The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 I live in a large house on the corner of a block, which has been converted into seven flats. It has a large garden at the back with four garages (one of which I rent, along with my flat) at the bottom, a driveway from which passes between a house and another block of flats in the street round the corner to the one on which my building sits. Extensive building works (a complete renovation, by the look of it) are taking place on the house next to the driveway. For weeks now, we've had problems with the builders leaving building materials in the driveway and parking their vehicles in it, which have sometimes physically blocked our access in and out of our garages. When this first started happening back in April, I asked my LL if he could tell the builders to stop it. He wrote them a letter, but far from doing any good, it actually acted like a red rag to a bull. The left a white van parked in a drive, stopping us from getting our cars out for a whole weekend. When we called the police, they said that the driveway was private land, therefore it wasn't a criminal matter and the only way forward was for the LL to sue them for trespass. The LL is a large charitable trust which preserves historic buildings and lets some of them out for residential and business use. But residential letting is a relatively small part of what they do (they own and manage more than 100 properties in total), and the bottom line is that this problem just isn't very high on the LL's agenda. I don't want to antagonise the LL too much, because my rent is significantly below the going market rate (because I live in a grade 1 listed building, there are restrictions in the lease which there aren't in a normal AST, hence a lower rent), it's a lovely house which I enjoy living in, and he's always been completely excellent over repairs, maintenance etc. But at the same time these cowboy builders are getting beyond a joke. This morning - got up to go to work, site manager's BMW blocking driveway again, couldn't get car out of garage and had to take the train. My problem seems to be that because I'm just a tenant and don't actually own the driveway, I can't take any legal action myself. The only other option seems to me to be guerrilla action of some description (an 8mm drill bit through the sidewall of all four tyres the next time the site manager leaves his BMW overnight in the drive, for example), but as I've written to complain to the contractors before, it's not going to take them long to put two and two together. Can anyone think of any way forward I haven't? Many thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggley Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 I don't see why you can't take them to court for restricting your access. Who did your LL write to? Would it not be better to write to someone higher up in the company and threaten legal action? The other option would be to contact the Environmental Health dept at the local council, the part that deals with things like noise complaints etc. They should be able to get it sorted, and perhaps slap the builder with a large fine too. Write to the builder recorded delivery and ask them once again to stop blocking your drive, just so you have evidence that you've been reasonable. Then ring Env. Health, they're usually pretty quick about sorting these things out. As a short-term solution, the next time your driveway is blocked could you not just push the manager's car out of the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 When will people learn that letters don't work when dealing with anoying situations. Next time you are in and the site manager and/or the client are on site, go and speak to them. Tell them your concerns. Explain that it is not their land and you have access rights across. Come to a mutually agreeable compromise. Builders just want to get the work done, and won't be there long term so rubbing people up the wrong way doesn't worry them. Once they see you are a reasonable human being and not some knob who writes annoying letters, they will start to act differently. Get to know them. If you're female, flirt, make them a cake. If you are male, make a up a job lot of bacon butties and take them round for breakfast one day. Work with them. They don't want to antagonise, they just want to get the job done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyB Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 get newspapers involved, news teams, TV, rogue traders, give copies of letters and pictures of them parking on your drive... the bad publicity would not be good for business... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Woods? Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 (edited) I don't see why you can't take them to court for restricting your access. Who did your LL write to? Would it not be better to write to someone higher up in the company and threaten legal action? The other option would be to contact the Environmental Health dept at the local council, the part that deals with things like noise complaints etc. They should be able to get it sorted, and perhaps slap the builder with a large fine too. Write to the builder recorded delivery and ask them once again to stop blocking your drive, just so you have evidence that you've been reasonable. Then ring Env. Health, they're usually pretty quick about sorting these things out. If you do go down this route, make sure you keep a diary and photographs to back up any claims. Helps a lot in court. Edited December 5, 2007 by D'oh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eek Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 This morning - got up to go to work, site manager's BMW blocking driveway again, couldn't get car out of garage and had