It strikes me that it would solve a lot of problems in strata if everyone who sets foot in or drove into a strata building was told that they either accepted they were subject to strata by-laws … or they could leave.
It beggars belief that that legal principle doesn’t that already exist both in theory and in practice.
All the advice I’ve seen regarding problem parking, especially for non-resident car owners, is that they can’t legally be touched. The practical upshot seems to be that the parking thief’s rights to access and property protection supersedes the rights of residents to access their garages/parking bays, supersedes the right of the EC to have contractors access the building to perform repairs and maintenance, supersedes the right of the Body Corporate to control/manage improper access to private (albeit shared) property.
Why?
ECs should be able to take timely, preventative action without turning the property in to a jail. However all legal options seem to be limited to reactive steps involving considerable effort, delays and expense. A case of too little too late.
My interest in finding a solution (Qld) is fast becoming critical. As the owner of the end-most garage on an adequate (but not wide) driveway I regularly have to deal with my access being blocked by other residents, their visitors, taxi drivers and the increasingly prevalent delivery drivers all assuming their parking convenience is sufficient reason to block me out (or in) and that I should wait on their pleasure for my access. The street is already parked out and a new large unit block under construction a few doors up is only going to be make things worse.
Worst case if I was blocked out and my car was damaged in a storm I should be able to simply legally identify and recover damages from the person whose actions directly prevented me from getting my car under cover. Plus recover damages for the delays and all expenses associated being without the use of my vehicle during repairs and costs of pursuit of these.
Or if I opened my tilt garage door from the inside and their car was scratched that should not be my responsibility. They should be paying the BC for the cost of repairs to the garage door.
What can I actually do (owner-resident and Treasurer on EC) so I’m not driven mad by the ongoing delays and frustrations I semi-regularly encounter and will likely encounter more frequently in future? I can appreciate how the concept of some spiteful action against the offending vehicle would appear to be both highly appealing and seem to be the “only” thing that an effected resident could do.