Court of Appeal overturns ruling in Kensington parking space dispute

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the residents of Duchess of Bedford House, a mansion block on Sheldrake Place, Kensington W8, can park on an adjoining private road. The decision overturns a High Court ruling last year, which itself overturned an earlier ruling in the London County Court. The battle over parking at the properties, adjacent to Holland Park, appears to long predate this litigation. The complicated procedural history of the case shows that litigation regarding the parking spaces goes back more than 40 years. Initially, a county court judge gave the residents of Duchess of Bedford House a declaration that they had the right to park on a private road called Sheldrake Place East, which is part of Sheldrake Place. The gardens and roads of Sheldrake Place and the head leases of two other mansion blocks on Sheldrake Place are owned by Campden Hill Gate Ltd. The freehold of the entire square is owned by the Phillimore Estate, which granted a long lease for Duchess of Bedford House in 1929 and another long lease for the rest in 1969. The Duchess of Bedford House residents argued in the county court that they had a settled right to park predating 1969 and, for complicated reasons, the 1969 lease and changes to the headlease in 1974 demised a right to park to them. The High Court judge, on examining the complicated lease arrangement, disagreed and ruled the Duchess of Bedford House residents didn’t have a right to park. They appealed and at a hearing last month, three judges at the Court of Appeal reexamined the leases and ruled on Friday that the residents did, in fact, have the right to park. Campden Hill Gate Ltd now has 21 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Duchess of Bedford House Rtm Company Ltd and others v Campden Hill Gate Ltd Court of Appeal (King LJ, Spline LJ, Birds LJ) 8 December 2023 Photo © Shutterstock