Advice needed - no permit provided, ticketed while parked in allocated space.

[KHarHar]

@KHarHar, that is potentially quite significant, and it strengthens the position rather than weakening it.

The tenancy does not contain any obligation to display a parking permit, comply with P4Parking, or pay a parking charge for failing to display one. More importantly, the only mechanism I can see by which some separate headlease/freehold restriction might be imported into your tenancy is expressly qualified: you are required to observe those obligations "a copy of which has been provided to the Tenant."

You then have the corresponding landlord covenant:

"The landlord agrees with the tenant as follows: ... To provide a copy of the insurance and any freehold or headlease conditions affecting the behaviour of the Tenant."

So if somebody now says that a permit-display requirement derives from the headlease, freehold covenants or estate regulations, the obvious response is: where is it, and when was it provided to you? On your account, it never was.

That also gives you a useful point against the landlord/agent. If the parking scheme is in fact a condition affecting how you may use the allocated parking space, and that condition existed when the tenancy was granted, there is at least an arguable contractual breach in failing to provide it to you. If that breach directly caused you to incur a parking charge, there could potentially be a consequential-loss argument against the landlord. I would not jump straight to claiming the £100 from them yet, because causation and recoverability would depend on the precise documents and circumstances, but the argument is certainly there.

For the P4Parking dispute, however, the more immediate point is stronger: your tenancy documentation appears to give you an allocated parking space, yet contains no permit-display condition at all, while any external headlease/covenant obligation was only to bind you if a copy had been supplied.

I would now write to the agent/landlord and require them to provide:

• the complete freehold/headlease conditions referred to in the tenancy;
  
• any provision requiring a parking permit to be displayed in your allocated space;
  
• when that provision was allegedly supplied to you;
  
• when P4Parking's scheme was introduced; and
  
• the document by which the landlord/managing agent authorised P4Parking to impose charges upon residents using their own allocated spaces.
  

At the moment, the documentary position looks considerably more favourable to you than it did at the outset.

So, in the meantime, you should do three things...

First, as stated above, keep pressing the letting agent/building management in writing for the permit and, separately, for confirmation that they have asked P4Parking to cancel the PCN. I would also ask them to confirm exactly when the permit was supposedly "delivered by post/hand", to whom, and to what address. That may become useful evidence if they are now suggesting the permit was provided when it plainly was not.

Second, obtain and preserve all tenancy evidence in one place: the tenancy agreement, inventory showing the numbered parking space, the pre-tenancy email confirming that the property comes with an allocated space, the correspondence about the missing permit, and the building-management case reference.

Third, do not identify the driver in any further correspondence. The two appeal communications so far do not appear to do that, so there is no reason to throw that protection away now.

So, procedurally we are essentially waiting for P4Parking's initial appeal response. Once it arrives, the next step depends on what they say, whether they attempt to rely on PoFA against the keeper, and what evidence they produce about the alleged permit requirement and their authority to impose it.

Thank you!

I have requested the above from the estate agent, and have received the following response:

"Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately, we do not hold the information or documentation you have requested regarding the parking terms, estate covenants, permit distribution records, the implementation of the P4 Parking scheme, or the authority given to P4 Parking to enforce the parking bays.
This information is held by the block management/parking management team. You may wish to contact (P4 Parking Employee) directly at (email), who should be able to assist you with your request and provide the relevant documentation.
I hope this helps, and I wish you all the best with your appeal.
Kind regards,"

While I would love to reply and note that they are contractually obligated to provide the above, I will wait for the appeal to come through. 

In the meantime, I have been able to get in touch with the P4Parking representative who has whitelisted the vehicle and issued a new permit (at a £10 cost but I can swallow that). The employee told me that I can appeal the ticket (although I'd already mentioned that I had) so I reiterated my grounds and asked that she cancel it from her end. 

Many thanks.