Good news on rogue parking. I’ve been talking to various people recently about this bugbear of strata living and it seems there is a simple solution, at least when it comes to neighbours with more cars than car spaces who believe they should be allowed to park their excess vehicles in visitors parking, driveways or even your car space.
The law, it seems, doesn’t ban clamping after all. It bans clamping without the car owner’s permission. What are the chances that rogue parkers will give you the go-ahead to clamp their cars? That would be somewhere less than zero … unless they have already done so.
If you have a by-law that clearly states that owners and tenants agree to have their wheels clamped if they park in the wrong place, then you are apparently covered by the law. By accepting the by-laws, which residents do via their contracts when they buy or rent a property, they have effectively given permission to the Owners Corporation to clamp their car if it’s illegally parked.
That applies to anyone who owns or rents in the building who parks without permission on common property, in visitors parking or in other owners’ spaces. Now, the mechanics of how this might be applied will vary but usually the existence of a genuine deterrent and clear warning signs to that effect will be enough to solve the problem.
Admittedly, there are a couple of blind spots. Residents’ friends and relatives as well as selfish ratbags who clog up strata parking near railway stations, shops, nightspots and office blocks, aren’t directly bound by your by-laws so haven’t given permission. But a sign that says “under the terms of by-law X, illegally parked cars will be clamped” might be enough to chase them off.
And there are moves afoot to have warning signs legally recognised as a form of granting permission. That will require a change in the law but anything that stops strata residents being treated as second-class citizens has to be a good thing.
Meanwhile if you are having trouble with resident rogue parkers, talk to your strata manager or a strata lawyer (please!) about the wording any such by-law might have.