Private Clamping law Ireland

flyweight

Hi Guys,

I have some questions regarding the legality of private clamping in ireland.
Sorry for the long winded post, and I hope am posting in the correct forum.

I live in a private apartment complex in Dublin and I have leaseholding on the apartment and one of the parking spaces.

The management company has employed a third party clamping company to enforce clamping on any cars that do not display a sticker obtained from the management company irrelevant of where they are parked. I have not been involved whatsoever in employing the clamping company and I do no like the clamping system.

A few days ago my tenant parked his car in my parking space for a few hours without a sticker and got clamped with an initial removal fine of 120 EUR which has since increased to over 300 EUR.

I contacted the management company and asked them could they help me get the clamp released given that it was my tenant that was parked in my own space and they said that I would have to appeal with the clamping company. I have talked to the clamping company and advised them they where clamping on a parking space that I have a lease holding for and that they had not got my permission to clamp, and they where very rude and told me that they have an agreement with the management company and that my tenant would have to pay to get the clamp removed. I made it clear to them that I have a lease agreement on the parking space and that I wanted the clamp removed, but they still would not remove it.

I got some advice form a barrister who stated the following:

"At the outset in order to be able to clamp on private property there must be in place clear notices to the effect that clamping is occurring and on what basis. Otherwise any such clamping is unlawful. If this is the case, remove the clamp yourself. Secondly, clamping can only take place where the person is parked illegally. Where you own or lease the apartment, then you are not parking illegally. This is the case with your tenant and there is no lawful basis for the clamping, even if there is no sticker displayed. The management company have acted in a very high-handed manner and again you should simply remove the clamp from your tenant's car. No fee is due where the person is parked there legally. The power to clamp on private property is very limited in Ireland and a management company has only a limited right to clamp on someone else's property which the car parking space is. It matters not that you only have a lease. Provided someone is authorised to park there, even a visitor, the management company has no power in law to clamp unless it can be shown to be illegal parking and then only for the proper governance of the complex."

I also received some advice from some friend that are guards. They said they had handled similar cases where private clampers where involved and the clamps where forcefully removed and that in each case they could not charge the car owner as to was no law in place with regard to removal of private clamps.

Also my understanding is that my tenant also has a case against them clamping his car given that private clamping in Rep. Of Ireland is is illegal under Section 113 the Road Traffic Act 1961 as amended by the Road Traffic Act (Amendment) 1984 (the amendment means that 113 does no solely apply to public places).

Given this advice, the clamp has now been removed using the angle grinder approach.

So my question is given that the clamped on my parking space, and the agreement between the clampers and management company does not overpower my rights as the lease holder, can I sue the clamping company for ignoring my request to remove the clamp, and enforce them not to clamp on my land again and extort money from my tenant?

Any good legal feedback would be appreciated.

Tom Young

Charter: No advice. Consult the countless replies to the clamping threads here, should you wish to.