Neighbours have asked to store their motorcycle under the car port

[SledsImOn]

We live in a converted house. I've never been entirely sure whose bit is whose, on the drive - upstairs is two flats, and they park their cars on the front bit, while we park at the side, where our door is (they have a door on the front of the house, to their staircase).

We get the car port, then, which seems a bit unfair but it just works best that way.

They got rid of their car a while back and the chap bought a bike for getting to work. Their child is about 18, they are an older couple. Now they have bought another car, and so the bike is kind of wedged next to our front window, not being used.

Just now they knocked on the door and asked if they could have some space to put the bike, so it doesn't get rained on too much (he has never bothered to get a cover for it before - talking 9 months or so of being left unlocked and uncovered in all weathers)

I have said no, because basically, there's about 2ft of space between our car and the wall, and I have actually sold my own motorbike so that I have enough room to get the pram out! It's going to be a squeeze anyway, if we're to be able to actually open the car doors on both sides.

So for him to put his bike there would be impossible for us.

I aksed if he is going to keep it, as he hasn't used it for weeks, and he said he won't get much if he sells it but he might sell it if he can get a decent amount.

I feel terrible. I said I have an old cover I kept from mine, if I can locate it he can borrow it - but tbh, I lent him my pedal cycle for a few months last year, and he left that out in the rain so it went rusty too, and I don't think I'll get the cover back.

Who should have the right to the car port here? I feel like I'm being selfish but we've been here about 4 1/2 years, never had a problem with using it, and I cannot think of a way to let him put his bike there unless we park on the road which just isn't possible.

Oh I should mention I have a 9yo and a 5yo, am heavily pregnant with dc3 who is due in 2 weeks - thus the pram issue. I also have bad SPD so can't walk far with shopping etc. I really can't think parking on the road at the bottom of our steep drive will be a feasible thing.

Are you paying the same rent? And is there anything in your contract / inventory?

Did you give the reasons you have stated, becasue they are perfectly good reasons. You can't get the pram out easily if he parks his bike there, no need to feel guilty.

Look on the deeds wrt the property's boundaries?

Our rent is roughly the same - maybe slightly higher. No, the contract seems to be generic apart from our extra 'pets' clause!

No mention of the car port.

If it's not specified then you have no more right to it than them, regardless of children and pregnancy.

Sorry we do rent - should have said. Maybe I should checkwith the agents?

I justwant to be a good neighbour but they cannot have thought it through...he actually wanted to use my motorcycle last year when their car got taken because he had a foreign license. I said no and still felt bad! Knowing how he treated the pedal cycle though makes me feel a bit more justified.

INeed - but where would we put our car?

(I did tell them the reasons fwiw - they were nice about it but still)

As it stands, they and the other upstairs lot park side by side on the front bit. Theres no room for our car too.

Someone has to park in the car port. As it's by our front door, it seemed till now to make sense that it was us. But now I am wondering if I'm being selfish/

Seems fine to say no. He can buy a cover if he wants.

but where would we put our car?

Wherever they would put theirs if they had one. Is there street parking? It does sound from your description as if it's yours though. Just check with the agent.

Thankyou...they do now have a car as well as the bike. That's the thing. He's been content to leave the bike out the front, unlocked, uncovered, going rusty (was very shiny when he bought it) and now suddenly wants to keep it under cover. I think to keep its value a bit if he does sell it.

The battery isn't going to work anyway if he doesn't use the blooming thing.

I just rang agents, explained to them and apparently we all have the right to space for one car. she said it makes sense for you to use the car port as it's right by your door, and don't worry.

They are using their car space, the other lot are using theirs, and I'm using ours. I do have a bit of space right in front of our door, where the bike could just about fit, but I currently have a large bookcase under it that needs to go as it won't fit in the house - and once that's gone I'll still need the space to keep the pram, which won't fit in the hall!

I do think I'm being sort of fair. Hmmm.

We also have sole rights to the huge garden - partly I think because it would give us no privacy if it were shared. And it is bloody hard work to keep up, anyway!

and they never, ever put the bins out

You need to get in and out of your home, that's the bottom line.

Suppose he parks his 'bike under the car port, how easily can he get it out and at what time of day? Something tells me the man who can't be bothered to take care of other people's property won't be too careful not to ding your car.

My DH won't go out on his 'bike in temps below 6 deg so for a large part of the winter he doesn't use it. His is kept in our garage where it's not going to obstruct access. It weighs a ton so I wouldn't fancy trying to shift it. I'd certainly not enjoy manoeuvring a pram round it.

Presumably he could have thought of safe storage before swapping car for 'bike.

Otoh if there's nothing legally defined as to who owns which outside area it seems fair to share on rotation with the other two flats.

Sory just saw you are renting. If the landlord hasn't stipulated won't it be a 'first come first served' situation? If the agent thinks you are entitled to use the car port, stay stumm.

So basically you all have one parking spot it just so happens yours is a car port.

Now he wants you to give up the carport and he will still keep his parking space.

If there's no room for a bike and your car without risking damage then either he finds somewhere else for the bike or you swap spaces. If by swapping you can't get out your front door then that's not an option either.

