Four ways to manage common parking problems in your strata property

Following these parking procedures may help you and your strata community maintain the peace

Driving home from a long day of work to find someone else has parked their car in your personal parking spot, or inviting guests over only to find other residents have taken up the visitors’ spots, is far from pleasant. Unfortunately, these parking problems can be common in strata settings and can lead to disharmony within strata communities.

If you’ve found yourself in this situation, you’ll be happy to know that there are steps you can take to solve such problems and stop them from occurring in the future.

Keep reading to learn how to solve your strata community’s parking problems.

Here are four things you can do if your strata community is experiencing conflict relating to parking:

1. Ensure there is adequate signage clarifying parking rules
2. Update your strata property’s by-laws or building rules to cover parking protocol
3. Communicate with owners or residents who repeatedly break parking rules
4. Take further action if owners or residents refuse to abide by parking rules

1. Ensure there is adequate signage clarifying parking rules

You may find that many strata property owners and residents who don’t follow parking rules do so because the rules aren’t all that obvious!

This is where signage can come in to save the day. Ensure your strata property’s car park has ample signage that differentiates personal and visitor parking spots.

We suggest approaching your strata committee to consider signage in the common areas for all spaces as a capital expense, to allow cohesion and avoid mismatched signage which may distract the outlook of the property.

If the owners corporation agrees to have new signage created, it’s a good idea to include the maximum period for which a vehicle may be parked within the visitors parking spots on all notices. Being proactive in this way may help prevent future parking problems in your strata community.

If you are considering installing signage just for your allocated parking bay, and it is visible from the common areas, it is a good idea to seek approval from the owners corporation before arranging this. You should ensure that it is in keeping with the outlook of the property, and how it is affixed does not impact the common property structure.

2. Update your strata property’s by-laws or building rules to cover parking protocol

By-laws are a set of rules all owners and residents are obliged to follow.

If your by-laws don’t cover your strata property’s parking rules, it may be a good idea to update them. They should ideally cover where owners and visitors are allowed to park, any applicable time limits, and a process for dealing with parking-related disputes.

You must follow the correct procedures when updating your strata property’s by-laws, as laid out in your state’s strata legislation. We recommend that you and your committee engage a qualified strata law specialist, such as Kemps Petersons Legal, to help with this process.

Once the by-laws have been updated, give all owners and residents a copy of the updates. This will allow them to read and abide by the rules around parking in your strata property and let their guests know where they can and cannot park.

3. Communicate with owners or residents to repeatedly break parking rules

If you notice members of your strata community repeatedly break parking rules, it may be best to have a friendly yet direct conversation with them, particularly if they are parking in a space allocated to someone else. We recommend politely explaining the parking rules to the offender and reminding them that all owners and residents must abide by the by-laws.

Unfortunately, if the offender is parking in another owner’s parking space, this is considered a civil matter between the two parties and management of the space falls on the owner of the parking spot.

If the behaviour continues, it may be wise to alert your strata committee. They can take further action if needed.

4. Take further action if owners or residents refuse to abide by parking rules

If those breaking visitors car park rules do not respond to verbal and written warnings, there are avenues a strata community can take to solve parking issues. However, this will vary a little depending on your state.

Parking problems can cause disharmony in strata settings. However, dealing with these issues quickly by addressing the root cause and taking further action when necessary will result in a better community living experience for your and your neighbours.

If you’d like to find out more on drafting by-laws or building rules for your strata property,  click here to download our FREE Community Living guide on by-laws and rules.  For a consultation to review your current by-laws with the Kemp Peterson team, click here.  Alternatively, click here for a free assessment to find out more about the services we offer.