Your space or mine?

Parking disputes are some of the most hotly contested in property law. No surprise—a parking space adds 6.5% to the value of a property on average, according to research by Nationwide. Yet ascertaining the legal basis of a particular parking space can be surprisingly difficult. Is it part of the freehold? Part of the demise of a lease? An easement? Or simply a contractual licence? A particular problem has always been whether the right to park a car in a single defined space is capable of being an easement, as it might be said that this leaves the owner of the land without any reasonable use of it.

Kettel v Bloomfold

The nature of the right to park has been revisited recently in Kettel & Ors v Bloomfold Ltd [2012] EWHC 1422 (Ch). In this case, the claimants were long lessees of residential flats in the east end of London. The defendant was the freeholder. Each of the flats