Hi everyone this is Mrs Squiff – I’ve hijacked the husbands account 🙂

I am looking for some advice. We live in a row of 5 houses and we all own the communal parking area which our garages are on.
Some of our neighbors are wanting the parking area resurfaced but myself and my immediate neighbors have said that this is something which we can not afford this year. They are determined to have this done as soon as possible resulting in them only doing half the area. The area they aren’t going to do is the area in front of ours and my neighbors garages (furthest away from the entrance). I am not happy about this as i think it would make it look worse than it does already. I was under the impression that, as a shared space, all the home owners would have to be in or it wouldn’t be able to be done ? Myself and my neighbor are not apposed to it being resurfaced, just that they are demanding for us to pay in next few weeks or only to do half a job.
Can they do this ? Can we say no to half and make them wait so it can all be done in one go and look alot better ?

Hoping someone can help me.
Thank you

happy days.. if it is indeed a communal space you own all the space and none of it. if the car park is part surfaced they will infact be surfacing your part something that you can refuse to allow.
you will need to have the various documents to hand and show them to a solicitor but this was certainly the case whne we were in a similar situation. we had to threaten to sue the other parties if they continued with thier plan to resurface only part of the communal site.
in the end we sat down had a common sense discussion and kissed and made up ( the thing didnt get re surfaced..)

Very much depends what the deeds say

Can you offer to contribute to getting it levelled (graded ?) as an interim ? This will get rid of potholes etc which may be their main concern. At the end of the day these are your neighbours and any dispute you have with them will have to be disclosed if you sell the house, best to do what you can without being a doormat imo. Best of luck.

Thank you, this is very helpful.
The deeds state that the whole space is owned by the 5 properties, but we don’t own a specific section or part. the only legal rights we have as individual properties are access to our garages (i hope this makes sense ?) I think they are in the wrong to only do part ? Im more mad that they came round and asked us for the money as soon as possible, knowing that we have a young family (they are all retired and have money in the bank-as they have told us) and got miffed off when we said we didnt have the money as we need a car as (ours is on last legs) and a family wedding abroad yet to pay for ! I just done want us getting done over by them

Depends on what the deeds say,and wht is on the plan of the area,so it looks like two rows of garages with a strip of land down the middle, or one row of garages with a similar strip that allows access.

Whatever happens they are going to get the work done, and even if you get get a solicitor , it will cost yu abit of cash.

Oh and dont forget you have to live there with the other 3 neighbours.

A recent dispute i was involved in my customer thougt she owned a garage behind her house, the neighbourthought otherwise, so they both trooped to a solicitoer and the Land registry, and it appeared neither owned the land which the garages was on, but was in fact owned by another neighbour, who then refused the other two neighbours access in vehicles onto the land.

Thank you for all the advice……its a mind-field !
We asked them to wait til next year so that we could save up and get the whole part done in one go, which i didnt think was unreasonable ? Its a large piece of land with 1 row of garages and a large space in front and to the side. We cant even get our car (a Peugeot) in our garage due the the position of it and the wall opposite ! Nobody else parks in their garage. To top it all off the garages are knackered-the money would be better spent sorting them out !

I would be surprised if the deeds relating to the garages do not have a section on the upkeep of the garages and access roadway. We have a similar situation in that we are on a private cul-de-sac and all pay a maintenance charge to cover the up keep of the communal areas.
We decided that the road needed resurfacing and agreed to pay into a fund over 2 years to raise the necessary extra cash.
A knock on your door asking for money without prior notice is not really fair. However, I also think that your neighbours should be entitled to maintain their section if they feel the need.
It’s really important not to let it become a dispute between neighbours. A bit more communication between all parties is the best way forward to some sort of compromise.

surely it would be cheaper just to get it done than go down the legal route !

If they have the cash and want it doing immediately, let them set up the fund (and provide for the total cost of the job) Matt talks about above. Draw up a commitment for you and your neighbour to pay your share in over the next 12 months which should be distributed between those that coughed up intially.

You’ll need a bit of discipline and stick to the payment schedule though. Might be best to have some form of agreeemnt drawn up by a solicitor.

Tell them you can’t afford it, but are happy for them to do it and you’ll pay next year – if they really want it done and have the cash.

Or, tell them you can’t afford it – and that they should do what they want to do.