Residents association harassing us regarding parking

[ell9]

Was just hoping for some advice if possible.

We have rented a house on an estate for the past 4 years,

There are no parking restrictions other than double yellows, the bays in the estate are not permit holders only or allocated to any house number.

The land is council owned.

There is a residents association committee (people who have lived on the estate for a long time) who have made rules including no sign written van or commercial vehicles to be parked.

My Husband is an electrician and has a sign written van for work, a company vehicle, this fits in a bay and causes no obstruction. I have a car that we use for domestic use, me going to work etc.

We have been getting notes left on his vehicle threatening to tell our landlord, claiming that we are breaking the rules that the residents association have set out.

It says this may have an adverse effect on our letting. We have emailed our landlord who disagrees and states they are bored and nosy and to ignore.

I'm suffering mental health issues including bad anxiety at the moment. I cannot cope with this harassment amongst many other occasions of being targeted. For example, 3 years ago, my next door neighbour at the time (now deceased) reported me for running a laundry business because he saw my friend come round with a basket of washing that I offered to do for her as her machine had broken. This resulted in an investigation from the local authorities.

I have contacted the council asking for their stance on this situation regarding parking.

Can anyone advise?

Thank you.

Your landlord obviously doesn't give a toss. Forward all correspondence on the matter to them.

Really, only the council can tell you whether you must obey the residents' association rules, or if they're effectively 'guidelines'.

You might offer to compromise by covering his van with a cloth cover when it's parked there for more than an hour.

I don't think you should feel targeted, though. I imagine your estate has several retired people who grumble for something to do. I parked my Mum's car in her completely empty road (to make room for a workman's van on her driveway) using her disabled badge, and got a ridiculously angry note from her neighbours. I'm quite certain that if I had knocked and explained and asked if they were OK with Mum's car being there, they would have been sweet as anything about it.

I would clarify with any housing association involved, if there is one, about parking. Arbitrary rules are not enforceable and if there is no covenant or restrictions imposed by the highway authority (local council) then you can park. I’m afraid you have to rise above the pettiness and your landlord is nit going to take any notice of this. I would see if the residents association is recognised by the council though and see if there is a liaison officer. Talk through any parking restrictions with them (if they legally exist) but I think you will find what the residents association want isn’t enforceable. It’s usually an association of nimbys.

Watch they don't contact the company on the side of the van and complain. An ex had this happen and although the company agreed with ex that he was in the right to be able to park where he was, they asked him to find elsewhere to park as it was negative association with the company.

What rubbish.
I used to live on an estate with a properly run residents association. You had a share in the Ltd company and they had power, and did, enforce the covenants. Things like no caravans, commercial vehicles. But there were covenants which were part of the deeds of the house and they were very clear indeed.
They can't just make shit up.
Ignore. They know they can do nothing to you. Your landlord has said that they will do nothing.

I would write to your landlord (maybe even copying in the residents association) and ask them to clarify the parking restrictions pointing out there is nothing in your tenancy. Let the landlord sort it

If the land is council owned then I would - as you've done - ask the council to clarify.

If, as I suspect, the residents' association are a bunch of interfering busybodies with nothing else to do and who have decided to come up with some 'rules' that they have no right to even try and enforce, and the council confirm that there are no parking restrictions, you'll be safe to enforce them.

It is so much easier said than done but ignore them. If the council say you aren't doing anything wrong then the retired colonels and net-curtain twitchers can't do anything. They certainly can't 'affect your tenancy'. They're just sad bullies.

*ignore them, not enforce them!

If you're definitely not breaking any (proper, enforceable) rules OP then the solution to this is purely about changing your response to it so it doesn't stress you out. Moaners will always moan and there's usually no way to stop them so it's literally a case of learning how to ignore them.

How you do that will be an individual thing (what works for me may not work for you) but that's what I would be focusing on rather than trying to fight a losing battle with the moaners. My neighbours are a nightmare for a variety of reasons and it was making me miserable until I realised I could choose not to let it, I now take zero notice of anything they're doing and just get on with my own life and it's actually worked, I'm much happier and calmer now.

Get your confirmation from the council etc that you're not breaking any 'real' rules, inform residents association that council and landlord have confirmed and make it clear you consider the matter closed at that point. And then ignore, using whatever strategies work for you so it's not making you anxious

Assuming these are rules which have been made up by a group of people who have not been elected and have no power to keep the place looking tidy and are completely unenforceable I would open a dialogue with them.
Ignore threats such as it impacting the letting of your flat (this is not something they have any control over and any impact on this money would also impact the value of their property I would think) but perhaps you could agree that if a parking space in a corner not too far from your house is left free you would be willing to park the van there to keep the place tidy and placate them but only if they approach the conversation understanding that this is not a rule and if someone else is parked there you will take any available space as you are entitled to.

Follow your landlords lead. If he’s not worried and thinks they are just stirring up trouble over nothing, then just ignore them and pass on any correspondence regarding the matter to him. Continue as you are and really try to ignore the harassment.
Much easier said than done I know.

I don't have any advice OP but please do have my sympathies.

My house is own by a housing association along with 6 others. Behind our house is a small car park (with just over enough spaces for one vehicle per house). The association was very clear with us that is was a first come basis and none were allocated except the residents here decided between themselves to allocate spaces. We don't have a car BUT my father regularly visits a stays with us. We get moaned at when he parks in the spaces but also moaned at when he parks in the space that should be ours. Some people are just weird!

