OK, here’s an option. The new Strata Regulations (below) allow for vehicles that “obstruct the use of common property” to be moved to somewhere they are allowed to be parked after due notice has been given.
I reckon a notice that said that, in a way that complied with the regs, would be enough to scare most rogue parkers off. If it didn’t, you could then decide whether you wanted to find out if it was legal or not by actually shifting the offending car and seeing what happened.
I am not a lawyer but I think it would be worth a spin. What’s the worst that could happen?
By the way, it would help greatly if you had a by-law that defined who could use visitor parking and for how long. That way you can prove they are not a bona fide visitor and are therefor obstructing the use of common property.
Meanwhile I have created a “Move it or lose it” pdf form that you can download and print by clicking on that link. You should check with your strata manager or lawyer before using it. But at the very least it could be a bluff that’s unlikely to be called.
Fill in the form with the time and date, add the phone number of someone who doesn’t mind being verbally abused over the phone, take two pictures, one of the form on the car, the other of the car with the form on it, and see what happens.
I’d be interested to hear what the rest of you reckon to this.
NSW Strata Schemes Regulations (2016)
34 Removal of motor vehicles: section 125 of Act
(1) This clause applies to a motor vehicle left on common property that is placed so that it blocks an exit or entrance or otherwise obstructs the use of common property (my emphasis).
(2) The owners corporation may take action under this clause if the owners corporation has placed a removal notice on or near the motor vehicle and the requirements of the notice are not complied with within the period specified in the removal notice.
(3) A removal notice must:
(a) not be less than the size of an A4 piece of paper, and
(b) be placed in a position or be in a material so that the contents of the notice are not likely to be detrimentally affected by weather, and
(c) describe the motor vehicle and state the date and time the notice was issued, and
(d) state that the motor vehicle will be removed if it is not moved from the
common property or so that it no longer obstructs common property before the date and time specified in the notice (being not earlier than 5 days after the notice was placed on or near the motor vehicle), and
(e) specify contact details for a member of the strata committee, the strata
managing agent or a delegate of the owners corporation in relation to the
notice.
(4) The owners corporation may cause a motor vehicle to be moved to another place on common property or to the nearest place to which it may be lawfully moved, or moved so that it no longer blocks an exit or entrance or otherwise obstructs the use of common property, and for that purpose the owners corporation is taken to be the owner of the motor vehicle.
(5)The Tribunal may, on application by the owners corporation, order that the owner of a motor vehicle moved to another place under this clause, pay to the owners corporation the reasonable costs incurred by the owners corporation in moving the motor vehicle.
(6)In this clause:
motor vehicle has the same meaning as in the Impounding Act 1993.