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[Jimmy-T]

QUESTION: I share an undercover double car space with a tenant. Because he parks his car too far forward I have extreme difficulty getting in and out.

I had the garages measured and a line painted in front and a letter was sent to him from his real estate and strata telling him to park behind the line.

He has ignored the request and has said he will park how he wishes as his tyres are on the line.

Is it OK to park like that, even though the front of his very big ute with a massive metal frame on it hangs way over onto common property? – Butterflyness2006, via Flat Chat Forum

ANSWER: If he’s parking over common property he’s parking on common property – it doesn’t matter where his wheels are.  The next time the strata manager or rental agent writes to him it should be to explain that he is breaching a by-law which means he is also breaching the terms of his lease.

It’s a shame you can’t work this out amicably but this person seems to have no consideration for his neighbours so it may take a warning that he could be evicted if he doesn’t pull his head (and his truck) in.

Read about the whole parking madness here.

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[Jimmy-T]

Just to clarify why parking over common property is the same as parking on common property, strata schemes refer to air space rather than land. So, for instance, when you buy a unit, you are buying the air space bounded by the common property walls of your unit.

Thus a car or anything else that extends from a lot owner’s or renter’s air space into common property air space is legally in common property. And if the by-laws say you can’t park in common property, you would be in breach.  Normally, Owners Corps and neighbours wouldn’t worry too much about a vehicle sticking out a bit.  However, in this particular case, the owner of the truck is creating a clear nuisance for another owner who is within her rights to complain.

An example of where this might be a more significant issue is a business wanting to put an awning attached to their frontage but extending over common property.  Setting aside issues of attaching the awning to their frontage (probably common property) unless the awning was above the height defined in the strata plan as common property, they would probably have to pay the Owners Corp for the use of its air space.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

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