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.

We had similar when we moved three years ago, they went as far as hareasing dp's employer despite the fact we were parked in our bay and there was no restrictions, there was also it's of free parking so it wasn't a space thing.
I took round letters from the HA (the whole road is HA) saying there was no restrictions but it didnt help. We ended up forcing the housing officers to get involved and go roundin person, we also called the community police who did several visits because of threats
All stopped last year when one of the people's son became a bricklayer and got a van🤔

Pricks

@MintyMabel I think you've hid the nail on the head. When we first moved in, our neighbour (who reported us for a non existent laundry business) told my husband that sign written vans "lower the aesthetics".

Hit*

They aren't registered on companies house.

They are literally a group of people that meet once a month or fortnightly at each others house to talk about the estate.

Our landlord has confirmed this.

Contact the council.
My resident association was forever making up shit as they go along.
A neighbour had been ill and had fallen behind a bit on payment for a storage area.

The manager of the association typed a letter that said they had 48. hours to pay up or else the storage area would be broken into and their goods removed.

Emailed them cc'ing the council in asking for links to whatever laws allow this. Got a reply back from the council letting us know this isn't policy regardless of who oversees the daily running or something like that.

Have had to do the same over the years about them deciding only certain residents could use certain parts of the estate; batshit self made parking restrictions; cctv and more.

Think about it. If you weren't able to park as you are doing, you would be getting tickets. Instead of leaving their pathetic little notes they would be calling out the ticket people.

@ell9

They aren't registered on companies house.

They are literally a group of people that meet once a month or fortnightly at each others house to talk about the estate.

Our landlord has confirmed this.

Then I don't think you've got too much to worry about :)

If they get over themselves (and find someone else to pick on) then job done.

If they carry on as they do then I'd be talking to the council about harassment.

Weird. People have work vans that's life. They are very odd people

They have no legal powers whatsoever. If I were you I'd contact your local PCSO and mention that it is beginning to look like harassment of you. Then there will be a proper record of it.

Don't contact Neighbourhood Watch, it's probably the same people running that as are on the residents' association.

OP if you are not parking numerous cars and your husband's fits into a space, then YANBU.

Get your facts straight with the council first and then ask the residents' committee why signed vans of a normal size are objectionable and why. Email and record.

I can see why no one wants a furniture removal lorry around because of parking issues. But you could ask the committee if an unsigned lorry or low-loader would be acceptable when your husband's small van isn't.

If it's a legit association any resident should be able to join once they have purchased a share. For us the price of a share was £1 for lifetime access.

They are supposed to advertise the time, day and location of these meetings.

The board are usually made from elected local residents, think this is every year.

Any letters they send out will have the associations name and logo and will be listed on the councils website.

Your DH needs to to 4, no, 5 things.

1. Contact the council, send a copy of one of the notes, and ask their opinion
2. Contact your local PCSO, show them a copy of a note, ask them their opinion
3. Tell his boss some of his neighbours are batshit, just in case
4. Forward any repsonse from council and PCSO to the Resident's Association and tell them to do better
5. Then just ignore them!

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?

Again, if it was, it would need to be in the OP's lease agreement.

@MintyMabel

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?

Again, if it was, it would need to be in the OP's lease agreement.

Which is immaterial to it's potential enforcement.

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

My BIL rented a flat on a private estate where there were covenants prohibiting the parking of commercial vehicles. He also had a company van. There was nothing in his tenancy agreement about parking.

The neighbours kept telling him that commercial vehicles weren't alllowed to be parked on the estate. He was adamant that they couldn't do anything about it, because there was nothing about it in his tenancy agreement, and refused to believe me when I said they could.

He got a call from his landlord one day to say that the estate management company had written to him, saying that his tenant was breaching the covenant, which in turn meant the landlord was in breach of his lease, and that they would commence proceedings to repossess the flat if it didn't stop.

