We don't actually know but we are assuming the trespassers. As the cameras were down for a month before this incident, we think it may have been repeated visits to the car park - either by the same or different individual(s). When a member of management and I viewed the CCTV footage today, it was quite apparent that this was the first time the error of "no image" was noticed. We certainly would not have spent half an hour going back as far as we could in time in the hope that the "no image" error would disappear and be replaced with actual recording, to determine when it went down. In short: I suspect no one does, as observing a blue screen with "no signal" takes a matter of seconds to raise the flag - which isn't the same as sitting and watching the monitors for hours on end - live, for something suspicious to happen. My thoughts too but my slight reservation is that it seemed as if today was the first time management had noticed the cameras were gone and recording had stopped at the end of March - which leads me back to the argument that while it isn't the case that they were aware and did nothing about it, the amount we all pay per month for a spot in the car park would surely warrant perhaps a once-every-three-weeks visit to make sure everything is working.

Thanks for the replies both. We can indeed claim the cost of repairs via our insurance but in consideration of the thoughts that I) it may raise our premium and II) it is likely that management were negligent in maintenance of security measures, we would rather explore the latter in the first instance. Met up with someone from management today and after our review of the CCTV footage, it appears that the camera has been vandalised and removed since the end of March - perhaps longer. We left our car from the end of April to the Saturday just passed so this pre-dates that by a good month. He invited me to send another e-mail to further discuss the implications of this, within which I have taken the angle of: £50 per month per parking spot and no CCTV for 2 months for such a high-value, private communal area... observational on-site checks - even if brief and once every 2 / 3 weeks to ensure that these security measures were working (...and present), would surely have been appropriate (again) in consideration of the total monthly premium they collect. But I guess the bottom line is that even though it sounds negligent, I am not 100% sure if it actually is if they played the "we didn't know, someone should have told us" card?

Ah! That's the one thing we did do: our standing order ref since the day we moved in has included rent + parking.

Thanks again for the reply. I have just combed through my e-mail inbox and tenancy contract and nothing in writing re. parking spot T&Cs / a contract. All there is, is a short e-mail chain asking whether or not they have a free spot in the basement car park which went along the lines of: "Do you have a spot for parking in the basement?" "No, but we will let you know when one opens up" - one month later - "A parking space has opened up; it's £50 p/m; just add it to the rent you pay and you can pop in to pick up the key fob." I agree with everything you have said liverpoolluke and am now unsure if the absence of a contract or anything more detailed takes this to a dead-end.

Thanks for your reply. I did hope that it would be as simple as the wording on a contract, but we were not presented with one for this parking space. We pay our monthly rent to the letting agent (as per the tenancy contract), but add an extra £50 for continued use of the basement car park and possession of the key fob. I am not sure if this strengthens / weakens things?

Hi all, Thanks for giving this a read. Please let me know if this is not in the correct sub-forum and I'll flag for it to be moved. I'll try and keep this short and succinct: We have just returned home from our time away in another city for work and we kept our car in the private residential basement car park for our building - key fob / building access is required for entry. We noted that a number of external components had been stripped off our car and taken. The interior was not broken into as far as we could tell. Additionally, the wires to the CCTV unit which overlooks the whole car park had been cut and the unit taken away. The car park itself is quite small - fits about 8 cars and is rectangular in layout. We did what we could on a weekend: informed the police, put up posters and notices around the car park, and spoke to our neighbours. One person reported that the CCTV unit had been missing for more than a month. We also e-mailed management with regards to this footage and to also inform them that the security of this car park is compromised. The question: would 'management' be liable in this incidence? We pay a fairly significant monthly premium to them - £50 (an official letting agent) - in addition to rent, for a parking spot in this car park yet we were not warned to park at our own risk, nor are there any signs to highlight this. Plus no signs to highlight active CCTV monitoring. One would think that for such an additional amount, there would perhaps be more attention to maintaining the security of this car park (occasional checks of CCTV camera for faults, for example). I agree that parking the car down there for 4 weeks without checking it is questionable, but in consideration of the fact that we were away for work and such a car park requires key-fob access, there was a CCTV, it is private and in the basement, this may perhaps be forgivable. We are waiting for management's reply - hopefully by today, but just posting this in preparation for the direction we hope to take. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Thanks for your reply SabreSheep. Apart from the landlord / lettings people, no one else has access. We have all of the spare keys with us - nothing under a doormat etc. We briefly entertained the idea of regular break-ins but locks did not seem tampered with, nothing seemed used or out of place etc. I am eager to learn what evidence the council / environmental dept. has, as the use of the term "witnessed" suggests they turned up in person and heard it coming from our flat. I guess I am trying to find the balance between preparing for the worst and not over-thinking, but my only concern is having to go for a magistrates hearing for an issue we were not even present for, as well as the council being resistant despite all of our evidence - which I will mention tomorrow. Still being 2 hours away because of this work placement certainly does not help things!

Hello, Thank you for clicking and giving this a read. Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong forum: it was a toss up between this one and the renting one. I am not able to get in touch with my local city council until Monday but I would just like some reassurance in the interim. For the past few weeks - since the end of March, we have been temporarily living in an AirBnB rental in London for a work placement. We returned home today for a few hours to check post, water plants etc, and to our surprise we had received two letters - the first dated mid-April and the second dated two days ago, with regards to excessive noise (from an amplified speaker) coming from our flat in the afternoons on these two occasions; the second letter was accompanied by the abatement notice. Our flat is in a building of three flats in total. The building itself is right in the city centre, surrounded by other commercial and residential buildings. We rent our flat and we have not sublet any part of it out. We are able to provide an extensive range of evidence to prove that we have been away for all of this time - and most certainly on the two days that the complaints have been logged and witnessed: from our AirBnB rental receipts to statements from work, heck even oyster transactions on the tube and our phone GPS logs. It's an annoying amount of extra effort but I am going to whole heartedly appeal this abatement notice come Monday morning. I can see though that the process of appealing requires a magistrates hearing which is slightly daunting. For both the feeling of having done something about it today, as well as for our reassurance: could this in any way go wrong? Our array of evidence is water-tight, however the letters from the city council claim that the excessive noise has been "witnessed" by them? Thanks again.