to take the train.My problem seems to be that because I'm just a tenant and don't actually own the driveway, I can't take any legal action myself. The only other option seems to me to be guerrilla action of some description (an 8mm drill bit through the sidewall of all four tyres the next time the site manager leaves his BMW overnight in the drive, for example), but as I've written to complain to the contractors before, it's not going to take them long to put two and two together. Can anyone think of any way forward I haven't? Many thanks in advance. Blocking your car is against the law. Go and see the foreman and politely tell him that he has a habit of blocking you in and if it occurs again you will simply get the police to move the car for you. They have two means of doing so, by phyiscally moving it (possibly damaging it) or by towing it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsea13 Posted December 5, 2007 Share Posted December 5, 2007 Blocking your car is against the law. Go and see the foreman and politely tell him that he has a habit of blocking you in and if it occurs again you will simply get the police to move the car for you. They have two means of doing so, by phyiscally moving it (possibly damaging it) or by towing it away. Typical `Bob the Builders` - bet you wouldn`t get that problem with Polish builders Why not just sack the incompetent feckwits and get some real professionals on the job???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 5, 2007 Author Share Posted December 5, 2007 Blocking your car is against the law. Go and see the foreman and politely tell him that he has a habit of blocking you in and if it occurs again you will simply get the police to move the car for you. They have two means of doing so, by phyiscally moving it (possibly damaging it) or by towing it away. Because the driveway is private land, it's a civil matter, not a criminal one, according to the police officer who attended when this problem first happened back in April. The only way in which they could intervene is if the LL gets an injunction stating that they mustn't park in the driveway, which they then break. In that scenario it's possible to get a court order to enforce the injunction, but the police can't physically move the car otherwise, in the way that they could if it was causing an obstruction on the public highway. Imp: the polite approach has been tried ad nauseam. When this first kicked off I went to the building site, and told them unconfrontationally that the driveway was needed for access and was private property which was not part of the house they were working on. They moved their vehicle on this occasion and on a couple of others when I tried to get mine out to find the drive blocked. But there were always 20-30 minute delays, and then they started leaving pallet loads of bricks, cement mixers, etc. etc. overnight. Basically they were (and still are) using our drive as a builder's yard. The letter from the LL (he showed me a copy) to the MD of the building firm was equally non-confrontational, but pointed out that they were now causing the residents of my building serious problems. MD replied to the effect that he'd tell the site manager to keep the drive clear, but site manager thought '**** them, I'll teach them a lesson.' The basic problem is a disconnect between the people on the ground and the people who have the power to make things happen, at both ends. I can't instigate legal action because I'm not the owner of the drive - only the LL can. The site manager is effectively out of control, because his boss never visits the site. Tiggley: thanks for the tip about the Environmental Health people. I'll give them a try, though I fear that they'll also say that they have to be dealing with the actual owner of the drive. But still, it's worth a go. The only other thing I can think of is that the next time site manager parks his ******* BMW in the drive, I then park my car behind it in such a way as to block his in, and then leave it there for at least several days. Presumably the police etc. will just say to him precisely what they said to me: that the drive is private land and therefore not their problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 6, 2007 Author Share Posted December 6, 2007 As expected with the Environmental Health. If it's on private land and isn't a safety hazard (e.g. leaking fuel), then it's not their problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsea13 Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 It`s so worrying that the vast majority of buildings are put together by dumb motherfeckers with hardly a brain cell between them :angry: Give them some lager, a copy of The Sun and cheap holidays to Benidorm and they`re happy! SAD SAD SAD!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiggley Posted December 10, 2007 Share Posted December 10, 2007 I think really the owner of the land needs to take legal action against the builders. Do you rent your land directly from your landlord, or from a letting agency? Contact the landlord and tell them you wish them to take legal action against the builders, if they don't do it asap then contact your letting agency and tell them to contact your landlord and enforce your request. If necessary, threaten to take legal action for breach of contract, as it's up to your landlord to protect your interests if requested to do so and if he doesn't he's in breach of contract. Alternatively, can your landlord not give permission for you to take legal action yourself? Since you're renting the property I would have thought you were entitled to take legal action yourself anyway. Have a word with a solicitor and see if this is possible. First you would have to write to the builders recorded delivery and tell them to stop parking