Purple house has two parking spaces but uses our yard instead of second one - so intrusive! Help!

[concernedrepurplehouse]

here is a diagram. The white Lanes are a private back roads leading to the highways. There is a set of gates then a yard for orange and yellow house.
I’m yellow house and also own the freehold of orange house subject to long leases. As some you know that brings in no money and is a heck of a lot of responsibility and hassle. You really have to keep on it. Orange leaseholders have allocated parking spaces on the yard which come with a right of access to orange house.

purple house has one car parking space which it can only access by driving through yellow/orange’s yard. I’ve labelled it 1 in red pen. Nothing in writing/nothing on the deeds. This is ok.

purple house has a second space at the back and fully documented legal rights to pass through light blue house’s yard to other private lane to highway. But it’s a garage that opens out to light blue’s yard from where it can exit.

purple’s newish owners moved in at the start of the pandemic with four little children and - no surprise - 2 medium size cars. We bent over backwards to accommodate them.

the trouble is that purple accommodates its second car in our yard too whilst using its garage for storage/hobbies :(. If an orange leaseholder is away (think second homes), purple breezily parks there. The degree of brazenness varies. Sometimes purple puts second car elsewhere at front on highway. Then it starts to come to yard and unload/drop off kids turn round and return to highway. Then that turns into parking for hours or overnight with purple people going to and fro with their hobby stuff/children stuff. Then purple’s elderly dad starts using it too. Then purple’s tradesmen ( I don’t mean deliveries).

I want to relax in my small private small orange house garden. Unfortunately it’s right next to a preferred purple-invaded space so I have to squeeze past purple family. Purple are responsible for a good 3/4 of the deterioration of the yard’s ageing surface. As freeholder I’ll have to resurface it. I’ll have to claim contributions from orange leaseholders. In the past one stroppy orange leaseholder has resisted paying on the grounds that freeholder was allowing predecessor purple people too much access/parking and causing him problems. He got really angry. He is still a leaseholder but doesn’t live here.

help! I chose yellow for my house before I remembered it’s the colour of cowardice......

If they really have no legal right of access, you are within your rights to stop them using it at all.
You could offer to draw up an agreement to allow them limited access if they sign that they agree that this does not equate to a permanent right of access via Yellow Lane.
But this limited access is for one car that is parked entirely on their property.
It does not give right of access if the car is parked outside their boundary.

They have plenty of land and a documented right of access via Blue Lane. They could increase their parking there

this would be ideal. It would last for so long as the current family is in residence. "You could offer to draw up an agreement to allow them limited access if they sign that they agree that this does not equate to a permanent right of access via Yellow Lane.
But this limited access is for one car that is parked entirely on their property.
It does not give right of access if the car is parked outside their boundary."

However, I have learnt the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished and have regretted deeply compromises I have made in the past....

I would keep emphasising that you are acting as the freeholder and your job is to enforce the letter of the law on this. Stress there isn’t scope here for interpretation and flexibility, because that is how confusions happen. Give them again in writing what their lease says about rights of access.

Just be matter of fact. Say it’s not about being friendly or neighbourly and that if you were a remote freeholder you would be acting the same way. Ask them for confirmation that they will be abiding by the rights if access and using their own parking space and not that belonging to another property, regardless of whether they are around. If there is any resistance say that you are relying on them sticking to the legal terms and hope not to involve solicitors.

Mentioning solicitors makes clear you are serious.

If I were another if the leaseholders on site, I would be relying on you enforcing the leases and not allowing yourself (and other leaseholder rights) to be bullied.

Quite simply ‘Sorry but there’s not room for flexibility in this. I represent all the leaseholders as the freeholder, so everyone needs to stick with what their own entitlement is, even if it’s sometimes inconvenient or it seems others don’t mind. ‘

I wouldn’t give any further access informally or temporarily. Just stick with what the agreement is. It is straightforward and difficult to argue with. The mire grey areas you allow to creep in, the more the cheeky type who will take a mile if you give an inch become.

I have them down as stand up paddle boarders. I’d definitely go the legal route, take the personal element out of it, you’ve tried the neighbourly way and they’ve taken advantage of it.

Good neighbours cuts both ways, you can turn that back on them.

actually paddle boards has the right poshness quotient. Less crass than a speedboat don't you think?

loving the advice and hoping for more hobby guesses to spin the thread out and get more fab phrasing.

give an inch and take a mile is it absolutely.

seriously though I think it's very hard when they are not bad people (other than how they treat me) and their kids are very cute.

Having looked at it all again, I would stop purple using the access across your land altogether.

