Elderly parents in a mess

[parkingsadness]

My parents are in the process of selling their leasehold flat to move to a block with lifts and onsite care as mum has Parkinsons and they're currently on the 1st floor.

When they bought their flat it was advertised as having a dedicated parking space. The previous owners always parked there, as have my parents for the last 10 + years.

Now they are selling their buyers solicitor has picked up that parking isn't mentioned in the lease. (If only their conveyancer had been so detail conscious...)

Buyers won't proceed without parking or a lot knocked off the price which would mean my parents can't fund their move. I recognise that estate agents particulars are caveat emptor, and that their solicitors were negligent, but realistically what can they do now? Is there anything around possession etc?

They're very distressed and I can pay for legal work to help them but I can't afford to make up for the loss of parking to help them move.

Are you sure there isn't a separate lease for the parking space?

Ask your parents' solicitor to do a land registry map search to see who does own it.

How long have they lived there?

I would ask your parents' solicitor to check all possible leads for details of the parking. Is there any paperwork at all from when they bought the flat?

Is their parking space on the same land as their flat, i.e spaces around a block? Check the deeds / title plan for the block?

If it is a shared freehold conversion for e.g it would also be worth checking the deeds / title plan for the other flat to see if it has any covenants / restrictions - which could include parking for the upstairs flat.

As per @sunandfog my first thought was that the car space might be seperate.

Conveyancing these days is all too often reduced to a set of Operating Processes that can be worked through by staff with relatively little thought or skill. It's a factory process.

Both my adult kids went through hell as first time buyers because their vendors had seized the cheapest offer they could.

A proper conveyancing solicitor is worth their weight in gold. And they cost a lot but particularly with flats/leaseholds it's money well spent.

How much of a discount is being asked for here ? The buyer sounds a CF to be honest. A parking space, depending on the location, shouldn't be that much.

You can hold firm and see if buyer accepts. In my lane, we have a general resident agreement that we can park on the lane but the covenant restricts it. The EA advertise as private parking but the custom and practice is different. They could just remarket the house and see if anyone else wants to buy who is less bothered.
Alternatively you can get insurances for this sort of thing for a £hundreds. So speak to solicitor about this

11 years

It's leasehold - 6 flats with 4 parking spaces out front. The biggest 4 flats had parking whilst the 2 smaller top ones didn't. All their neighbours in the same size flats have a space. Just mum and dad don't seem to have a record of it.

Is it on the title plan and/or title register? I'm sure my parking space is shown on mine

Could they ask one of the neighbours how ownership of their own parking space is recorded?

Might be worth buying the deeds for the other flats to see if any of those include the parking.

This.three quid a go.