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

Blood relative.
I don't need it to be fixed in the next 2 weeks but I would like to know roughly what sort of expense and how like ng the legal process will be to deal with this in the least explosive way possible
I'm trying to be as reasonable as possible even where they are being unreasonable themselves. I don't want to sell or scrap the car so the tort route doesn't seem to cover this, as it only seems to cover selling or disposing of the car it doesn't seem to cover towing the car to their property.
I can delay putting my house on the market for a few months to get this resolved but I don't want to end up going down a legal route that could last years. I would potentially consider the tort route if that was the only alternative to years long court battles

Write to them. Tell them the house is going on the market and it needs to gone within a set time (14 days) and then list the house. They will figure out you mean business when you put it on the market and it won't put off buyers.

Is there a reason you are being so hesitant with this relative? Are you close?

I can’t imagine not being able to have an adult conversation with someone in my family and telling them that they should be grateful for the last decade of free storage but that time is now over, I want to sell my house so please come and collect your car, if not you will put me in a situation where I will have no choice but to contact my solicitor because frankly, you are taking the piss out of my good nature and kind generosity……you ungrateful arsehole!

None of what you are saying/ doing seems to be taken seriously by this relative. Maybe when it registers with them you mean business, they'll get on with it...

No rent paid. I just did this as a favour, I never thought it would drag on this long

I doubt this would help but I would scratch it to bits, smash the windows and say unfortunately you have had a break in the garage, bloody vandals....maybe just me!

It will cost you unfortunately but engage a proper vehicle recovery company to take it to their house. They say you are protecting yourself by using a professional outfit and then it becomes their issue. First give 14 days notice. Don't tell them you have professionals involved. Just tell them you are disposing of it.

Odds are they will act first. If not you are acting legally.

I'm going to assume he's not paying rent. So what you need to do OP is write to him via email to formally withdraw your permission for him to store the vehicle on your land. Give 14 days notice minimum but 28 days might be considered more reasonable.

Dear Relative
I am writing to inform you that I am withdrawing permission for your vehicle to be stored on my land. Please ensure the vehicle is removed no later than DATE – e.g. 14 days from today. After this date, the vehicle will be considered unauthorised and I may take further steps to have it removed.
Ta very much
@Avacadosprinkles

If the vehicle isn't removed after the deadline you can report it to your local council as a vehicle with no valid SORN abandoned on your land.

They are a close relative. I have told them they are being selfish and ungrateful. They do not care, they seem to think that housing their car comes above my needs and wants. Once I've resolved this issue I will likely to avoiding contact with them in the future but trying to deal with it as reasonably as possible, to try to not come out as the bad guy in the family. They are very good at playing the victim even in situations they are very much the problem

With due respect , neither the property owner (you) nor the car owner (blood relative) is making any sense.

you are not behaving as someone entitled to have the car gone- you seem to hold some responsibility over this person (forget the car for a moment).

I can quite sort of understand the relative (unless you answer the other questions properly) . If it goes to court, car owner might win. They might even get a court order, ordering storage of car at your property indefinitely!

something seems odd here.

Give them a heads up that you'll be moving it onto the street. Handbrake off and roll into the street, not your problem that its sorn.

You put the house in the market now. On the day you accept an offer you tell CF they have 28 days to remove their property. If they don’t you send another informing them it will officially be disposed of on x date to ensure the new owners have vacant possession. The ball is in their court.

No, say moving to live on a boat to avoid incoming land tax!

Don't do this.

Don't do this.

A friend left a car in a locked secure garage for a decade, again a classic, needed a little TLC but a very nice car. He never checked on it, just renewed insurance each year. One day he decided to visit. The entire car has vanished. Police suspected it had been stolen piece by piece over a number of years. Nothing owner could do. It was on someone elses land, no cameras, no sign of a heavy vehicle having driven in the vacinity that could tow it away

Does your blood relative ever come and check on said car? Just asking ...

Whose option are you concerned about if you are planning to go low/no contact anyway? Surely whoever that is can understand that you have been more than reasonable and have every right to return the car to the owners? Surely the wider family must know of their form for playing the victim?

@Avacadosprinkles Ignore people saying to sell it. It’s not yours! You can get a car removal company to take it to their house. It can be left on the road. It’s their responsibility to tax and insure it. God knows why you dit not do this years ago! Get it back to its owner and swallow the cost. No one will buy your house on a promise of it moving. You need to take control.

Surely this is a wind up thread!!

Go and see your solicitor, tell them the problem and what you would ideally like as a solution. They are the experts so don’t try to tell them what the answer is. They will ask the relevant questions to make sure they cover all the issues,

But surely anyone would see that you have safely stored this persons car for 10 years, for no rental fee whilst they have ample storage at their property makes you the better person regardless of how they come across or whinge and whine? No one would expect you to stay in a property and hold off selling because you are storing a car for a blood relative. That would be beyond crazy.

I think this issue obviously runs deeper here and you feel you can not stand up to them. I’ve had major issues with my own family including my father who loves to play the victim and I had been an absolute door mat to him since my mum developed dementia but following on from advice on here I stood up to him and have been pleasantly surprised how empowering it was.

Maybe you need to stand up to this person to ensure they no longer take the piss out of you, 10 years is far too long. It’s your home and you are entitled to sell it and anything being stored on your property which isn’t yours needs to be returned to the owner.

I don't understand what you think I'm missing here. I own the property, they own the car. I have asked them many times over the years to get the car off my property. There are always excuses, they need to clear their garage, their garage roof is leaking, they need to fix that first, something needs sorting on the car before they can move it, they're going to sell it, but need to wait until spring as it'll sell better in the nice weather. When these excuses started wearing thin and I started to be more firm, they just ended up shouting at me, name calling, refusing to talk to me at all.
I've ran out of options trying to get them to do the right thing off their own back and now exploring what legal route I have to resolve this. I'm trying to do this without destroying other family relationships. If I scrapped or sold their car, they would be pleading victim. So if I can get it removed from my property and returned to theirs legally, it will be harder for other family members to see me as being the arse hole and damaging our relationships.

Does it have leather seats. I think I would be encouraging rodents to take residence. Presumably you can't be held responsible for damage from wildlife.

OP - can I say you seem to be wallowing in all of this. Fgs - just say you are selling the house and the car needs to be removed in say 28 days. All this drama is ridiculous.

Yes they do come and check on it