Orange is well within their rights to complain about purple impinging on their space and causing wear and tear. Purple can rework their space and move their spot to the other side with access from the lane they actually have a right to use.

Agreed.

You can’t really compromise with people like the purples because if you give an inch they’ll take a mile. Stopping access altogether prevents any further piss takes and headaches.

Op, they rely on you thinking that they are nice people, to make it awkward for you to call them on breaking the legitimate rules. They deliberately set out to suggest that what they are doing is reasonable (when it’s not) and that you or anyone suggesting otherwise is unreasonable (which you’re not) and that you will be cowed into silence.

They look for chunks in your armour or doubts in your own way if thinking about this. And you’ve revealed some to them, which makes them mire confident to keep pushing for their way on this and making you feel like it’s YOU being the awkward one.

Simply be matter-of-fact. No flexibility, no interpretation, simply what the rules state to be rigorously applied so that everyone gets their entitlement and there’s no scope for anyone feeling aggrieved. No doubt they’d be quick to pick up in someone else infringing their parking, but they hope that exceptions can be made for them. No exceptions. That way everyone knows where they are - might be harsh in some peoples views, but they took the properties in knowing the conditions and having them applied is what people must expect.

If you let them get away with things outside what they are allowed, you favour them at the cost of others. Think further diwn the line and the complaints you could face as a result if this. Why build up future aggro and instead just stick to the letter if the law.

These people are not your friends. If they think you’re a bit awkward ow annoying, who cares really. You can be polite, friendly and clear. They will actually have more respect for you like this, than if they think you can be bullied and pushed to do something that isn’t their right. You are there as freeholder for all the residents and not just them, so you really shouldn’t favour or turn a blind eye to some residents, because it always does impact negatively on someone else. At the moment they are in the wrong. If you become complicit or allow it, you will become in the wrong. It’s really important to remain impartical and simply stick with the regulations as they stand. Tell them your hands are tied and that you must stick to the rules with no exceptions made - because the regulations are there for the benefits of everyone.

That makes them bad people for you, though.
The kids will be less cute soon, too. Happens to all kids!

Thank you all so much again.

we paid for legal advice, setting out the full history honestly. The advice came back clear and favourable. We’ve sent a polite and unambiguous letter.

fingers crossed that purple will just accept this is how it is and if parking needed tell blue to comply.

I cycle somewhere regularly which is a bridleway - but its a dirt road and could be used as a cut through - they have recently put a gate up at one end of the bridleway and left enough room for bikes and walker to access

the gate system means that the deliveries and stuff to the farms - there are about 3/4 have to all stop and ring the clearly marked doorbells

If you put a system in like that then the purple house - as there is nothing in their deeds for access, would need to ring a doorbell to get through, and you can answer the bell and let them through

but it will then become much easier to use the other two spaces they actually have written in their deeds etc

They'll be nothing legally they can do about it??? as you would not be declining them access but it'll make it difficult to use that spot

The gate only needs to go across at your property and orange property gets key tags for their car so they can come in and out as they please

yes it will cost you money, but in the long run you'll have to consider whether its money saved on not having to resurface the lane etc

Oh good. I was wondering how you were getting on with this.

Fingers crossed that Purple just realises that they've had it good for so long and were taking liberties and now they have to follow the rules.

Ivy that’s clever.
the whole problem is that it’s easier to use ours than their own. Theirs is full of posh invasive hobby stuff. Think The Good Life.

Golf?

I would be very careful not to allow anything that isn't strictly their legal right, as it can become so if you do, causing problems if ever you want to sell. As well as it being wrong in principle to let people walk all over you, however nice they may seem to be when it suits them.

Will be fascinated to hear what their response is!

Well done OP, that must have felt hard to do.

They have an allotment?

With entitled tosses you absolutely do need to be that harsh. Give them an inch they'll take a mile. Plus they're not paying towards the resurfacing but are causing most of the damage, that alone is reason to stop them parking there. They have a garage they can use that, but even if they had nowhere else to park it still wouldn't be your problem. You've tried to be nice giving them a space which you didn't have to give them. They're literally parking on your land as a favour and not being appreciative of that favour but abusing it. They're new, if you let them get away with this they'll be getting away with all kinds in future, so start as you mean to go on.

Thank you

Be really careful what you do allow. When my grandfather got old, the neighbours asked to park on part of his property and when my brother inherited the house, they fenced it off and said that they had the right because of long-term usage. My brother tried to fight it legally, but was told by his solicitor that it could end up costing thousands, so he had to just give up.

Op you need to hold firm no excuse for them to be doing this