My girlfriend and I are renting a flat, it includes two parking spaces on a private communal car park. we've been renting this for over two years. the rent itself is higher then other places we looked at but as it included parking we decided to take it as parking is very limited around us. it IS included in our lease agreement.
the car park currently takes 16 cars, and this is split between 8 properties each entitled to 2 spaces, there are 4 "cottages" and a building containing 4 flats (of which we are renting one of them)
A friend of mine just looked at buying one of the cottages which comes with two of the aforementioned parking spaces, however his conveyancing turned up something interesting... there is actually no specified spaces on the communal car park each property has a 1/8th share, with the landlord of the flats owning 4/8ths of it. this is fine as the car park fits 16 cars so it still works out.
However
When the conveyance checked, the car park actually only has 12 parking spaces according to the council plans, 12 obviously doesn't divide nicely between 8... it so happens that OUR spaces are actually where there is supposed to be a turning area, so in theory we are not parking in actual spaces... and yet we've been paying for those two spaces included in our rent.
I've quietly checked with the other flat owners and they all have 2 spaces included in their rent agreement same as we do.
Am I right in assuming that the landlord is illegally charging rent for something he doesn't own?
Edit for clarification: we found out due to my friend having one of the cottages conveyanced, as a result we also found out that the Landlord is entirely aware of this situation, i'm not currently asking about whether we're entitled to compensation. My friend wants the cottage, but without the parking sorted its not suitable, my Landlord is not bothered about signing any paperwork to sort it (at no cost other than time) because "it works fine at the moment whats the problem?" i just want to help my friend so want to know if what the Landlord is doing is actually illegal (renting out more spaces than he actually owns) or is it a grey area as there is technically space
Further Edit: the car park is owned by the 5 properties, 4 cottages and 1 building of 4 flats, the landlord owns 4/8ths each of the cottages own 1/8th
Hope that makes more sense
This is in the UK