edit: crap title as I forgot to update it with something more meanginful - should be "Neighbour's property listing is inaccurate in relation to parking" or something..
tl;dr version:
Advert for neighbour's house says it includes a parking space in front of garage, when it doesn't and can impede our parking when used. Unsure what to do.
Proper version:
I live in a new build estate that has a separate courtyard with 5 garages. Of those 5 garages, only two of them have designated parking spaces in front of the garage (I know this for certain because we discussed it with the developer and specifically bought a plot that included this additional parking space in front of the garage). The two parking spaces are clearly defined because they are tarmaced rather than the rest of the courtyard with has this brick tiling effect.
Here is a rough diagram I knocked up to illustrate (not to scale... just pretend it is more uniform!):
-The outside border indicates the courtyard, with a gap to show where the entrance is.
-Green indicates the garages that have an allocated space in front, we own the left one
-Black indicates the allocated parking area
-Yellow indicates the other three garages where there is no entitlement to park in front of
Anyway the issue is that when people park in front of the yellow garages it can make it difficult for my wife to access our parking space, especially when the space next to ours is occupied. Sometimes she has back out, find somewhere to ditch her car, ask the neighbours to move their car so she can get in etc... not what she wants at 9am after a 13hr nightshift. Notwithstanding any comments about women parking, even if it was possible to 'get a bus through there' as the saying goes, she shouldn't even have to contend with it if people weren't parked 'illegally' (probably not, but you know what I mean).
Having spoken to neighbours about it, it is pretty rare there is a problem now with only really the garage opposite the entrance having a car in front that often, which is a small hatchback parked considerately slightly to the side so not too bothered as it doesn't obstruct our parking (I am not some sort of busybody that insists everyone 'follows the rules' if it doesn't affect me). The neighbours in question are several doors down so we don't really know them.
Anyway, when browsing Rightmove to see what properties were up for sale in the area (I do this every now and then to get a feel for value of our house, and also being nosy to see what people who bought the same style of house have done inside, to get inspiration), I noticed that one of the houses is for sale and the advert states "GARAGE IN BLOCK With parking for one vehicle in front". In my opinion, it shouldn't be advertised as such because there is no entitlement for anyone to park in front of that garage. I don't want someone moving in and planting a 4x4 in front of it.
So the question really is how to proceed - the options as I see it are:
1) Ask the vendor to get the agent to update the description to remove this inaccuracy. Slightly awkward as we don't really know them well at all and they may want to know why I'm nosing around their particulars!
2) If this doesn't work, inform the agent that their advert is inaccurate - although normally I would say it is 'none of our business' how someone else's house is advertised, the fact is it is our business if it impedes us. Would prefer not to go down that route however as it could lead to tensions, i.e. if I was selling my house and someone starting poking their oar in....
3) Do nothing and hope for the best
Finally one issue we do have is that I am not sure how I can prove that there is no entitlement to park in front of the other garages. It is off-road parking and I don't have any piece of paper I can wave in front of people saying "you can't park here!", as it isn't my land. The developer has long since abandoned the site, but I suppose I could contact their regional office to see if they can supply any documentation. I strongly suspect they will completely ignore my request as it won't gain them anything and could lead to them getting further queries, but I'll give it a go.
tl;dr version:
Advert for neighbour's house says it includes a parking space in front of garage, when it doesn't and can impede our parking when used. Unsure what to do.
Proper version:
I live in a new build estate that has a separate courtyard with 5 garages. Of those 5 garages, only two of them have designated parking spaces in front of the garage (I know this for certain because we discussed it with the developer and specifically bought a plot that included this additional parking space in front of the garage). The two parking spaces are clearly defined because they are tarmaced rather than the rest of the courtyard with has this brick tiling effect.
Here is a rough diagram I knocked up to illustrate (not to scale... just pretend it is more uniform!):
-The outside border indicates the courtyard, with a gap to show where the entrance is.
-Green indicates the garages that have an allocated space in front, we own the left one
-Black indicates the allocated parking area
-Yellow indicates the other three garages where there is no entitlement to park in front of
Anyway the issue is that when people park in front of the yellow garages it can make it difficult for my wife to access our parking space, especially when the space next to ours is occupied. Sometimes she has back out, find somewhere to ditch her car, ask the neighbours to move their car so she can get in etc... not what she wants at 9am after a 13hr nightshift. Notwithstanding any comments about women parking, even if it was possible to 'get a bus through there' as the saying goes, she shouldn't even have to contend with it if people weren't parked 'illegally' (probably not, but you know what I mean).
Having spoken to neighbours about it, it is pretty rare there is a problem now with only really the garage opposite the entrance having a car in front that often, which is a small hatchback parked considerately slightly to the side so not too bothered as it doesn't obstruct our parking (I am not some sort of busybody that insists everyone 'follows the rules' if it doesn't affect me). The neighbours in question are several doors down so we don't really know them.
Anyway, when browsing Rightmove to see what properties were up for sale in the area (I do this every now and then to get a feel for value of our house, and also being nosy to see what people who bought the same style of house have done inside, to get inspiration), I noticed that one of the houses is for sale and the advert states "GARAGE IN BLOCK With parking for one vehicle in front". In my opinion, it shouldn't be advertised as such because there is no entitlement for anyone to park in front of that garage. I don't want someone moving in and planting a 4x4 in front of it.
So the question really is how to proceed - the options as I see it are:
1) Ask the vendor to get the agent to update the description to remove this inaccuracy. Slightly awkward as we don't really know them well at all and they may want to know why I'm nosing around their particulars!
2) If this doesn't work, inform the agent that their advert is inaccurate - although normally I would say it is 'none of our business' how someone else's house is advertised, the fact is it is our business if it impedes us. Would prefer not to go down that route however as it could lead to tensions, i.e. if I was selling my house and someone starting poking their oar in....
3) Do nothing and hope for the best
Finally one issue we do have is that I am not sure how I can prove that there is no entitlement to park in front of the other garages. It is off-road parking and I don't have any piece of paper I can wave in front of people saying "you can't park here!", as it isn't my land. The developer has long since abandoned the site, but I suppose I could contact their regional office to see if they can supply any documentation. I strongly suspect they will completely ignore my request as it won't gain them anything and could lead to them getting further queries, but I'll give it a go.
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