified in writing or is not set out in your leases, then unfortunately it may be that the landlord can take over those parking spaces. Without looking at the title documentation and/or sale documentation it is difficult to advise on what recourse you may or may not have.

Yashmin Mistry, Partner at JPC Law