To be annoyed about my neighbours parking

[Sundaycoffee]

I live in a maisonette on the ground floor. The property attached to us is also a maisonette, so 4 properties in total. 2 up, 2 down, managed by the same agency.
We have a car park to the rear of our property with spaces for 5 cars. My lease states I have access to a space for my own car and the assumption is (for now) that the other 3 properties do too. There is no stipulation on the 5th space as far as I am aware.
However, the ground floor property next to me also has its own driveway that holds 2 cars so I cannot be sure if this also applies to this property or whether they are exempt due to having 2 spaces at the front of their house.
This property owner has 2 vans on his driveway and parks his car in the rear carpark. He's now acquired another van and is also parking this in the rear of the property.
Currently I have no problem parking my own car but whenever I want to have a visitor over I have to ask them to park a 5 minute walk away because my neighbour is always taking up any free spaces.
AIBU to think that's it's unfair that he has 4 vehicles permanently parked on the property whilst the rest of us (3 other properties) just have a space for our own car? If his lease states he only has access to parking on his driveway then he shouldn't be parking there at all. Even if he was given a space per his lease like the rest of us then surely the one remaining space should be made available to visitors instead of his 4th vehicle??

Sorry, where’s the diagram?

It wouldn't bother me. The 5th space seems to be there for whoever gets there first....either he gets it, or a visitor swoops in. Is this extra van always parked in the 5th space, or does he move it regularly?

You have access to one space and that isn't being restricted or hindered in any way. Therefore it doesn't make a jot of difference what else is happening elsewhere as you don't know the terms of their lease and how many or which spaces they are allocated

Unless you know for certain which property has the right to park where, I don't think it's really an issue.
Do you know the different landlords or management company you can ask?

Diagram please. What has the agency said? What sort of agency - do you all rent from it - or is it a property management company in charge of communal areas for a fee? Are you leaseholders? Freeholders? Do you have an allocated space?

If the 5th space doesn’t belong to anyone then as frustrating as it may be he is doing nothing wrong parking in it.

He doesn't move it. Not even sure if it looks roadworthy currently as its all dented and has been in the same spot for 2 weeks now.
I think also essentially it's the not knowing if he even has a right to park there at all considering he has a driveway which the rest of us do not.

That would irritate me then. Technically he hasn't impinged on your spot yet. If he did, I'd let him know that he needs to back off.

Could you report the van if its still there in a few months?

Agree, it just seems strange that a house with a driveway would be allocated 2 more spaces at the rear and the rest of us just one?

Could you just ask the housing company what the arrangement is?

For all you know, he’s paid something for an extra space to park all his vehicles and rent the additional free space….?

There aren't actually specific "spaces" just enough room for 5 cars if everyone squeezes up. They aren't marked or anything. Not sure if that's better or worse! There has always just been the 3 residents parking there for a couple of years and suddenly this other guy has started squeezing his cars in out of nowhere. Almost as if he's suddenly realised he can get away with using the space whereas before he wasn't parking there at all which is why I wonder if he's just trying his luck now.

But yes I have emailed. No response yet though....

Why does he have so many vehicles?

No idea. I think he must be a tradey but why you would ever need 3 vans and a car is beyond me

So I've just run the number plate of the van and it has been declared SORN. Does anyone know if he has the right to park an untaxed unroadworthy car in our residents car park? Is this considered private land? Differing opinions online but the annoying thing is that it probably will be there for a while!

If the residents’ car park is part of the development and not maintained by the council or as part of the highways then a SORN vehicle can be parked off road in it. You need to take it up with the management agent to clarify exact arrangements for the fifth space and communicate to residents about whether they’re entitled to use it this way. It’s the kind of situation that I’d seethe quietly about, certainly, but as a previous poster has said, your neighbour isn’t interfering with your use of your designated space and if the fifth space is unassigned and first come first served, it’s always a gamble about whether it will be vacant for visitors or not.

That would annoy me. It is nice to have a little extra parking space for visitors or tradies as needed. And there is a sort of greed in one resident taking the absolute maximum of a shared resource.

As mentioned in a previous post these aren't marked bays though. Essentially it's just a concrete area that I have a right to park in. It just fits 5 cars max, so it's not like i have a designated space that I always park in and is assigned to my property. So it just feels a bit like this guy is taking the piss and squeezing a SORN vehicle round the back of the property because he can. I would be surprised if his lease was different to the other 3 properties and allowed him 2 vehicles on top of his driveway parking.

Agreed. I wouldn't even mind if he was moving it in and out and there was an option for other people to park there sometimes but sticking a great big untaxed dented van there permanently just feels like a bit of a pisstake to me

This is what you need to clarify with the management agent. Regardless of marked bays, you’ve repeatedly stated there’s a “fifth space” - if there’s a fifth space then unless the MA states otherwise, it’s a fifth space for whoever chooses to use it. If there are only four actual spaces, each assigned to a lease, and the MA has no opinion on whether if there’s enough room for anybody to squeeze another car or two in if they can do so, it’s just something that is an annoyance but which you can’t really claim is taking space away from you.

Is there anything in the lease or that the management company can clarify about what that parking area can be used for? Because if it's SORN, he's not parking a car there in the course of normal usage, he's storing a vehicle there that he has no intention of driving in the near future, and a lot of places have restrictions on that sort of thing (along with not storing caravans/boats etc).

You need to obtain a copy of all 4 leases from Land Registry (£7 each). Read them & then you will know who can use what.