[Basil’s post (#3) must have come in whilst I was typing this one, but nonetheless most of what I’ve said is still valid, particularly the bit about Exclusive Use By-Laws requiring the written consent of the Owners concerned before they can be rescinded or amended. Note also that one specialist Strata Law firm is a sponsor of FlatChat]
Basil – firstly and as Jimmy advised, you need to check the Strata Plan (drawing) to ascertain whether or not those carspaces are shown thereon as Common Property, and if as I suspect they are, then for what purpose they were originally provided 40 years ago. If they were originally visitors’ carspaces, then I’d make a few discrete and non-property specific inquiries with your local Council about whether or not visitors’ carspaces within Strata Plan’s can be permanently allocated to resident use. There have been some discussions of this Forum to indicate that visitors’ carspaces are inviolate – once a visitors’ carspace always a visitors’ carspace, and if that’s Council’s opinion then you could use that as leverage in discussions with your Owners Corporation (O/C) about a resolution to rescind the Special By-Law as it’s in conflict with a “Superior Law” (the Local Government Act) and therefore illegal – just in case Council somehow finds out about it.
Secondly and as a another approach, whilst you’ve used the generic term “Special By-Law” (i.e. one specially resolved by your Owners Corporation) you need to obtain a copy of whatever is Registered on the Strata Title, because as that Special By-Law apparently confers upon the Owners of ten (10) Lots the “exclusive use” of those outdoor carspaces, it’s actually an Exclusive Use By-Law and covered under Pt5 Div4 of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (the Act). That Part of the Act states that any By-Law that confers exclusive use must include a clause stipulating who is responsible for the ongoing maintenance and repair of the area, and that may well be those Owners. If your Plan’s By-Law is silent with regard to ongoing maintenance and repairs, then it may well be illegal on that ground (also), and whilst it cannot be rescinded without the written consent of those 10 Owners, your O/C could use its illegality as a very strong lever to, as Jimmy T suggested, negotiate some agreed form of a new properly worded and properly resolved Exclusive Use By-Law to in future apply, which could include the provision of ongoing monetary payments to the O/C in lieu of a possibly painful approach to the CTTT about amending the Unit Entitlements of those Lots.
Finally, except for doing nothing whatever course of action you choose to implement will require a Special Resolution of your O/C where ≥75% of Owners in attendance personally or by proxy will have to vote in favour of whatever is proposed, so given there’s 34 Lots and 10 Owners possibly against the Motion, you and the like-minded members of your O/C will have to rely heavily upon the possible illegality of what’s now in place to swing things in favour of a change to legality and equity.
Christmas Greetings (and good luck) to you too!