Can my tenant change the front garden of our house to a 'off road' parking area without our consent

[Oldsu]

Just after Christmas 2022 an elderly aunt died and left us her house, I love the house but its too far from, where I work, so we will move there in a few years time when I finally retire, the house is a Victorian cottage with a lovely front garden (roses and a magnolia tree and original railings) as neither DH drive we wont need a parking area when we move in, parking in the road seems to be difficult but there are no double yellow lines or residents parking permits so not impossible, we have factored this in with the rent and are charging 1/3 below market .

We rent this through an agency who have spoken to us a few times about putting in a parking area and we have said no, last September our tenant emailed me directly and asked me when the work was going to start, I forwarded it to the agents and told them to speak to the tenants, last November the tenants emailed me again asking about the work and said they would be looking to pay a reduced rent until the work is done, again I forwarded it to the agents for them to deal with, today I got another email telling me if the work is not done in 3 months they have the 'legal' right to get their own company to do the work and charge us afterwards. I want to forward it to my agents but it seems the agents are not making it clear about the parking area or the tenants are ignoring them so I think I am going to have to deal with the last email myself

When we inherited the house all paper work was done including updating the property records on the Land Registry so DH and I are on the LR as owners.

So my question is, I understand they wont need planning permission if the correct material is used but would need it to put in a dropped kerb, if they do apply would the council check the LR to check they are actually the owners of the property, if they didn't get planning permission but got a company to do the work anyway would the company also have to check the LR to make sure the customer has a right to make the change. I know it would be easier and simpler to put in the parking space and revert to a garden when we move in but I don't want to its my property and my garden. Any help would be appreciated

I would be putting something in writing and putting it through their door. Politely but firmly state that you have no intention of allowing the garden to be converted into a parking space, and you are sorry they seem to have been misinformed. Copy it to the agents.

The OP has updated.

I would not encourage getting a preservation order on your house. You may then find that if you want to remove a tree, replace windows, doors etc… you will have to get permission and be limited on materials. It can be time consuming and much more expensive. We are grade II listed and whilst I want to preserve the original features it’s a nightmare when you need to do work. I can’t even change my gutters or replace like for like windows without full planning permission including full historical documentation of my house.

You need a written notice to them that they must not change the front under any circumstances. If they want a house with front parking like that they would need to give notice and find somewhere else.

Part ways with agency and tenants!

Absolutely not. Tell the pair of them to do one. Tenants and Agents. Seriously. It's your house. Find your No.

No and Chuck them out. They are going to be trouble

Get rid regardless of what their response is. God only knows what they are doing to the inside of the house.

I would fight tooth and nail to protect an historic property. Find tenants who will respect it, and you. And get another agent too.

What are these people like, OP? Young, middle aged, ?? I'm just trying to visualize them. They certainly have nerve.

Having read updates I would serve notice for the end of the 1 year fixed term. They're not people you want in your property if they're this entitled. Also look for a new agent.

Maybe
gimmepeaceandsky just had a hell of a time with a previous tenant and needs space!!
Maybe
Gimmepeaceandsky is wasting time and money putting right all the demo etc her previous tenants have subjected her property to

I am a landlord, simply tell the tenants the front garden will not become parking, if they go about it themselves it will be considered criminal damage, the property obviously isn't suited to them. See wot they say to that. Maybe shd pop in and tell them in person

To answer the original question, no the council will not check who the registered owners are. Nor will builders.

I see you've sent the email. I'd have added "if you do not reply by [the deadline] to confirm no works will be undertaken, then given your email of xxx we will have to consider injunctive relief against you. Full indemnity costs will be claimed."

Any injunction would be open and shut, I don't agree it would cost tens of thousands, and tenant would be ordered to pay your costs (in practice this means costs recovery of about 75% not 100%).

