# Dublin Council and Visitor Parking Permits



## mickeyg (11 Oct 2006)

I live in the West and have a house in D4 which I have let. My last tenants moved out th end of Sept. and I am repainting and decorating with a view to re-letting.
Painter starte this morning and has spent as much time feeding the parking meter as painting!! As a result I have been trying to get visitor parking permits for him from Dublin County Council.
Despite my offering to show them lease agreements, insurance certificates etc. they are insisting that the only documentation they will accept as proof of my ownership of this house is a utility bill. A utility bill in my name at this address I just do not have nor ever did have!!

Is there any way to overcome this bureaucratic mess??


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## olddog (11 Oct 2006)

Welcome to the DCC local tax on service providers. If he is paying 2.50/hr then its probably around a 7% tax on the job ?

Our payments to the council for parking of vans must run close to five figures p.a.

The Council thinks your painter ( and the army of other people that provide maintenance in and around the city - sparks, plumber, alarm engineers, phone & computer technicians, etc )  should get the bus. ( actually they dont - they would prefer that they just shut up and pay the local tax )


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## RainyDay (11 Oct 2006)

Maybe your painter could load his gear into the house first thing each morning and leave the van at the nearest car park?


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## ClubMan (11 Oct 2006)

mickeyg said:


> they are insisting that the only documentation they will accept as proof of my ownership of this house is a utility bill. A utility bill in my name at this address I just do not have nor ever did have!!
> 
> Is there any way to overcome this bureaucratic mess??


If the property is mortgaged then presumably they will accept the mortgage statement as proof of ownership? If it's not then the deeds would have to do!


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## extopia (11 Oct 2006)

I can't believe you're going to these lengths for your painter - it's his job to deal with this kind of issue, not yours. He's the guy with the van. He should be used to the parking arrangements in Dublin, which don't differ that much from other sizeable cities.

By the way why not change the ESB over to your name anyway - whose name is it in now? You can always change it back over to your next tenant when you're done.


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## ClubMan (11 Oct 2006)

_mickeyg _has asked a fairly simple question about obtaining parking permits albeit throwing in some ultimately irrelevant inforamation about why this is an issue for him. Surely people can stick to the point rather than worrying about or questioning his motivation for wanting to do this?


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## extopia (11 Oct 2006)

I believe my suggestion that he actually change the esb into his own name to satisfy the council's alleged requirements for issuing a visitor parking permit is an excellent - if obvious - plan.

I take your point about questioning his motivation, it's just that if it was me I wouldn't let the tradesman cry about this. If he wants to avoid van parking issues surely he should not take on jobs in Dublin city centre?


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## liteweight (11 Oct 2006)

Do you pay for disk parking annually or do you leave it up to your tenants? When I buy my permits, I usually buy a number of visitors permits too. The problem might be that you only want the visitors permit??? They do make you jump through hoops to prove you live there.

Actually Extopia, it's prudent to supply the permits because otherwise tradesmen usually add it on to the price of the job!


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## extopia (11 Oct 2006)

liteweight said:


> Actually Extopia, it's prudent to supply the permits because otherwise tradesmen usually add it on to the price of the job!



I'd rather they did this than make me jump through hoops to get them to the site and put in a day's work!


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## mickeyg (12 Oct 2006)

Couple of points:
Clubman, mortgage statement, lease etc. not acceptable as proof of ownership - only utility bill and in my name
I have not got any resident parking discs in the past - the requirement for visitor discs is purely to get me over the current situation.  
How long would it take to have ESB change name on their database and then send "bill"? 

m


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## CCOVICH (12 Oct 2006)

mickeyg said:


> Clubman, mortgage statement, lease etc. not acceptable as proof of ownership - only utility bill and in my name


 

Wow.  So by their reckoning, your tenants are actually the owners and not you-can you raise this riduculous situation with someone senior who might have some cop on?



			
				mickeyg said:
			
		

> How long would it take to have ESB change name on their database and then send "bill"?


 
If you call them with a meter reading and tell them you want the name changed, I would imagine that you will have a bill by the middle of next week.


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## liteweight (12 Oct 2006)

I know from experience that will only take a bill. I stupidly thought that they'd have some kind of data base from the land registry or some such. They will only allow a set amount of visitors permits also which if you have a lot of visitors/builders etc. very quickly run out!


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## ClubMan (12 Oct 2006)

Do they really insist on a bill only? Do they have a specific list of bills? If this really is their policy then I agree that it's stupid and somebody should submit a complaint about this in writing to them.


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## mickeyg (12 Oct 2006)

Absolutely - "utility bill only". I have offered copy of my mortgage statement, lease agreement etc. all to no avail!


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## ClubMan (12 Oct 2006)

I don't see that the lease agreement proves ownership. Of course I don't see how a utility bill proves ownership either! If they don't accept the mortgage statement or the deeds of the property themselves (if available - e.g. not mortgaged) then that's crazy.


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## extopia (12 Oct 2006)

They are not trying to prove ownership - it's proof of residence they're after.


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## podgerodge (12 Oct 2006)

According to South Dublin County Council Form RP02A:


1.	Supply to this office current documentary evidence of residence to support your application e.g. Utility Bill (please note mobile phone bills are not acceptable) or Registered Landlord’s lease agreement AND

2.	Supply any other information requested by South Dublin County Council



But DunLaoghaire Rathdown state Utility Bill...

Can you say you're being charged by the builder for extra parking costs and bring the council to the small claims court - they shouldn't be able to define proof of residence like that


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## ClubMan (12 Oct 2006)

extopia said:


> They are not trying to prove ownership - it's proof of residence they're after.


Good point. I was mislead by the original post:


mickeyg said:


> Despite my offering to show them lease agreements, insurance certificates etc. they are insisting that the only documentation they will accept as proof of my ownership of this house is a utility bill. A utility bill in my name at this address I just do not have nor ever did have!!


I guess the answer is that a non resident landlord is not automatically entitled to these permits and must simply pay up for on street parking?


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## extopia (12 Oct 2006)

That's right, and fair enough too.


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## RainyDay (13 Oct 2006)

podgerodge said:


> Can you say you're being charged by the builder for extra parking costs and bring the council to the small claims court - they shouldn't be able to define proof of residence like that


If you do want to make a serious complaint, I'd suggest that you'd be better off referring the issue to the ombudsman.


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## bankrupt (13 Oct 2006)

mickeyg said:


> Absolutely - "utility bill only". I have offered copy of my mortgage statement, lease agreement etc. all to no avail!


 
Here's a good one: I was renewing my parking disc recently and had an NTL bill with my name in the form "Mr. J. Bloggs" on it. Posted it off only to get a letter back about a month later to say that this was not sufficient, it had to have the full name! (i.e. "Mr. *Joe* Bloggs") Went in to give out yards and got a pile of extra visitors' permits for my trouble.


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## extopia (14 Oct 2006)

The OP never claimed to be resident. As there is no current tenant, he can establish residency. He has been presented with a clear (and widely used - ask your local video store) method of proving residence - a utility bill. He's been dragging his heels. Where is the complaint issue?


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