If where I live is anything to go on I think people are are becoming increasingly fed up with company vehicles being parked up at residential properties especially when parking generally is at a premium and the vast majority of householders are already 2 car families.
It’s convenient for the company because they don’t have to provide secure overnight parking for their vehicles and it’s convenient for the employee because they don’t have to use their own car to travel to work, but it does cause inconvenience for others that live close by.
If you detect a degree of frustration on my part you wouldn’t be wrong -we have to contend with vans from 3 different utility providers as well as several vans from self employed plumbers, electricians etc. The deeds of the houses do not allow for businesses to be run from there, but since they were built society has moved on and I certainly wouldn’t be using that as a lever to prevent work vans belonging to the self-employed from being parked up.
Larger vans from utility companies are another matter though and I would be wanting some sort of restriction on them if they were taking up space intended for the cars of people that live in the houses. In our case these vans are too big to fit on drives so they are parked at the roadside and often half up the kerb which means that traffic can flow better past them but causes danger for pedestrians with prams and wheelchairs who have move onto the road to pass.

All of the advice above is on the basis that the roads are council owned.

If it's a private estate and the roads are unadopted, it's very possible that there are either covenants on the land or within the deeds of the properties in question, that the residents' association are enforcing - or that there is a catch all clause which is something along the lines of 'any estate regulations which are reasonably imposed by the freeholder or their nominated agent'.

It's not unusual in these covenants to have restrictions on commercial vehicles, so it might be worth asking your landlord to confirm either way.

Once you hear back from the council, send a cease and desist letter (you can write this yourself, no need to hire a solicitor) to the ‘association’ naming the activities that must stop as they constitute harassment. Keep any correspondence they send, even if it’s just a folder and you don’t read any of their rubbish yourself. If it continues past this, you can contact the police on the non emergency line.

You have the right to be safe, happy and comfortable at home. I’m so sorry these idiots are doing this. I hope their electricity goes out, and you get the joy of declining to help them

It's not unusual in these covenants to have restrictions on commercial vehicles, so it might be worth asking your landlord to confirm either way

For them to be applicable to the OP, they would need to be written in to her lease agreement. If they are not there, a resident's association can't apply rules to her.

Thank you everyone.

I'm so fed up of it, we are in our late twenties, never any trouble, no music is ever played, we keep ourselves to ourselves etc it's very frustrating.

Just to make it clear for PP's, the land is council. My husbands van is normal sized and fits into bays perfectly without obstruction. Never parks on a kerb or blocking a path. He is not self employed.

If where I live is anything to go on I think people are are becoming increasingly fed up with company vehicles being parked up at residential properties especially when parking generally is at a premium and the vast majority of householders are already 2 car families.

Why does it matter if its a company vehicle rather than a car? Our neighbour has a car and a company van. If they didn't they'd be just as likely to have two cars.

The reason people don't like it is, they think it brings down the tone of the area. It is written in to our deeds that we couldn't have company vans in our driveways for the first two years we owned the house. That just happened to coincide with the length of time it would take the developer to complete the estate, with the "luxury" part of the estate being where people would have to drive past the rest of the estate to get to the show home. There is no way the developer cared about the parking issues of people they had sold houses to. People like to pretend it's about parking. It isn't.

I personally think it is really useful for people to have company vans at their houses. It makes it much easier to find a local plumber/roofer/florist/dogwalker etc.

Are the letters actually coming directly from the residents association or are they anonymous? I’m not 100% clear from your post.

People like to pretend it's about parking. It isn't.

It can be if the household already has two cars and is then parking another vehicle as well. If there's no restrictions then they aren't technically doing anything wrong but it's taking more than their fair share, especially if space is at a premium. Then you end up with permits being introduced because of the behaviour of a few.

@MintyMabel

It's not unusual in these covenants to have restrictions on commercial vehicles, so it might be worth asking your landlord to confirm either way

For them to be applicable to the OP, they would need to be written in to her lease agreement. If they are not there, a resident's association can't apply rules to her.

If there is a covenant in the deeds that the landlord holds, then it's immaterial whether the OP knows about it or not, it can be enforced.

If the OP was unaware because the landlord felt they didn't need any legal advice when drawing up the lease, then the OP has a case against the landlord for the costs of complying.

As always, as ever, more details from all sides are needed.

Love this: "I hope their electricity goes out, and you get the joy of declining to help them wink"

Couldn't agree more. It is snobbery, pure and simple. What a bunch of cunts.

It depends on who made the rules. If they were part of the original Transfer Deed when the houses were built then they can be enforced however, if it is just they have simply made them up then they don't have a leg to stand on. See if the residents association has been registered at companies house and ask your landlord if they were advised of this when they purchased the property. Rules as such are really common on newish estates, they are made by the developer to keep the estate looking nice when they are trying to sell the houses.

To be honest, it sounds as though you're likely to have problems whether or not you are in the right. Some neighbours are a pain and some aren't.

I know it's not ideal but at least you can (not remotely saying that you should.........) choose to move and rent somewhere else instead. Ultimately you're probably going to have to weigh up whether the house is worth the stress of being there.

We live on a new estate and there are rules in the covenants about what can and cannot be parked on the driveways and parking bays on the estate (e.g. no vans over a certain size /weight). Is it possible this sort of covenant exists and the only people that are aware of it are those that have been there a long time?