Prescriptive rights concerning council-owned car park

[maxstrammer]

Does anyone have any reliable information concerning the law on prescriptive rights? I have found various items on the internet, but nothing so far that seems to address this particular situation.

I have been parking during office hours for more than 20 years on a free car park that used to belong to a Borough Council. This council has recently been subsumed in to a new Unitary Authority. The new authority wishes to impose a charge for parking on this car park.

The previous Borough Council did not maintain the free car park (perhaps understandably) and there was not even any signage to the effect that it was owned by them. I and many others are objecting to the new charging regime. Can I claim prescriptive rights and continue to park for free?

[factor-fiction]

I doubt it, but it will be interesting to hear what the legal experts on here say.

[Coobeastie]

Think yourself lucky that you've managed to park for 20 years free of charge. How much are they planning to charge?

[buildersmate]

Prescriptive rights are surely about claiming a right of way as a landowner across another person's land. That doesn't appear to be your situation.
The Land Registry has much to say on the issue.
http://www1.landregis...documents/lrpg052.pdf

[maxstrammer]

Coobeastie: I am, but that doesn't make the new situation any easier to tolerate. The council is planning to charge £1.50/day "initially" but this is expected to increase to £3+ in an attempt to "harmonise" parking across the new borough. Compared to the rest of the borough, the town in question is small and does not offer the same facilites (shops, amenities) as the larger towns where charges have been in place ad infinitum.

Buildersmate: I checked out this link earlier after seeing your response to someone else's query on a similar subject. The LR link doesn't appear to address this particular issue. What I suppose I'm trying to establish is where there is something equivalent to "squatter's rights" that might be relevant here.

factor30: I'm no legal expert, hence the question. One has to try :-)

[factor-fiction]

I think you are fighting a losing battle on this one.. There was a time when hardly anyone had to pay for car parking, but gradually charges have been introduced. If 'prescriptive rights' could be used as an argument to maintain free parking then no-one would ever have to pay

[buildersmate]

I think you are on to a losing battle too.
Adverse possession (squatters rights) is about claiming land ownership via occupation to the exclusion of others.
Rights of access via prescription are about travelling from one place to another via someone's land - so they are passing/repassing - not sitting there parked.

[fredpuli47]

You have no right. You have never asserted a right to possession of the land, you have only claimed to use it for a specific purpose. Even that use is not a claim of right.You used the land on the basis that it belonged to somebody else, the Borough Council, you knew that, and they happened not to charge you a fee for parking, as you put it 'on a free car park'.

[Eve]

The fact that you appeared to be allowed to park there would be the issue, it's not contrary to the ownership of the landowner as for adverse possession (the clue is in the adverse).

I can't see you getting any claim for a prescriptive right through.

If you think about it, if such rights were easy to claim it could prevent people from doing all sorts with their own land which would just be unworkable.

[maxstrammer]

OK, from the general tenor of your responses it seems that I dont have a leg to stand on. Curses, I suppose I'll have to continue parking on the street. Thanks very much for all your feedback. Fredpuli47 chosen as best answer as it seems to be the most forthright (and knowledgeable)!

[Nigel]

maxstrammer - I don't know whether you're still out there but - if you are - I have a couple of thoughts on your parking issue. I'm not a lawyer but I understand that you can acquire a prescriptive right to more than just access. If you have parked for the twenty year period, openly (which it sounds like) and without using force (which it also sounds like) and without an agreement to do so with the Council, I would have thought you had acquired the right to continue doing so. The key seems to be whether there was any "agreement" with the Council. Presumably there was no parking ticket - even if free - and if there was no notice up, saying that the Council owned the site but agreed to it being used for parking, it would be difficult for them to claim that you, and others, parked there by virtue of an agreement. The three requirements, that you parked without secrecy, without force and without agreement would seem to be have met.
My suggestion - if you're still there - would be to write to the Council, stating that you have parked there for twenty years, openly and without anybody (the Council) challenging you or preventing you, and that you are willing and able to make a statutory declaration to that effect, and that you have acquired the right to do so in future.
The Council ain't going to like it - especially if it could apply to many other people - but the advantage of dealing with public organisations is that, if you ask clear and accurate questions, they do have to respond; in this case telling you why your claim is not accepted or at least saying something.
If you're still out there, give it a whirl - and good luck!

[maxstrammer]

Thanks Nigel, I'm still here and I might just do that!