Parking problem

08/27/2010 - 06:47

I have a problem re parking in front of my apartment. My vendor said it was communal parking and so it was included in the contract. Should this not have been checked by the agent or notary before I signed the contract rather than just take the vendor's word which turns out to be wrong - I am liable to be taken to court over this. Any help please.

Topic

Buying

Location

Marche

Comment

So if its not communal parking, what is it? is it on private property? What exactly is the problem?

There are 3 apartments, 2 of which have garages (I don't) but there is space between the garages for my little car. Recently one of the other owners - he owns the apartment but does not live there or rent it out and does not use the garage - has sent me a letter saying that the ground in front of the apartments is not for communal parking - it is public land - and I must stop leaving my car there. This is despite the fact that for 3 years previously he was quite happy to let the owners of the other apartment park their cars on the land until they were able to buy the 2nd garage.It seems he has a problem with the vendor of my apartment and is being difficult in order to get at him but it sadly turns out he is correct and the vendor should not have told me there was legal parking. It states in my contract however that (according to the vendor) there is communal parking - should this not have been checked by the agent involved in the sale or by the notary before I signed the contract? The owner objecting is very serious about this and may well instigate court proceedings. Advice/help please.

between the 2 garages, that is big enough for you to park your car on is public land and as long as there are no an official 'No Parking' signs....any member of the public can park there including you ???? or maybe I'm missing something ?

I agree with Dylano, perhaps it may be of interest to you to get a copy of the "visura" to know who is the owner of that piece of land.

I agree with Dylano and Gala - especially Gala's suggestion that you get a 'visura' on the bit of land where you want to park your car. A visura is like a 'land registry' document which will show you if the land is owned by anyone, and will show you who it is owned by or if it is communale (which roughly translates as public). This is a very small issue, almost every geometra, certainly every notaio, (and many estate agents) can access from their own computer this information at almost no cost. (They pay a subscription for the access to the catastal maps and ownership details, and if you are a client they might charge something like €10,00.) Assuming you don't speak Italian, perhaps your most economical route to get this sorted is via the agent who sold you the apartment, alternatively via the notaio who did the atto. However if you have a geometra involved, leave it to him.

Following on Fillide's post, I would be inclined to go to the notaio...

Many thanks everyone - I will follow this up and see the visura. Going back to my initial question though - should the vendor's claim that it was communal parking have been checked officially by the notary or agent prior to my signing the rogito?

So the vendor says its public land, and not for parking. How does he know? If its public land and their is no 'no parking' you can park there. he presumably has a right to cross this land to reach his garage. If it were the other way round I would see it as more of a problem, but as he says the land is not private, he cannot stop you parking there.. Should the agent have told you? Well, if in the contract of sale the vendor says its communal parking, its his problem. Technically he has missold you the property - and the act could be annulled (at great expense and time). It wasnt the notaios job to check really. The agent perhaps should have, but if the owner categorically stated it was so, and was happy to have in the act - the fault is with the vendor and no one else. Get the visura for the land, and see how public it really is. Then you can make an informed decision.

Hi Everyone: I am a newbie and will do an intro at the appropriate place on the Forum The sale contracts that I have participated in have all had a clause that says the written contract supercedes any verbal or previous written contract including the compromesso. If this is the case then you may not rely on the verbal assurance of the vendor. From a legal perspective, which may be miles from a fair perspective, you will find it hard to make the verbal assurance apply if this clause has been used, I would recommend that you maybe try and talk to the other objecting party as well as checking the status via the visura as suggested above Buona Fortuna F

Thanks everybody for your input. My agent is going to speak to the vendor re misrepresentation of the parking and threaten to sue him - will be fun to see how that goes. The owner objecting is impossible to speak to - we have had a meeting with him, the other owner who is quite happy to let me park, agents etc and he refuses to budge - sad man who has nothing better to do with his time. keep your fingers crossed for me!