I live in a tenement building in Scotland and there are 16 flats which all share a communal garden.
Over the years a few people have placed garden sheds in the area but all in a line up along a piece of ground which can only be described as waste land. J have no problem with that even though permission was not obtained.
Now some idiot has built a shed with a concrete base right slap in the middle of the area used for drying and for keeping the wheely bins.
It`s gone too far this time. Soon there will be no garden area left.
Surely no-one can claim a piece of communal garden for their own personal use?
Can I complain about this and which council department would I contact ? Or does it have nothing to do with the council and would a private civil action need to be taken? Or a small claims action?
Is the block owned by the council? If not they won't be interested (unless Scottish Law about sheds is different to English).
If the block is privately owned and the flats owned or rented by the residents you'll have to find the deeds and see what they say about use of the communal areas. You may find there is nothing specific about sheds so it would then be up to any residents association to decide if sheds are allowed and what can or can't be done etc.
You need to have a look at the titles (deeds in old money) for your property to see what it says there about the common areas. You can get a copy here:
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very cheaply and if you live in Glasgow or Edinburgh you can go in person to their offices and walk out with a copy
10mins later and only 2 odd quid lighter. You'll need ID if not paying by credit card.
My own titles describe the back court to be 'solely for the purposes of drying washing' and I would expect yours to have some similar restriction to avoid someone taking it over. With a restriction like that the builder should not have gone ahead without the permission of the flat owners.
It is likely that the ownership of the area is common with the other flat owners so it's not really a council matter. Is the building factored? If so then a complaint through them may be the way to proceed although a savvy individual may realise that the factors are actually powerless to act without the consent of the majority of owners. That consent may be difficult to achieve if the other shed owners see their own buildings being threatened.
Given that someone has gone to the bother of building a concrete base and putting up the shed, I doubt they'll give it up without a fight so I would expect you would have to make some sort of legal challenge to have any chance of success (even then not guaranteed). Avoid this route if possible and try to get support from other flat owners and the factors.
For more help, perhaps post to uk.legal.moderated clearly marking the subject Scotland so that is clear from the start. There appear to be only a couple of posters there with any real knowledge of Scots law so you just have to hope that one of them catches your post.
As far as I am aware if you do `proper` brick (or concrete) foundations for a wooden shed or garage then you must apply for planning permission. I am not sure if there is a size implecation. This being the case if they had applied for planning permission it is likely you would have received a letter to see if you objected to it.
Forget the planning permission bits, any land that is owned (or has license to be occupied) requires the permission of the land owners (occupiers) for something to happen to it, just through natural law. If you are the sole owner (occupier), then implicitly automatically give yourself permission to do whatever you want with it, but if others are involved, all need to be involved. Imagine if you were half of a couple who owned a house and the other half decided - by themselves - to sell it. They can't, unless in some cases they own more than 50% of it.
In your case, there are more than one owner (occupier), so all persons permission is needed. If shed-man hasn't got the permission of all the people involved he is breaking some sort of law, maybe joint ownership law of some sort. What would happen in the above case if hubby sold a shared house without wifie's consent?
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Harry Syme" saying something like:
I doubt if the council will be interested, as a garden shed wouldn't fall within their remit.
I think you'd be in the realm of getting the Factor off his arse and then going to see a solicitor, if necessary. You have to knock on every door in the close to get all the other neighbours' take on it. Some of them might not care or shy away from potential legal costs.
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