I also agree strongly with PPs that these sort of entitled tenants are likely to have made modifications inside. You need to exercise your right to inspect.
I had a beautiful old 18th C house I rented out when I was working abroad. One set of tenants repainted inside (badly) and did unauthorised electrical work (installed lamp sockets in the bedrooms). They also built a porch although they took that down (but left paint all over the stone work). They also drilled through walls (can't remember why now). Another tenant drilled into the outer wall to instal a Sky dish (tenancy forbade this without permission) - this was back in the days where not everyone had Sky. The agents never noticed any of these things on check out.

I also agree with putting the council on notice that if they receive an application then you are the owner and you don't consent. Send this to both Planning and Highways and Legal.

As tenants they would need your permission to get a kerb dropped - you certainly have to if you apply to the LAs where I am, I'd be surprised if other LAs in different regions act differently and don't check who owns the property.

Hopefully it won't come to that and they will get the message - and you'll end their contract and that of your useless agent.

So real cf then. I think you might need to give them notice

I've read her updates. My point was letter, as well as emails. So they have a bit of paper. Carries more weight than emails.

The agents sound a bit pathetic. I’d underline to the tenant that this is an old property with an established front garden of mature plants and trees. Say there are no plans whatsoever to destroy that garden, and if anyone else was to do so without permission you will take legal action against them. Stress that the parking was never promised and any unauthorised reductions in rent will result in eviction.

It sounds like the agents indicated to the tenants before they signed the contracts that you were going to put parking in. They now seem to be burying their heads in the sand, rather than tell the tenants the truth. Personally I would contact the agents again and make it very clear to them that you have no intention of doing this and that they should advise the tenants of this. Also if the tenants have been in touch with you directly, then you have a contact address/number for them so contact them directly and advise them of the situation too. There is a housing crisis, so even if they say that they will have to move out if there is no parking, then I’m pretty sure that you won’t have a problem finding new tenants quite quickly. I personally would look at changing my management agents too as they sound useless.

No. They can't! Are you mad.

The council would know they aren't the owners. Plenty of ways to find this out. Tenants can't make any changes, externally or internally, without the landlords written or email consent.
If they drill holes for any reason, they have to make good before they leave. Painting and decorating and the upkeep of the interior is all they can do without permission, however, as a renter of 12.5 years in my present property, I always ask permission to paint or hang a rail and make sure I have proof of consent.

As to "hoarding housing," 🙄 ... maybe if there weren't so many dirty, deadbeat, destructive & unreliable renters out there, more of us would be willing to rent inherited property rather than let it sit idle.

The council would know they aren't the owners. Plenty of ways to find this out

the planning department wouldn't automatically know the house with a planning application wasn’t from the owner.

there is a fee of around £500 for a drop curb in my area, it would be very unusual for a tenant to be applying therefore why would planning check land registry for ownership? At a cost ?

I don’t know if any of way of finding out house ownership other than land registry, could you enlighten on that?

You have to tick a box on the planning application form to confirm you are the owner, and if you aren't there is a section to fill in to notify the owner of the application.

Last one I did, we owned about 90% of the land. The other 10% is not, and we had to notify the owner formally, despite the owner being the local authority we were applying to for permission, so they would have been well aware. We still had to send the form to their estates department as a formal notification.

If we hadn't, our whole application would have been invalid

Whatever happens, serve them notice when their 12 month lease is up. I’m a landlord and we manage the property ourselves. My husband’s a builder so can fix most property problems, so that works for us.
We use an agent to find a prospective tenant and we make sure we are at the property ‘having a look round’ when the agents are showing the other prospective tenants,it gives you a very good idea of the type of person you want in there…. Our place has an 80ft garden and I always pick someone who will say how nice it is and actually venture out to look at it rather than stand at the door. At the end of the day it’s your forever home you just want a like minded person who will cherish the garden until you want to move yourself. These people are just not right for your lovely house.

I think if it was my property, I’d still seek some legal advice and get it in writing that they cannot touch the property. That’s something that can be done much quicker than checking if it’s a listed building and getting the paperwork. I’d also enquire about breaking the tenancy early and getting them the hell out of your house! If they’re this persistent about changing the front garden to parking, it makes me wonder if they’ve made changes to the inside of the house!