how do i know if a parking area is "off road " for sorn etc

[steveo3002]

i live on a estate with a couple of small parking areas , id like to know if i could legaly leave a sorn car there for a couple of weeks

how do i go about finding out if its properly off road as such

[g40jon]

land registry? although i think the first thing i would do is contact the local council as they will know who owns which bits of road. So if the road that the parking are is connected to is private, then it is likely the parking will be private too.

[colnerov]

Hi, ISTR, it may be private land, but if the public have unrestricted access under the Road Traffic Act it needs to be taxed and insured. To be truly private it needs to be gated and closed at least once a year.

Colin

[popuptoaster]

If you don't know who owns it you can't park there, because either its not private OR it IS private and you don't have permission from the owner.

[matto]

It has to be land associated with a dwelling. So the garden/driveway of a house, a numbered or allocated parking space for a flat or anywhere that requires a permit... even on the road!

[composimmonite]

Try an ad in local papershop etc to see if somebody will rent you a parking space in their drive ?

Paul H

[bl1300]

If you have a housing association house be carefull although the parking may well be private it doesn't nessesarily mean you can have a sorned car their. My association for instance have a clause in the tenancy agreement preventing us from parking any vehicle that is not taxed or MOT'd even on the driveway.

[ben711200]

Jun 24, 2013 18:51:41 GMT matto said:

It has to be land associated with a dwelling. So the garden/driveway of a house, a numbered or allocated parking space for a flat or anywhere that requires a permit... even on the road!

That doesn't sound correct to me. It surely just needs not to have public rights of access? I'd be very dubious of parking a SORN car in a permit-holding parking space on a public road..

[MrSpeedy]

Jun 24, 2013 18:51:41 GMT matto said:

It has to be land associated with a dwelling. So the garden/driveway of a house, a numbered or allocated parking space for a flat or anywhere that requires a permit... even on the road!

Errr, no!

You can park it in a field, barn, garage, workshop, front room or basically anywhere you have permission if you want and have it on sorn, as long as it's PRIVATE property and not a general right of way/communial area.

Generally speaking (NOT exclusively)communial parking aresa for flats/apartments etc still cme under the Road traffic act, so need to be road legal

[Battles]

What about the (slightly) scaremongering stories from a few months ago of the DVLA clamping/vehicle removal mobs coming onto private ground?
Were the stories proven to be bogus or what?
I'll try and find a link, I remember there being a spirited debate on here about it and some people were familiar with the location and the circumstances.

[colnerov]

Hi yes that was about cars in the motor trade being unable to be SORNED, so had to be registered and taxed.
And about TPTB spotting a source of extra revenue.


retrorides.proboards.com/thread/125488/traders-watch-out-dvla

Colin

[bigalan]

Worth getting in touch with the local council. I picked up a fine a few years ago when my Megane was parked untaxed while I waited for the V5 to arrive (previous owner had lost new keeper part). It was parked outside my gate pretty much where the kangoo is in this pic (but totally off road)



I checked that the land was private (owned byme and my neighbour), but that wasn't enough for police and dvla. Got in touch with local council who checked to see if the area had been adopted by them. Turns out the have adopted up to the kerb line, but not beyond. They helpfully sent someone round to take a pic, which they shaded and annotated so I could send it to dvla. Local police were more reluctant but didn't pursue after dvla confirmed all was ok:-)

[JohnK]

As said you would need to find out who owns the land. I don't have a driveway but have two allocated parking spaces to the direct rear of my property marked '3' (I obviously live at number 3) - these are spaces allocated specifically to my property and when queried with the council provided information that the two spaces are part of plot 106 on the development (my house) so therefore private

[matto]

Not been on here for a while, sorry to bring up an old thread though but I just thought I'd clear up my answer:

Please see:

www.basingstoke.gov.uk/Resources/4/B/%7B4B07E456-FD4B-4D3C-84AF-C2FF60413691%7D/Documents/2%20Removal%20of%20untaxed%20vehicles.pdf

Specifically:

Circumstances where untaxed vehicles cannot be removed
1. Vehicles parked on land associated with a
dwelling (for example private driveways,
garages and parking bays),
2. Vehicles kept by a motor trader or vehicle tester at business premises,
3. Vehicles kept off-road with
a valid Statutory off Road Noti
fication (SORN) in force.
However if the SORN has been breached, t
he vehicle can be clamped or removed.

It's not the only local authority that use these devolved powers from the DVLA, also I know you can leave them in a barn, workshop, factory etc. but that wasn't what the OP was asking.

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2013 18:51:41 GMT matto said:

It has to be land associated with a dwelling. So the garden/driveway of a house, a numbered or allocated parking space for a flat or anywhere that requires a permit... even on the road!

That is incorrect, even if you need a permit to park in that space if it is on the roadside it is parked on the road so needs a VEL displayed.
Roadside verges are also classed as road if it is council land.

[matto]

Agreed, verges are part just part of the highway...

However if you have to pay for a permit to park on the road outside your house it changes the whole 'highway being public land' thing. Sometimes there are terms attached to the permit that the vehicle must be taxed but usually there isn't. Even the document I linked to in the previous post includes parking bays in it's exclusions.

[Deleted]

If the parking bay is on a public highway the car has to be taxed, the fact you have paid for a permit to park there is irrelevant.

The 'parking bay' reference refers to a dedicated bay for that house (clearly marked to display that space is only for the resident of that dwelling and it will not be on the public highway) and not a roadside 'permit holders only' which will be posted something like 'permit holders K only' parking bay where any resident with the correct permit can park there.