Is a designated residents parking space 'off the road'k

[Skeeter]

Would my designated parking space for my flat be considered 'off the road' in the context of putting a car there that is SORN'ed?

The space is listed as part of the complete property that my landlord owns, and is therefore listed in our tenancy agreement as land we rent, so it seems to be the same as a driveway on a house? It's in a residents only parking area but is not cut off from the road by any sort of gate, but again this is no different to a driveway.

If its owned by my landlord (and rented by me) does that remove it from being part of the public highway and therefore means a car without tax or insurance can be parked there without penalty?

Edit: and can a mod please change the random K in the thread title to a ? please? Typing on a phone fail.

 

[Skeeter]

Can't street view as the car park is around the back of the building. I'll grab a shot of Google Maps though.

 

[Skeeter]

Green dot is the space accessed off the main road through an arch under the coach house where the red arrow is.

Don't you have to insure a car regardless or tax/sorn now? Swear i heard something about that...

If a car is taxed it needs to be insured. I can't just suspend my insurance and keep it taxed and leave it on the road. I would have to SORN it too which then requires me keeping it off the road. Its an all or nothing thing now.

But its the fact the land appears to be owned by my landlord which makes me think its not public highway?

 

[Skeeter]

However, a private road or carpark to which the public will expect to be able to access (ie roads which haven't been adopted or supermarket carparks) also require a car to be taxed and insured.

It is off the road, but it may be considered to be a "public place" as members of the public have access (eg. visitors to the flats). You are required to have insurance if the vehicle is in a public place under the Road Traffic Act.

This is where my confusion is. Theres nothing to stop the public accessing a lot of areas (like drive ways) that are not part of the highway. How does this space differ?

 

[Skeeter]

But if my landlord owns that space and I am renting it, does that not make it private property too? The public have access to the pavement around it and the rest of the car park that isn't spaces, but is the space itself not private?

A SORN'ed car does not have to be insured. A Taxed car does. It's the Taxed bit that's changed. Until recently you could have a taxed car parked on the road without any insurance. In the governments drive to prevent uninsured drivers they changed the rules. What they have actually done though is just make selling a car a right pain.

 

[Skeeter]

On a driveway the owner has ultimate control of who and what comes onto their property. A residents parking area is not directly under the control of any individual - other residents can access the area, as could visitors if there are visitor spaces.

The area they have access too, but the specific confines of the space are mine (my landlords). I don't have a space 'somewhere' in the car park, I have a specific single space, and not any old space labelled so, but a specific space detailed within our tenancy contract and my landlords mortgage. Parking anywhere else would be parking on someone elses land, like parking on someone elses drive?

It seems a bit confusing.

I'd happily leave a SORN'ed car in that space.

At the end of the day its out of sight of everyone except the few other residents and visitors. If it is a problem to park it there then it would take one of those few people to notice and report it before anything happened.

On an interesting side note, my work office is in a residential block so we have 2 carparking spaces in a residential area. Its exactly the same setup as my flat. A car park with designated spaces for each individual flat/office. The only difference is there is a gate with a code to get in. I assume this is definitely private?

 

[Skeeter]

However, residents parking bays directly on the side of a council owned road are not safe.

Yeah there is some off the road parking the other side of the main road that is not designated. I was fairly sure it couldn't be left there.

My space looks OK from a DVLA perspective then.

Looks like it, but I bet your lease, ground lease, title deeds (whichever is appropriate) has some restriction on leaving SORN'd cars (will be worded differently) in allocated residents spaces.

They would go into that much detail to specifically restrict the parking of SORN'ed cars?

 

[Skeeter]

Hmm, but would it still be up to one of the other residents or my landlord (who lives in Belgium) to notice and kick up a stink?

 

[Skeeter]

Yeah, its forward planning. If I'm still living here next Winter I'm going to take my car off the road between my last track day 2012 and the first one of 2013 .