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We are having trouble with tenants parking in the visitors parking area of our small complex of 4 townhouses. Can you please define what a ‘visitor’ is? We have someone living in one of the units for most of the week and because he is not the tenant who signed up for the unit, the owners (travellling around Australia) say he is a visitor and therefore should be allowed to park in the designated visitors carpark which is so small that if a car is parked there it requires about a 10 point turn in order to not back out into a main thoroughfare with two dangerous dog leg bends either side. We would greatly appreciate your help in this matter.
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Definitely an issue that needs clarification. When does an houseguest become a short-term resident? A broad definition of hotel checkin/checkout times could be applied to overnight guests, but how many successive days does it take to become unreasonable? The case in question has gone beyond the bounds of reasonableness, especially if the behaviour is repeated systematically week after week. This person does appear to be in breach of the usual by-law — at least in spirit — although a smart offender, well schooled in rights but ignorant of the obligations of a citizen, would no doubt twist and turn on the issue of the law’s letter.
The simplest way to do this is to define what a visitor means in your complex. It may be easier to add this as a ‘rule’ rather than a by-law as chummy has one quarter of the votes and can block any by-law changes. So get a definition ‘visitor’ with regards to parking a common definition is no more than six hours at a time on no more than two consecutive days – something like that.
Then hit the vistor with a Notice To Comply and let them fight it in the CTTT if they think they can get away with it – or face fines of up to $550.
If you and the other three owners collectively have the Unit Entitlements of more than 75 percent, you can and should make this a by-law – and consider adding an ‘excess parking” rental charge of $10 an hour for anyone who overstays.
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.
Our SM told us that a car could park there for 24 hours then that is it. We tell our owners/residents that the visitors car parks are for the temporary use of visitors and if residents have any long term visitors, then they should park elsewhere.
We have always made allowances in holidays times (school hols and christmas, long weekends etc). We have had people house sit for months. We would consider them a temporary resident, not a visitor.
So far we have had no dramas with visitors using the car parks. If only we could say the same for residents…………….
In our strata apartment/townhouse complex, we had an ongoing issue with the abuse of designated visitor parking spaces. We resolved it at the last AGM by passing a By-Law in relation to Visitor Parking.
Two lawyers on our Executive Committee drafted the By-Laws (they are tax lawyers, not strata lawyers, but nonetheless applied their drafting skills). We’re happy to provide a copy of the By-Law below for others to use.
Since the passing of this By-Law, the whole visitor parking issue has gone away.
2. Visitor Parking
2.1 An Owner or Occupier must not park or stand, or allow to park or stand, any motor or other vehicle in the Visitor Parking Area except with the written approval of the Owners Corporation.
2.2 The Owners Corporation must not unreasonably withhold its approval to the parking or standing of a motor or other vehicle in the Visitor Parking Area under Special By-law 2.1.
2.3 Notwithstanding Special By-law 2.1, a Visitor may park a motor vehicle in the Visitor Parking Area for a period of not more than 12 hours at any one time.
2.4 An Owner or Occupier may apply to the Owners Corporation to request approval in writing that any Visitor be allowed to exceed the 12 hour period referred to in Special By-law 2.3.
2.5 Any determination or approval made by the Owners Corporation concerning the parking of any motor or other vehicle in the Visitor Parking Area is at the absolute discretion of the Owners Corporation and may incur a Parking Fee.
2.6 Where:
(a) an Owner or Occupier parks or stands a motor or other vehicle in the Visitor Parking Area without the written approval of the Owners Corporation; or
(b) the Visitor of an Owner or Occupier parks a motor vehicle in the Visitor Parking Area in excess of the 12 hour period referred to in Special By-law 2.3 without the prior written approval of the Owners Corporation,
the relevant Owner or Occupier will be deemed to have accepted to pay the Parking Fee to the Owners Corporation.
2.7 Any payment required by the Owners Corporation in accordance with this Special By-law 2 becomes due and payable to the Owners Corporation within 14 days of a decision of the Owners Corporation to require that payment.
Additional Definitions to be inserted into By-Law 1.1
Parking Fee means a fee of AUD 110 per 24 hour period;
Visitor means a bona fide guest or invitee of an Owner or Occupier;
Visitor Parking Area means any basement area of the Common Property designated for parking by Visitors and not comprising part of a Lot, but does not include the Carwash Bay.
Thanks for providing that copy of your special by law jeff.f. It will no doubt be a good reference for all on flat chat.
The only problem I have with it is the wording “the OC must not unreasonably withhold its approval to the parking……..” In my complex, an owner would no doubt say “but I have two cars and one parking spot, you are being unreasonable”.
I would include a list of what is “reasonable”. I believe in extenuating circumstances it would be unreasonable to not allow someone to park in the visitors car spots. Matters such as structural repairs on a garage/car spot, OC repairs to an apartment (where an owner may have to store furniture items in the garage/parking space whilst repairs were carried out). And for the purposes of someone moving in or out of a unit – we all know how horrible this experience is, so letting someone park for a few days whilst they have cardboard boxes in the garage is something we would all appreciate in those circumstances.
So that is the only inclusion I would make to a by law for the visitors car spots.
Reasonableness is an objective test, taking into account the circumstances of any given situation. There are lots of cases on whether a decision is reasonable or unreasonable, in strata the most obvious being the keeping of pets. What is reasonable will change depending on each situation.
The problem with including a list of what is reasonable is you are not allowing for any discretion and leaving yourself open to challenge. It is far better to be silent on what may be considered reasonable, and deal with each case on its merits. The other thing is the example by-law puts the onus on the person to seek approval, and has consequences where they don’t, which is what you want.
It’s a good by-law, the only thing I would add to it is a timeframe for responding to a request.
We have a visitor parking issue in our building that hasn’t been resolved.An elderly owner-resident has her grandson overnight once a week, so he can take her for medical-physio the following afternoon-so he parks in visitor parking for about 20 hours. There are only 3 parking spots there, so there are some complaints.
What can be done to stop him parking there? There’s not a lot of legal off-street parking in the area, often requiring a 5 to 10 minute walk to the apartment building.
In the case cited by BMarr, under the by-law proposed in an earlier post, it would probably be considered unreasonable, not to say mean-spirited, to refuse what reads as a modest over-run of the permitted time. This assumes there is not more to this than meets the eye (e g a huge 4wd encroaching on the adjoining space!).
It sounds like an opportunity for a quiet chat and compromise. Does he need to be there for the whole 20 hours? But curbing the activities of someone who is trying to help an elderly relative does have a whiff of mean spirit about it.
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.
Hi
I think something is missing here – if grandson is ‘visiting’ grandma, then why doesn’t he simply use her car park?? If the SP has visitor parks then it will also have individual parks too.
@alley cat said:
HiI think something is missing here – if grandson is ‘visiting’ grandma, then why doesn’t he simply use her car park?? If the SP has visitor parks then it will also have individual parks too.
Good thinking but not all units have car spaces. There is an increasing trend in new buildings to deliberately not have enough car parking to go round so as to ‘encourage’ people on to public transport. In much older buildings, car parking was often only available to the select few.
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.
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