Thankyou...yes, if he puts it next to our car, we actually won't be able physically to get past. When I had my bike as well as the car, it was damn near impossible to fit both side by side - I had to park quite far back, sticking out of the car port (didn't affect other cars) in order to get it in and out - and still managed to clip the bumper off our car when moving it

and if he parks it in front of our door he will not be able to get it out without me moving the car every time. It makes no sense at all.

Ikwym about rotating the parking space - but the other lot upstairs have their routine, they seem happy to park in their space, it's a tricky drive to use at all...and the open bit is nearer to their front door, just as the covered bit is nearer to ours.

I am certain he would damage our car if he parked here. And the main thing is as you say - we could not get a pram past if he put his bike here.

I might go and seek out our old bike cover though to assuage my conscience.

It's not theirs though, it's unspecified, so really ought to be first come, first served. Can you get the LL to allocate spaces to flats?

I might ask the agents to specify whose space is whose. That's a good idea.

I wouldn't mind not having a car port at all. Though it's useful. It's the fact of being able to park next to our door that seems more important iyswim...it means we're kind of more self contained, I can load and unload shopping and children without having to go past someone else's car to get to ours.

Not to mention if someone else parked in the car port, I'd be worried about denting it with the pram, or getting past if they parked too close to one side etc. It's very difficult to get it right and the doors never open fully on the other side.

Tell them if you ever sell your car, he can put his 'bike there. Very reasonable!

Chances are if it's not chained, rusty or not some passing chancer will nab it anyway, if it's in plain sight.

I'm amazed it's not been half inched already tbh...I've never had a bike that someone hasn't at least tried to take! I have always locked mine since someone took my first one 10 years ago.

He can't be bothered to cover it or lock it so far, he couldn't be bothered to cover or lock my pedal cycle while he was using that, and tbh I feel like it's not my problem - but I am still feeling guilty!

"I just rang agents, explained to them and apparently we all have the right to space for one car. she said it makes sense for you to use the car port as it's right by your door, and don't worry."
So two points from that conversation:

1. Each flat entitled to space for one car - not one car and one motorbike.
2. Agent acknowledges layout of front doors makes the carport the obvious choice for being your space for one car. (So please stop agonising over feeling as if you are somehow being unfair. You're not.)

Yes, you tucked your motorbike behind your car before you sold it, presumably that's what your neighbour would like to do. But you know how much that encroaches on the car space. There is no obligation on you to do this for your neighbour.

Your neighbour is a little bit cavalier in taking care of bikes - letting yours go to rust when you lent it to him, not really taking care of this motorbike (e.g. not buying a cover for it when he knew it would not be out of the elements). He would sell it but he doesn't think he'd get much for it because he's neglected it . IMO, if you were to agree for it to be in the carport, it would be there for evermore, ignored as too much trouble to use/sell. But always in your way.

The best solution would be for your neighbour to polish it up and sell it. Or rent a garage (no, I don't see that happening either). But at least if it has to be parked in sight, this may nudge them to eventually do something with the damned thing. Out of sight in the carport, it will just stay there getting in your way.

Please do not feel you are being selfish, you really aren't. Where he puts his surplus-to-requirements motorbike is not your problem, nor should you do anything that would make it so. But it might be a good idea to nudge the agents to specify which space belongs to which flat, for clarity (and your peace of mind).

Thankyou...you have put it very clearly, which in my hormonal and confuddled state I'm not able to do! I appreciate it.

I think I'll keep out of their way for a bit...too much to think about and get ready for baby. They already expect me to redirect their post because they can't be bothered to write 'B' in the address thing when they sign up for stuff - and various other annoying things. But they are nice people, just a bit thoughtless. Sometimes I wish I didn't have any neighbours!

"Agent acknowledges layout of front doors makes the carport the obvious choice for being your space for one car."

But that doesn't mean she has the right to it, just that it makes sense to use it that way for everyones convenience.
If I was the neighbour I'd be suggesting that it obviously doesn't suit everyones convenience, and that the agent has acknowledged that nobody has a right to the carport more than anyone else.

I'd try and get this nailed down with the letting agent/landlord because they've told you essentially what you want to hear but they haven't actually stated that it is your spot. As such nothing has really been resolved.
What if you go out one day and on your return the neighbour has just started using the carport?

I think I'd have to take it up with the agent, if he was using it for the bike and the car...and they said that he only has the right to one space, for one car. So I imagine they would ask him to move the bike/get rid of it.

it wouldn't be a major issue to have him park his car there, and me park mine in his space - aside from the fact I'd have trouble getting him to park it so that I could get the pram past it, without causing damage - but I doubt that would be something he'd bother to do tbh.

I will mention it to the agents again if he starts getting funny about it.

say no.
when they start to do things, they gain rights.

Mayor, just out of interest - would you insist on parking your bike under it too?

This is the thing - I do keep other stuff under the car port, wood for the fence I'm building, a buggy, bags of builder's sand - that sort of thing. So he could argue I'm using it for stuff other than parking.

It's so hard to know what it Ok and what isn't, unless someone complains, and really, as we discussed earlier, there's no way he could feasibly keep his bike under there if there's a car there too, unless it's his car and he has to move it himself every time he wants the bike out.

I'm surely allowed access for a pram? I don't want to have to move!