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.

@grissomsbugs

It's snobbery. There are people who have the opinion that tradesmen are below them.

You can't have your own car parked at your own address? Fucking ridiculous

@grissomsbugs

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

In still-being-built estates, it's possible that seeing contractors vans parked outside the same house for apparent days on end might indicate the build quality is somehow shoddy.

(Personally I don't need a permanently parked works van to tell me new builds are shit. But that is another story entirely).

As mentioned by a PP, touring caravans can also be verboten. My in-laws fell foul of that a few years ago and eventually had to pay to store their van elsewhere.

In newly built estates with unadopted roads, it's fairly common to not allow work vans.
Weird really as generally people need to work to pay their mortgage 🙄

Speak to your ll and ask for a copy of their deeds. Or the letting agent if it is a maned property. They should be sorting this out, not you. It’s one of the perks of renting.

Maned = managed

Without wanting to derail...
Not organic judging by the crumb reminds me of the otherwise lovely colleague who couldn't eat my cakes as the eggs came from my own chickens, fruit from my garden or a neighbour and, whilst I had a recent food hygiene certificate, made cakes for 2 local cafes, she really didn't think she could safely digest any food that has not been - wait for it - professionally cleaned!!

I never did tell her the milk wasn't always pasteurised shop bought milk or that once, and only once, never again, I made the butter myself too!

People have their own food standards, it isn't worth trying to work out why!

I am the unpaid Secretary for a residents' association. There are indeed rules on our estate which are set out in a 16-page document. I would advise getting a copy of the rules, wrapping a wet towel round head and reading them to see what they say. !

If there is a relevant rule then it needs to be obeyed surely for the comfort of all?

@ell9

Would the RA accept something like this to cover the graphics? Or is it, shock horror, the van itself causing the issues? You shouldn't have to put up with all this nonsense from them though.

@Sirzy

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

this, good idea, and passes the buck to the landlord

@Thelittleweasel

I am the unpaid Secretary for a residents' association. There are indeed rules on our estate which are set out in a 16-page document. I would advise getting a copy of the rules, wrapping a wet towel round head and reading them to see what they say. !

If there is a relevant rule then it needs to be obeyed surely for the comfort of all?

@ell9

but enforcable by whom? And in what legal capacity?

They are only legally enforceable surely if they are included in the deeds of the house, and then on into the tenancy agreement.

If I buy a house, and then someone else, one of my neighbours tells me I can't do something, says who? I haven't agreed to that or signed up to it.

@Thelittleweasel

I am the unpaid Secretary for a residents' association. There are indeed rules on our estate which are set out in a 16-page document. I would advise getting a copy of the rules, wrapping a wet towel round head and reading them to see what they say. !

If there is a relevant rule then it needs to be obeyed surely for the comfort of all?

@ell9

What is the legal backing for the rules?

I had a run -in with the RA where I used to live. I committed the hideous crime of having a paddling pool in my garden and allowing children to use it after 5pm (it was the school holidays and a very hot spell of weather). I asked what exactly were they going to do as it was a) My own home and b) legal. My NDN at the time also fell foul of them when she decided to have her vegetable patch at the front of the house as the living room looked out over the back garden and she didn't wan't it spoiled by a bunch of carrots. It helped that she was a retired magistrate and told them in no uncertain terms what they could do with their "roolz".

@Thelittleweasel

I am the unpaid Secretary for a residents' association. There are indeed rules on our estate which are set out in a 16-page document. I would advise getting a copy of the rules, wrapping a wet towel round head and reading them to see what they say. !

If there is a relevant rule then it needs to be obeyed surely for the comfort of all?

@ell9

It depends really, if it's just a group of self appointed busybodies writing 16 pages of rules that they have decided apply to everyone then no, it doesn't need to be followed anymore than if I randomly decided that everyone on my road must have a red rose bush in front of their house

If it's a proper registered residents association with elections etc and the ability for everyone to participate, debate, agree and object then you would hope that it would, but still not enforceable

Talk to your local councillor.

But even then I wouldn't expect anyone that isn't a member to follow these rules, unless they are written into the deeds of the house

It is written into the deeds of my flat that no commercial vehicles should be parked within the parking bays. The residents association tends to approach owners of large commercial vehicles and ask that they don't park in the bays right outside the flats and use any of the central parking spaces instead, as they can block the light to and the view from the ground floor flats. Most of our ground floor flats are older people who can't get outside so their view and daylight is important to them.

The RA tries to come to a compromise because they know that to try to enforce what is essentially as silly rule in the deeds would be hugely expensive, time consuming and most likely fruitless, so it sounds like your RA is just full control-freakiness hot air, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, just ignore them.

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”

I laughed out loud at that, sergeilavrov that's crazy!

My son bought a newly built home last year and his solicitor warned him about a no work vans rule - owner occupied houses freehold. It was not a problem as he drives in his car to work every day and picks up his work van there.

Some of my snobby neighbours used to get themselves in a right wrinkle about a liveried vehicle their neighbours had (not a van). Some people are not cut out from living on a "development".

How can I put this...?

I used to work in a ‘parking’ Department at a local Council. Batshit residents associations with made-up rules a very regular feature.

If the RA write in, well...The letter will be passed round for a darned good chuckle , and the official response, a stern reminder as to what their remit as a RA should be.

It is written into the deeds of my flat that no commercial vehicles should be parked within the parking bays.

I'd hope it's worded better than that. Is "commercial vehicle" defined by usage, taxation class, or enumeration ? Imagine if your family runaround just happened to be a hearse ?

Very small companies don’t always have parking. Land for parking is very expensive and you need a compound. Lots of smaller firms just don’t have it. Also millions of self employed people are based at home. Especially now! It’s going to have to be give and take isn’t it? We cannot be unreasonable when people truly need to work.

What is it about RA? The one near me is batshit aswell. The get incandescent if anyone parks near them. There are loads of spaces. It's practically empty. They have put nails in many tyres. Cant prove it but it's well known. I think it's the only thing in their lives they have. It makes them feel important. They have such a bee in their bonnet about it. Legally they don't have a leg to stand on so everyone just laughs at them. All 2 of them. It will be stated in the deeds re Van's. If you've checked with your landlord & he has okd it I wouldn't worry. Bet he/she has had yrs of this shit off them. Can you email landlord so you have the reply in writing. Tell the RA to take it up with landlord.