Help - Council Trying To Stop Me Parking My Cars On My Drive
Discussion
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to you further to your letter of XX/XX/XXXX
I enclose copies of the V5 certificates of my vehicles which show that I am the legal owner of said vehicles. As you will see, I have been the legal owner for some considerable time. I am not engaged in the motor trade, these are all privately owned vehicles. All the vehicles are either taxed or SORN'd in full compliance with all UK laws that I am aware of.
The vehicles are not stored, they are in regular use. As a car enthusiast I take pride in ensuring I am compliant with all vehicle rules and regulations. I am not aware of any law that restricts the number of vehicles an individual is entitled to own, but if such legislation exists would you be kind enough to provide me with the details.
I am concerned by your request for details of my mortgage. That is a private financial arrangement between myself and my lender and I am not aware of any applicable law that requires me to furnish that information to yourselves. Please write back to me quoting the statute under which you believe you may be entitled to see such information.
I trust this answers your queries but if I can be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me.
To get them on the back foot, is it possible to swap which vehicles are SORN'd? That will defeat the 'storage' claim and will greatly strengthen your case.
I am writing to you further to your letter of XX/XX/XXXX
I enclose copies of the V5 certificates of my vehicles which show that I am the legal owner of said vehicles. As you will see, I have been the legal owner for some considerable time. I am not engaged in the motor trade, these are all privately owned vehicles. All the vehicles are either taxed or SORN'd in full compliance with all UK laws that I am aware of.
The vehicles are not stored, they are in regular use. As a car enthusiast I take pride in ensuring I am compliant with all vehicle rules and regulations. I am not aware of any law that restricts the number of vehicles an individual is entitled to own, but if such legislation exists would you be kind enough to provide me with the details.
I am concerned by your request for details of my mortgage. That is a private financial arrangement between myself and my lender and I am not aware of any applicable law that requires me to furnish that information to yourselves. Please write back to me quoting the statute under which you believe you may be entitled to see such information.
I trust this answers your queries but if I can be of any further assistance please feel free to contact me.
To get them on the back foot, is it possible to swap which vehicles are SORN'd? That will defeat the 'storage' claim and will greatly strengthen your case.
morebeanz said:
Am I the only one that thinks it's a reasonable request by the council?
While I entirely uphold your right to invest in as many cars as you like, to do so without appropriate facilities seems a little rash. It doesn't surprise me at all that someone would ask the council to investigate.
While I entirely uphold your right to invest in as many cars as you like, to do so without appropriate facilities seems a little rash. It doesn't surprise me at all that someone would ask the council to investigate.
Yes you are.
What more "appropriate facilities" do you need in order to park a private car other than a driveway (or free patch of roadside, for that matter)? The OP states that they're all parked on the drive.
redgriff500 said:
Ok, so I live in a snotty area...
I am a builder so I have 2 P100 pick ups and a small van...
but I don't think that's the problem... I think it's because I also have 3 MX5's (1 supercharged, 1 turbo, 1 std) a VR6 and a Prelude Vtec.[quote]
[quote=redgriff500]Ok, so I live in a snotty area...
I am a builder so I have 2 P100 pick ups and a small van...
but I don't think that's the problem... I think it's because I also have 3 MX5's (1 supercharged, 1 turbo, 1 std) a VR6 and a Prelude Vtec.
I am a builder so I have 2 P100 pick ups and a small van...
but I don't think that's the problem... I think it's because I also have 3 MX5's (1 supercharged, 1 turbo, 1 std) a VR6 and a Prelude Vtec.[quote]
[quote=redgriff500]Ok, so I live in a snotty area...
I am a builder so I have 2 P100 pick ups and a small van...
but I don't think that's the problem... I think it's because I also have 3 MX5's (1 supercharged, 1 turbo, 1 std) a VR6 and a Prelude Vtec.
Nope I think its the P100 pickups and the Van thats the problem. Cant have pickup trucks and vans parked it lowers the tone of the area!
If you have four bedroom house you could arguably have an extended faimily living there with 1 couple per bedroom each couple having 2 cars. Thats 8 cars which happens to be the same amount as you have. I would make this point to the council. anonymous said:
[redacted]
I can well imagine, but you wrote... oh, never mind... 
dyslexia rules KO
anyway back to normal service
they probably thing you are running a car dealers from you house. If they are all registered to you and not for sale then i think they might have bugger all to say.
but just incase they pop round buy a burberry cap then you can do as you like
redgriff500 said:
They say that it's because 'Car Storage' is against the planning rules...
...and that's where they might have you. There's a dumb rule for our street, stating that each house is only allowed one pet. Of course, no-one abides by it (we've got two cats, a neighbour has a St Bernard and a Labrador, another neighbour has a tankful of fish, etc.) and no-one complains. But because the rule is there, if someone did complain, we'd be in trouble.
It seems desperately unfair - there has to be something better these guys could be doing with their time. Best of luck to you.
redgriff500 said:
Ok having re read their letter... which I'm fuming about...
They say that it's because 'Car Storage' is against the planning rules...
They want details of my mortgage, all the car info etc apparently it is illegal not to supply it all within 21 days...
Now I will admit that whilst they are all MOT'd, some are not taxed (although they have all been this year) as I get bored with one, I SORN it and tax another.
I thought that was my freedom of choice...
Of the 8 cars, at least 4 are taxed at any one time.
Which pisses me off too as I can only drive one at a time and I pay £740 min per year in road tax !
They say that it's because 'Car Storage' is against the planning rules...
