We know parking can come at a premium, but if you’re buying a new-build home and want a space for your car, it could cost you more than 10% of your property’s purchase price.
According to new research from Direct Line’s Select Premier insurance, a parking space to accompany a new build property in Battersea, south west London, was recently being sold for £65,000, equivalent to 13% of the property’s £500,000 price tag. Developers typically slap on an average of 5% for a parking space to go with your property, with less than a fifth of new-build homes including a space in the purchase price.
Nick Brabham, head of Select Premier Insurance says: “Restrictions on the number of parking spaces developers can build to accompany new properties make these slots a hot commodity carrying a premium price.”
It’s not just in the capital where homebuyers have to pay thousands for somewhere to park their cars.
If you live somewhere where there is huge demand for parking, you might want to consider renting out your space
In many areas, parking spaces can’t be bought alongside properties at all, and developers will instead sell annual permits for you to rent spaces. One £425,000 property in Bristol came with an annual permit costing £1,400, while in Brighton a space accompanying a £410,000 apartment cost £1,000 a year.
If you do have to fork out a fortune for your parking space, and you live somewhere where there is huge demand for parking, you might want to consider renting out your space to recoup some of your money.
This may not be allowed if you are renting your space and are not the actual owner, so always check first with the company who supplies your permit before proceeding.
There are plenty of websites where you can list your parking space for hire, including JustPark.com, yourparkingspace.co.uk, and parklet.co.uk.
With JustPark.com, for example, you set the times when the space will be available, and decide how much you want to charge per hour, day, week or month. There’s no charge to list your car on the space. The site adds a service fee to your charge which is paid by the driver. You will however have to pay a 50p charge to withdraw any earnings you make under £25, but you can transfer any earnings over this limit free of charge to your bank account.
Yourparkingspace.co.uk also doesn’t charge you anything to list your space, and again charges motorist renting your space a service fee.
Parklet.co.uk specialises in longer-term lets, and charges 20% commission plus Value Added Tax (VAT) and a one-off £25 plus VAT admin charge. You can’t let out your space on the site for less than a month, so you’ll need to find somewhere else for your own car. Current spaces advertised on the site include an allocated space in a residential block in north-west London for £320 a month, and a garage in Cambridge near the station for £115 a month.
Parking spaces which command the biggest rents are usually those near to town centres, transport links, stadiums or concert venues.
Bear in mind that where you park can affect the car insurance premiums you pay, so you’ll need to notify yours if you’re planning on moving your car to a different location.
Brabham says: “Access to secure parking can sometimes impact on insurance premiums for a vehicle, so people will need to weigh up the potential long-term cost savings of purchasing a space carefully. The limited access to affordable parking spaces in many cities is becoming a serious issue, which is why we are seeing a growth in people renting out their driveways and spaces to other motorists.”