He told BIL that he was issuing a S21 notice that very day, and he did. BIL had to move. BIL's protestations that there was nothing in his tenancy agreement about it cut no ice whatsoever.

@LakieLady

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

My BIL rented a flat on a private estate where there were covenants prohibiting the parking of commercial vehicles. He also had a company van. There was nothing in his tenancy agreement about parking.

The neighbours kept telling him that commercial vehicles weren't alllowed to be parked on the estate. He was adamant that they couldn't do anything about it, because there was nothing about it in his tenancy agreement, and refused to believe me when I said they could.

He got a call from his landlord one day to say that the estate management company had written to him, saying that his tenant was breaching the covenant, which in turn meant the landlord was in breach of his lease, and that they would commence proceedings to repossess the flat if it didn't stop.

He told BIL that he was issuing a S21 notice that very day, and he did. BIL had to move. BIL's protestations that there was nothing in his tenancy agreement about it cut no ice whatsoever.

In theory, the landlord was then liable for any losses incurred from their negligence in omitting that information from the lease.

In practice, whistling can be relaxing, if not profitable.

Unless this was set up original by the developers which it wasn't then they don't have a leg to stand on. Obviously they have too much time on their hands. Ignore them

Wow what snobbery, we live on a normal street with mostly owned semi detatched houses, my "office" is nowadays in my bedroom and I am currently looking out at 3 company vans, they all belong to lovely neighbours and don't disturb anyone, it's their livelihood FFS

Set up your own residents association with you and your partner as only members and then make up new rules and enforce them the other way

e.g. The association does not accept harrassing letters from other residents who think they are more important - and post to your neighbours - just for fun!

@CoRhona

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

Don't forward correspondence to your landlord unless it's a legal requirement, otherwise (s)he will "give a toss" because it will become their problem.

It does need checking whether the rule can be enforced though. I guess you'd have to demonstrate that the van is used for domestic purposes more than work (e.g. 70% of the time)

@LakieLady

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

My BIL rented a flat on a private estate where there were covenants prohibiting the parking of commercial vehicles. He also had a company van. There was nothing in his tenancy agreement about parking.

The neighbours kept telling him that commercial vehicles weren't alllowed to be parked on the estate. He was adamant that they couldn't do anything about it, because there was nothing about it in his tenancy agreement, and refused to believe me when I said they could.

He got a call from his landlord one day to say that the estate management company had written to him, saying that his tenant was breaching the covenant, which in turn meant the landlord was in breach of his lease, and that they would commence proceedings to repossess the flat if it didn't stop.

He told BIL that he was issuing a S21 notice that very day, and he did. BIL had to move. BIL's protestations that there was nothing in his tenancy agreement about it cut no ice whatsoever.

Wow, didn't expect that ending!

I understand as work vans bring an area down, but it feels wrong that your BIL had the hassle of having to find somewhere new to live.

@LonelyGir1 why do work vans bring the area down? My Husband is a well spoken, hard working electrician. His van is clean and has simple writing on the side and back.

Some people seem to lose their mind over parking!
We have a resident parking lay by and one of my neighbours insists that one space should be kept free in case an ambulance needs to come!
Obviously an ambulance would just park along the road and nobody would mind having to pull out to pass it and nobody is sick with any long term health issues!
It's just in case.
I would just check with the council and if there are no restrictions, I would ignore everything else unless it becomes relentless or threatening. Then I'd get the local neighbourhood police team involved.

How is a work van bringing an area down? It shows a person works!

Tell them to jog on whilst laughing in their face.
Or, do some flyers put them through the doors telling them any more harassment and you'll inform your solicitor.

@LonelyGir1 I live in the snobbiest area, and once had half eaten home baked cookies returned from a neighbour with a note to say they “possibly weren’t organic by the nature of the crumb” and I still don’t think they would say work vans ‘bring an area down.’ If people are that bothered, perhaps they ought to move somewhere with underground parking or gated properties.

I don’t understand when working hard and having a business became a bad thing.