on your land otherwise you will take legal action immediately. If they still don't stop it then take them to court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 11, 2007 Author Share Posted December 11, 2007 I think really the owner of the land needs to take legal action against the builders. In an ideal world I agree, but he's been fantastic in all other respects and I feel a bit reluctant to push him. Do you rent your land directly from your landlord, or from a letting agency? The AST was set up by a letting agency, but the contract is actually signed by the LL and myself, without the agent's name appearing anywhere on it. Alternatively, can your landlord not give permission for you to take legal action yourself? Spoke to the legal advice line which came with my contents insurance. I can take him to the Small Claims Court to recover any costs incurred by the drive having been blocked (e.g. my train ticket to work last week), but getting an injunction against him or suing for trespass has to be done by the owner of the land. Anyhow, my neighbour has come up with a far better solution. The company to which the management of the car park at her workplace has been subcontracted slaps A4-sized sticky labels on the windscreens of any unauthorised cars parked there. The stickies come in 'polite' and 'nasty' versions: the polite ones can be removed with a scraper and lots of elbow grease, but with the nasty ones it's a new windscreen job! She's secured a small supply of blanks of both varieties, onto which we've printed 'This vehicle is illegally parked on private property'. The next time any vehicles are left in the drive we're going to start by slapping a 'polite' one on the windscreen, and if they don't get the hint, a nasty one will follow, right in front of the driver's seat. The cost of replacing the windscreen on a BMW should do the trick... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
microbe Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 How about clamping? Don't know anything about how you set about it, but if two of you lurk out there, one with the sign and the other with the clamp waiting for the site manager to park... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marym Posted December 11, 2007 Share Posted December 11, 2007 The next time one of their vehicles is left in your drive put something across the drive to block them in. You could park your car elsewhere(?) overnight drive back, block them in and take the train to work as you have to anyway when you are blocked in. Maybe the other tenants would join in. I'd buy drainpipes, breezeblocks anything to put in the drive to make them work if they want to get in or out of YOUR drive (but this sort of thing makes me really mad!). I know that writing, complaining etc rarely work but I have found one thing that has worked. Get in touch with a local councillor and see if they will lean on the police to do something. I don't buy all that stuff about private land etc. If a councillor thinks THEY are going to get hassle they will quite often actually do something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 paintstripper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Or you could try http://www.nationalparkingcontrol.co.uk/self.asp get agreement from the management company - split the commission with them or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 DIY clamping - necessitates contact with builders, which we'd like to avoid. Besides, being a builder, he's likely to have access to angle grinders, tools etc. needed to remove it (and the knowledge to use them). Paint stripper - he could argue that was vandalism pure and simple, rather than a legitimate attempt to prevent trespassing. Management company - would need the LL's cooperation, but we'll keep that one up our sleeve. We'll all ready to go with the sticky labels if and when the damn thing appears again! It usually appears on Friday evenings: we suspect that the site manager goes and gets pissed, then sleeps it off in the house he's working on and drives home on Saturday morning. If the pattern repeats himself, we'll sticker the little scrote tomorrow evening. Watch this space... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 16, 2007 Author Share Posted December 16, 2007 No car on Friday evening - bugger! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marym Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 Shame! Would the car become your landlord's property if its deliberately left on his land??? Saw a comedy once (Only Fools and Horses?) where someone sprinkled breadcrumbs on a car. Got any pigeons round there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay76 Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Adding sugar to the petrol tank is an old favourite and VERY expensive to fix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 ...as is shoving a large carrot up the exhaust pipe (especially in the age of catalytic converters), as the actress said to the bishop. Given that most petrol tanks low have lockable caps, it can also be done without leaving any outwardly visible sign. Annoyingly, the chav BMW has not yet returned. The builders still appear to be on an extended Christmas break - either that or the owners of the house being renovated have run out of money half way through the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waitingandsaving Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 While I would in no way want to encourage such acts of vandalism, I hear that coffee granules + rain can do terrible damage to car paintwork - apparently it happened to an old school teacher. I don't know if anyone can confirm this method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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