They want details of my mortgage, all the car info etc apparently it is illegal not to supply it all within 21 days...
Now I will admit that whilst they are all MOT'd, some are not taxed (although they have all been this year) as I get bored with one, I SORN it and tax another.
I thought that was my freedom of choice...
Of the 8 cars, at least 4 are taxed at any one time.
Which pisses me off too as I can only drive one at a time and I pay £740 min per year in road tax !
Bloody jobsworths
You might need to be a little careful here though... As you're parking work vehicles too they might be trying to sting you for change of use of the property ie using your house as business premises, this would also (presumably) make you liable for business rates.
And are you sure your neighbours aren't saying one thing to you and another to the council??
jamieboy said:
redgriff500 said:
They say that it's because 'Car Storage' is against the planning rules...
...and that's where they might have you. There's a dumb rule for our street, stating that each house is only allowed one pet. Of course, no-one abides by it (we've got two cats, a neighbour has a St Bernard and a Labrador, another neighbour has a tankful of fish, etc.) and no-one complains. But because the rule is there, if someone did complain, we'd be in trouble.
It seems desperately unfair - there has to be something better these guys could be doing with their time. Best of luck to you.
Surely that would be a restrictive covenant imposed by the developer, not the council?
BliarOut said:
To get them on the back foot, is it possible to swap which vehicles are SORN'd? That will defeat the 'storage' claim and will greatly strengthen your case.
Thanks... I was thinking about sending a letter rather than diectly answering all the questions
I was also thinking about taxing them all before sending the letter... then at the time of writing they are all taxed, but that costs me £60...
so your idea of simply swapping the 4 over is probably better.
What ever happened to them gathering evidence and when they could PROVE you were doing something wrong they then acted ?
You know, innocent until proven guilty...
jamieboy said:
pdV6 said:
Surely that would be a restrictive covenant imposed by the developer, not the council?
Possibly. Who enforces this type of covenant, though? Genuine question, I have no idea.
The developer. And they usually won't be bothered about enforcing it once the development is sold off.
pdV6 said:
jamieboy said:
redgriff500 said:
They say that it's because 'Car Storage' is against the planning rules...
...and that's where they might have you. There's a dumb rule for our street, stating that each house is only allowed one pet. Of course, no-one abides by it (we've got two cats, a neighbour has a St Bernard and a Labrador, another neighbour has a tankful of fish, etc.) and no-one complains. But because the rule is there, if someone did complain, we'd be in trouble.
It seems desperately unfair - there has to be something better these guys could be doing with their time. Best of luck to you.
Surely that would be a restrictive covenant imposed by the developer, not the council?
another new bit of legislation which is actually good is the Unfair contract terms Act. Bet the pet thing for houses would be viewed as unfair and struck out if push came to shove. When we have argued unfair contracts terms for stupid things it never goes to court and we come to a compromise.
pdV6 said:
morebeanz said:
Am I the only one that thinks it's a reasonable request by the council?
While I entirely uphold your right to invest in as many cars as you like, to do so without appropriate facilities seems a little rash. It doesn't surprise me at all that someone would ask the council to investigate.
While I entirely uphold your right to invest in as many cars as you like, to do so without appropriate facilities seems a little rash. It doesn't surprise me at all that someone would ask the council to investigate.
Yes you are.
What more "appropriate facilities" do you need in order to park a private car other than a driveway (or free patch of roadside, for that matter)? The OP states that they're all parked on the drive.
No, I would tend to agree that 2 P100s and a van do not make sense as domestic vehicles and you also say you are a builder. If you are running a business from home and using those premises to store these vans then you may end up opening a very big can of worms to do with planning, commercial business rates etc.
Surely for your business you cannot drive these three vehicles at once, therefore you must be employing other people to drive them and if they come to your house to get them you haven't got a leg to stand on.
I would bet that if you put the vans elsewhere there would no longer be an issue and the council would bugger off too. Builder's yards are separate things to builder's front gardens!
A "builder's yard" full of materials etc I can see being a problem, but parking his transport at home? Give me a break! Sure, I'm guessing he'd love to be flush enough to run a separate business premises purely for parking the vans overnight but even if he was, I'd wager the cash could be better spent elsewhere.
By the same token, all company car drivers should be forced to leave their cars at the workplace and run a 2nd car solely to access it in the mornings
By the same token, all company car drivers should be forced to leave their cars at the workplace and run a 2nd car solely to access it in the mornings
[quote=ean218
No, I would tend to agree that 2 P100s and a van do not make sense as domestic vehicles and you also say you are a builder. If you are running a business from home and using those premises to store these vans then you may end up opening a very big can of worms to do with planning, commercial business rates etc.
Surely for your business you cannot drive these three vehicles at once, therefore you must be employing other people to drive them and if they come to your house to get them you haven't got a leg to stand on.
quote]
No I drive them, P100's for long lengths, Van for security if working in crappy areas, depends upon the job, second P100 is a 2.8 4x4 which I generally use but it won't take a ton any more, hence needing the second one.
No, I would tend to agree that 2 P100s and a van do not make sense as domestic vehicles and you also say you are a builder. If you are running a business from home and using those premises to store these vans then you may end up opening a very big can of worms to do with planning, commercial business rates etc.
Surely for your business you cannot drive these three vehicles at once, therefore you must be employing other people to drive them and if they come to your house to get them you haven't got a leg to stand on.
quote]
No I drive them, P100's for long lengths, Van for security if working in crappy areas, depends upon the job, second P100 is a 2.8 4x4 which I generally use but it won't take a ton any more, hence needing the second one.
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