How to get relatives car off my property

[Avacadosprinkles]

A relative has left their car in my garage for the last 10 years. I want to sell my house and they won't move it. They could move it to their own property but don't want to. It was always meant to be temporary. I have brought it up several times over the years and they just brush me off with excuses every time. I have ran out of patience. What legal route do I need to take. I don't want to dispose of or sell the car I just want to get it towed to their driveway, but Google seems to suggest I could be prosecuted for criminal damage if I do

I'd tell them to bring it on, lol.

Difference is that anyone that knows me would know I'd do it so the owner would be round in a flash.

@Avacadosprinkles What is illegal about removing the car and handing it back to them? What legal route is there? Does a solicitor ask more nicely! You are just being pushed around and are presumably scared! Their car - their responsibility! It’s pretty simple in terms of legal ownership and who is responsible for the vehicle. It’s not you. No wonder you’ve been messed around for 10 years!

Except they do, if the car is damaged in the move from the OPs property to theirs. She has had some good advice of how to approach this to avoid any risks to her, particularly given she knows the owner is someone who would cause trouble.

The “just shift it” advice is taking a risk, she doesn’t need to put up with it forever, but she does need to tread carefully.

i had a similar situation but with a tractor and a neighbour. I sent them a letter stating that they had 7 days to remove it or it would be sold with the property - eg. The buyer would be the owner and they would receive no money ect in exchange for it. They moved it within 12 hours of the letter

Absolutely this. There is also the fact that the car doesn’t belong to her so if she moves it, regardless of any damage, she’s leaving herself open to civil action from the relative for tampering with property that doesn’t belong to her. I’d also love posters advocating for OP to deliver the car back to the relative, to explain what she will do if the relative doesn’t give permission for them to enter the property - which he likely won’t if OP’s experience up to this point is anything to go by. She can’t just dump the car on a public road, because legally she’s abandoning it and opening herself up to action from the local council.

The illegality and legal route that will protect OP has been explained ad nauseam upthread. Once she initiates it, it will allow her to get the car removed from her property without any legal recourse to herself. Posters who have no legal grounding are giving advice that has no legal basis and is likely to land OP in trouble.

So they would know who to slap with the summons then.

My partner had something similar. His df died and his half sib had moved in with his df a year or so earlier.
He had a car but regularly used df’s car so sorned his car.
2 years later, he had to be evicted but left the car on the drive.

Dp did some research and first served him notice under the Torts process already noted above. Told him that if he didnt remove it, it would be treated as abandoned.

About 6 months later he still hadn't responded /moved the car, dp then applied to DVLA to get the car treated as abandoned and to have the V5C transferred to him.

(My understanding is that they then try to contact owner to establish situation - is it abandoned etc )
Fast forward a couple of months V5C arrives, dp gets scrappie to collect, he gets the scrap value (which he will pass on to half sib) and an empty drive.

So I suggest you go through the Torts process and tell your relative that if they do not move the car by a certain date you will treat it as abandoned and will dispose of accordingly and give him the proceeds.

You have to make your relative understand you mean business.

I’m selling the house, if you don’t remove it then it will be left in the garage when I move out.

I know you said you don’t want the faff of sorting it after the house is on the market but once it is and sold, the relative will have to face the fact that you are actually moving and the car needs to go too. Nothing else has worked so until you actually start the process, they won’t do anything.

Sell your house. Tell relative that they'll need to turn up before keys are exchanged to move their car to your new garage.

When they turn up to facilitate this, wait until the car is out of the garage, shut the door and give them a letter revoking any offer to store their car at any property of yours.

I don't think it would be able to be towed the tyres will be totally degraded
It needs a low loader and that's going to cost to the OP I can't understand why it's been left so long! Ten years is outrageous CF territory.

I haven't read everything because it's a huge thread, but has anyone suggested you just call the local police or 101 and say that a car has been abandoned on your property? Yes, to a point it's a civil matter, but the police do remove vehicles that have been abandoned and given it's been there for 10 years and they're refusing to move it when asked, I'd say worth a try.

Towing a sorned car to onstreet parking would be illegal. It’s abandonment and since OP is the one doing the towing, she would be liable for any action the LA decided to take. And I doubt she’d be able to find a legit tow truck company to do this as they would know it’s illegal.

The police won’t be interested. OP gave permission for the car to be stored on her property. She needs to send a letter before action and as part of that, she needs to withdraw that consent. The police won’t touch someone else’s’ property that is stored on private land. It’s a civil matter.

Tow it and park it on a public road (not in a nuisance way of blocking or obstructing anyone), and then tell them where it is.

Bet they will quickly collect it.

Who is she going to get to tow it ? It’s been sorned. Any tow truck company who knows what they’re about won’t touch it because they will know it’s illegal to leave a sorned vehicle on a public road. Even if she found someone to do it, the act of removing something that doesn’t belong to her leaves her open to civil action from the owner, and worse if the vehicle is damaged in the process. She’s also liable for any action taken by the local authority because they’re likely to view it as abandonment and prosecute her.

Considering this is the legal board and not AIBU I’m amazed at some of the batshit advice here.

Oh, do stop faffing around with facts, it's much more fun what people make it up as they go along 🤣

I feel sorry for OP trying to sort the sensible advice from the.. ..💩

I understand what you’re going through OP. Sounds to me that your relative isn’t too fussed about the car and is leaving it on your property so you eventually have no option but to do something nuclear then they will tell everyone how awful you are for doing such a bad thing to them. Sorry you’re going through this and I doubt this is the first time you’ve experienced this sort of behaviour from them, that’s why you are so carefully trying to protect yourself. My only advice would be to speak to a solicitor then go low/no contact as soon as you can.

But did you phone the FREE helpline that would have told you what the legal route would be? You can call them about anything, not just the things they'd actually act for you about. They wouldn't have been able to act for me either, but as I said earlier, they were able to spell out exactly what the legalities involved, what was legal and what was not, and explaining how to instruct the solicitor that I wanted to act for me. Just getting that information from them saved me hours of inflated solicitor's hourly rate.

But yep, the pp is right.
You’ve been told solutions but you find excuses not to do any of them.

It's so frustrating having taking the time to help you and give you the opportunity to actually get your answers last night, to log on today to find it wasted.

I just hope that other posters will have taken in my suggestion and will be able to use that information one day when they find themselves with a legal problem.

If the OP tries to sell the house with the car on the property, this will be flagged by the buyers.

If the car is not collected, the buyer can sue the OP for the cost of removal.

Not great advice.

In any case, the OP has contacted a solicitor for advice and will no doubt follow the advice given.

Personally I’d just get it towed and put on their property. What legal action can they take? What loss have they suffered? What realistically can they sue you for? You have told them to take it and you are just returning it to them.

Have it moved to the road and inform them.

Well if they did, they'd be a CF x 2!

If the choice is put up with it or pay thousands for a lawyer and court, I’d rather pay someone to dismantle the door opening it to the elements and phone the person concerned that not only are animals, pigeons and weather now getting into the garage (it’s be a shame if any of that ended up scratching the paintwork) but there was also some guys caught in your garden eyeing it up. If a window got broken at that point no one could say it was you.