Homeowners in Merseyside are being forced to pay £1,400 to park on their own property in what residents are calling an outrageous charging scheme.
Residents of Tavington Road and Applewood Grove in Halewood discovered they were being billed for parking spaces which came with their houses, despite owning their homes as freehold properties.
The parking spaces are leased from property management company FirstPort, which has dramatically increased its charges in recent years.
One resident, Greg Morgan, 39, revealed he is now paying the equivalent of two additional mortgage payments annually for parking charges.
Residents of Tavington Road and Applewood Grove in Halewood discovered they were being billed for parking spaces which came with their houses
GB NEWS
The fees have more than quadrupled from an initial £300 for maintenance of parking spaces.
Scott Traynor, 48, reported that his cost for using a service road to access his own driveway has increased from £250 in 2007 to approximately £370 today.
“We’ve all asked repeatedly for copies of the audited accounts to see what the money is being spent on, and we keep getting fobbed off,” said Morgan.
Residents claim they are being incorrectly charged for services related to a nearby block of flats, Applewood Court, where they don’t live.
Letters obtained by the BBC show bills including charges for cleaning, maintaining gates, fire safety equipment, carpets and terrorism insurance for the apartment block.
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Scott Traynor said the cost of using this service road to access his own driveway has increased from £250 in 2007 to approximately £370 today
“The problem is quite clear, they’re treating the freehold homes and the leasehold block of flats as the same development, but they’re not,” said Scott Traynor.
Some homeowners even received warning letters about leaving bicycles in the hallways of the flats.
Linda Eccleston, an 18-year resident of Tavington Road, expressed frustration over the lack of transparency regarding fee increases.
“If all the additional fees we’ve paid are for that small car park, I want to know exactly what has been done to warrant those increases,” she said.
Graham Perrins, 58, who lives on Tavington Road, said he was even considering selling his home due to the uncertainty.
“It drives me to despair because I don’t know what bill I’m going to expect each year. I don’t know what I’m actually paying for, and I can’t get hold of anyone to explain properly,” he said.
FirstPort defended its position, stating it manages the homes and flats as one development, but insisted homeowners “only contribute to cover the general maintenance and insurance of the estate”.
The company blamed recent fee increases on rises in the real estate insurance market but said prices were now declining.
FirstPort acknowledged that some “additional fees were mistakenly charged” due to “human error”.
The firm promised these issues would be rectified, adding that lower charges would be “reflected in the service charge invoice for the year ending March 2025”.