Not exactly house related, but nonetheless wanted to see whether any of you could offer suggestions.

I'm going through the process of buying a flat in East Croydon which has an unsecured allocated car parking space.

My flat is just 4 minutes walk from East Croydon station, a key commuter station into Central London. Car parking is at a premium in this area.

As I don;t have a car, I'm considering either renting or selling this space.

Has anyone got any expeience in doing this? Obviously, I would advertise in local shop windows / newspapers, but if anyone's got any other ideas (such as web site advertising) that would be great.

You'll need to check the terms of your lease Help1 as you will almost definitely be unable to sell the parking space and may also be prevented from letting it.

You need to check your lease first and see if you can do what you want. You then need a proper licence agreement drawing up which doesn't give the car owner any rights over the land other than to park their as and when stated. Last thing you want is a car owner claiming ownership due to a badly worded/non existent document or you being sued for negligence should the vehicle (or the owner) get damaged.

Help1, if it turns out your lease will allow you to sell the space, I'd think long and hard about it. If parking is difficult in this area, you may find your flat hard to sell on without a space allocated to it.

An alternative is to wait until you move in and then when you start to know the area and recognise the cars parked in the vicinity see if you can come to a private arrangement with a neighbour who would welcome use of the space?

I definitely wouldn't sell the space, for the reasons SabreCat gives.

I agree with all the others - definitely don't sell the space as it'll bring down the value of the property substantially. However, what you could do is register on a website that has just been launched, www.yourparkingspace.co.uk - you can currently advertise driveways and garages available for rent for free on there.

Many thanks for all your suggestions.

I'm still in the process of buying the flat, and will wait until that has been completed before checking the terms of the lease.

I do agree with what you guys say about selling the space. If I did, it could bring the price of the flat down, so I won;t consider that option now.

Even if the lease stated that no subletting is allowed, If I was to speak to the other tenants in the flat and they had no problems with this, I can't see the harm in doing it. What is the likelihood of them finding out? If they did, could I be prosecuted?

It seems such a shame to leave the space unattended as I don;t have a car.

A friend of mine used to rent his car parking out to people working in the city as he's very close to a tube station. He didn't bother about checking his lease and didn't tell any of the other residents either. He used the rent to pay his service charge- which worked out great for him.

Help1, think of it this way: at least any family & friends who visit you who drive will be able to park easily without hunting for a parking space.

I wish I had a parking space outside my block: I have to park on the road, on the kerb (on a bus route).

I'd rent the space out to a neighbour if you can. Then when you sell the flat, the new owner can use the space or continue to rent it if they don't have a car.

I was reading something in the paper today about petrol prices, and the phrase 'average 2 car family' was mentioned - if this really is the average, and the flats in your (future) street only have one allocated space, you shouldn't have a problem finding someone in need of a space.