Question 1

Parking for Cars, Boats and Canoes

Accepted Answer

Q: We have a Leaseholder in our block who has rented out her flat and retained the garage for her boat and canoes etc. This means that her tenant will need to use the space in front of her garage or the visitor parking. Because we live directly opposite the beach this will cause us a lot of problems when she comes along to use the boat etc, putting her car in the car park, needing access to the garage, and her tenants putting their car in the visitors’ parking. We already have a major problem with parking when any visitors come, and also when contractors come to do their work. Can we tell the tenant that they do not have any right to use the car park? It clearly states that she is not to split the garage from the flat. We think that she is breaking the terms of the lease, and would appreciate some help/confirmation of this. FPRA Committee Member Shaun O’Sullivan replies: Although I am not a lawyer, having read your lease I am far from convinced that your assertion that garage cannot be split from the flat is actually correct. Clause 1 of the lease, in defining what has been demised, identifies the flat and the garage as separate entities (as is usually the case with residential leases where there are garages) but states that together they are known, compendiously, as ‘the demised premises’. However, in addressing underletting in Clause 3, the two main components of the demise, namely the flat and the garage, are (other than in the last seven years of the term) dealt with separately and not as ‘the demised premises'. It is apparent (as, again, is normally the case with residential leases) that the lessee is not permitted to assign, sub-let or part with possession of part only of the flat. Also, the lessee is not permitted to assign, sub-let or part with possession of the garage, albeit the lease does contemplate a split to the extent that it appears to allow the garage to be let separately from the flat provided it is to another lessee of a flat in the block. However, in the case in question, the lessee has not, as I understand it, sub-let part only of the flat and has simply retained the garage for her own use. This appears to me not to be in breach of the lease. It would not, of course, be permissible for the lessee to let the garage (other than to another lessee of the block) without at the same time letting the Flat. So far as parking is concerned, it is almost impossible to offer anything like definitive advice without sight of the Lease Plan(s). However there appears to no reference in the lease to ‘Visitors’ Parking’ nor any defined usage of any such parking and, unless the Lease Plan(s) shows otherwise or a variation to the lease enacted (your lease appears not to offer the option to draw up additional regulations). The only rights, in this regard, are those shown in paragraph 2 of the Second Schedule, namely to ‘to go pass and repass over and along the said entrance drive and forecourt of the Building and the approaches and accesses to the garages’. This right would, of course, be open to lessees and sub-tenants alike but would not extend to parking. As a slight aside, although I don’t know the status of the ‘updated lease’ which has been provided, it appears that the lease term (of 999 years shown in the original) is missing from Clause 1.' [Submitted May 2017]

Question 2

Parking for Cars, Boats and Canoes

Accepted Answer

Q: We have a Leaseholder in our block who has rented out her flat and retained the garage for her boat and canoes etc. This means that her tenant will need to use the space in front of her garage or the visitor parking. Because we live directly opposite the beach this will cause us a lot of problems when she comes along to use the boat etc, putting her car in the car park, needing access to the garage, and her tenants putting their car in the visitors’ parking. We already have a major problem with parking when any visitors come, and also when contractors come to do their work. Can we tell the tenant that they do not have any right to use the car park? It clearly states that she is not to split the garage from the flat. We think that she is breaking the terms of the lease, and would appreciate some help/confirmation of this. FPRA Committee Member Shaun O’Sullivan replies: Although I am not a lawyer, having read your lease I am far from convinced that your assertion that garage cannot be split from the flat is actually correct. Clause 1 of the lease, in defining what has been demised, identifies the flat and the garage as separate entities (as is usually the case with residential leases where there are garages) but states that together they are known, compendiously, as ‘the demised premises’. However, in addressing underletting in Clause 3, the two main components of the demise, namely the flat and the garage, are (other than in the last seven years of the term) dealt with separately and not as ‘the demised premises'. It is apparent (as, again, is normally the case with residential leases) that the lessee is not permitted to assign, sub-let or part with possession of part only of the flat. Also, the lessee is not permitted to assign, sub-let or part with possession of the garage, albeit the lease does contemplate a split to the extent that it appears to allow the garage to be let separately from the flat provided it is to another lessee of a flat in the block. However, in the case in question, the lessee has not, as I understand it, sub-let part only of the flat and has simply retained the garage for her own use. This appears to me not to be in breach of the lease. It would not, of course, be permissible for the lessee to let the garage (other than to another lessee of the block) without at the same time letting the Flat. So far as parking is concerned, it is almost impossible to offer anything like definitive advice without sight of the Lease Plan(s). However there appears to no reference in the lease to ‘Visitors’ Parking’ nor any defined usage of any such parking and, unless the Lease Plan(s) shows otherwise or a variation to the lease enacted (your lease appears not to offer the option to draw up additional regulations). The only rights, in this regard, are those shown in paragraph 2 of the Second Schedule, namely to ‘to go pass and repass over and along the said entrance drive and forecourt of the Building and the approaches and accesses to the garages’. This right would, of course, be open to lessees and sub-tenants alike but would not extend to parking. As a slight aside, although I don’t know the status of the ‘updated lease’ which has been provided, it appears that the lease term (of 999 years shown in the original) is missing from Clause 1.' [Submitted May 2017]

Parking for Cars, Boats and Canoes

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