Apartment parking issue

JoeA3

Hi guys,
I'm sure this is a common enough problem around the country these days, so I'm looking for input on what best to do!

Myself and GF are in a nice central 2-bed apartment about 18-20 months now. It's in a small-ish block - only 16 units. It was one of these blocks that was completed around 2008 when everything went tits up, so we are actually the first tennants to live in this unit and it was unfurnished also.

Up until about 3 months ago, the block was only about 50-60% occupied, but in recent weeks it seems they've finally decided to lease the other vacant units. This has brought about some annoyances.

Firstly, the parking. The underground carpark is tight to say the least. There are just about 16 spaces (one for each unit) if you count the one marked disabled and another that would require some skill and a very small car to squeeze into! We rented on the understanding that parking is included and the recently let units also were advertised with parking. None of the spaces are marked, so it's a free for all, and through habit or whatever else, some cars are always taking the same spots. This was fine until recently. There was always a few free spaces.

However, not now. Even though I know at least 1 or 2 occupiers don't even have cars, all spaces are now taken up. I am certain that at least one guy is parking 2 cars down there. So it's come to the point that if I don't get home early from work, there's a good chance I'll have nowhere to park but out on a double yellow line on the street!

I raised the issue with the letting agency a month ago. They were sympathetic and the following day a letter was issued to all units stating that it was one space per apartment and that all spaces would be numbered according to apartment number. This was all to be done by the following Monday. Since then, nothing! I ran out of patience and called again a couple of days ago. Clueless woman told me she "assumed" it was done. They promised to call me back and of course they didn't and nothing's been done either. All their letter a month ago achieved as far as I'm concerned is highlight to the other residents that any further letters about parking rules will be taken about as seriously as the TV licence notices!

As well as the parking, it's been an annoyance since day one that there's no regular maintenance / cleaning done in the common areas. If I don't give a quick sweep and a mop to the landing area / stairs outside my door, no one will. Again, with the building being more occupied now, the lack of cleaning is much more apparent.

Basically, the complex is owned by an absentee landlord(s) and managed by a letting agency who are either clueless in property management or don't give a sh1t or both. I'm not even sure they could be classed as a property management company as they don't manage anything!

It's a shame cos I really like the apartment itself, all the furniture in it is ours and I treat it like my own home. I owned my own house for a few years prior to this, so the renting experience and this kind of hassle is relatively new to me. I'm not great at confrontation, but apart from threatening to quit my lease, is there anything else I can do to get the letting agency to pull their thumbs out?

Sorry for long rant!

djimi

Im going to be honest, based on my experience of living in these kind of places I would say your best bet in order to avoid much hassle and heartache is to just move out. If there is no management agent (and it sounds like there isnt) then the place is never going to be clean. The nonsense with the car park could be easily solved in a very short time, but it sounds obvious they have little interest in sorting it.

It sounds to me that whoever is supposed to be looking after/running the place is putting as little effort as possible into it in order to keep it ticking over. Maybe things will improve with necessity as more tenants move in and the place finally fills up, but honestly I wouldnt hold my breath.

Also as a tenant you have little power to influence anything when it comes to the management company/agent. This is not a battle you are going to have much joy in fighting.

athtrasna

The agency can't unilaterally decide to allocate parking, it is up to the management company ie all owners to agree that. We had an EGM on the issue a few years back and allocated parking was vehemently rejected.

StillWaters

athtrasna wrote: »

The agency can't unilaterally decide to allocate parking, it is up to the management company ie all owners to agree that. We had an EGM on the issue a few years back and allocated parking was vehemently rejected.

It sounds like the entire complex is owned by the one person/consortium of people and let out. There is no management company in this case.

JoeA3

Thanks guys,
Yeah I don't think there is any proper management company in place. My only dealings have been with the letting agency and they only seem to send their "handyman" out to fix things if I or someone else complains. As mentioned, I think the agency / landlord are just doing the bare minimum to keep the place ticking over and clearly can't be bothered managing it properly.
Nothing done since I first posted either of course and I haven't had the patience / inclination to call again.

the_syco

On a Saturday, buy a newspaper, and sit near the entrance to see who comes and goes, what they drive, and take note. Find out how has more than two cars, and tell the letting agent to sort it out.

JoeA3

the_syco wrote: »

On a Saturday, buy a newspaper, and sit near the entrance to see who comes and goes, what they drive, and take note. Find out how has more than two cars, and tell the letting agent to sort it out.

Haha, I'm living there long enough now to know of a couple of individuals already! One guy has his new-ish BMW 3 series (on eastern European plates) parked down there 24-7, while he just uses a old banger of a Clio as his daily driver. Seems like an awful waste of a car to me, but if that's what it takes to avoid paying customs / road tax...

the_syco

JoeA3 wrote: »

One guy has his new-ish BMW 3 series (on eastern European plates) parked down there 24-7, while he just uses a old banger of a Clio as his daily driver. Seems like an awful waste of a car to me, but if that's what it takes to avoid paying customs / road tax...

I don't think keeping the car off-road can prevent customs from seizing it. If he's preventing you from parking your car in a space that you're entitled to, shop him!

Del2005

the_syco wrote: »

I don't think keeping the car off-road can prevent customs from seizing it. If he's preventing you from parking your car in a space that you're entitled to, shop him!

Technically a underground car park is off the road. They can seize if someone reports it, otherwise they've no way of knowing where it is.

But since the person is, I assume, from an EU country they can keep it here for up to a year on foreign plates, provided if they go home regularly which may be why they have a good car in parked up and drive a banger.