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We are an average size ( under 10 units ) strata in WA. As it goes with older complexes, each unit has one carport only and no additional bays allocated. Currently we have a verbal agreement with the owners and tenants that have 2 cars, one must utilize the carport and the other may be parked in our visitor’s bays.
At our last AGM, parking headlined as always.. 1 car household rogue parking still, one resident has 3 cars, new owners with multiple cars etc plus the fact that we are actually all parking illegally on common property. It was suggested that we extend our visitor’s car park by 2 more bays and designate each unit with an additional exclusive use bay.
Also factoring in the Shire may request new bays for visitor’s. Win, win we think as it will increase property value and no more drama’s with if and where we can park. It would certainly ease the never ending tension.
So wading through all the steps involved in the project, we have discovered our Shire/City council has on the planning application ALL owners must sign and approve the request. And have been advised it depends on the Shire, the planner and the actual day whether they will approve the application from us only as council of owners (strata committee) or insist that every single owner has signed.
My concern is that even though we will have the funds to go ahead and will have done all the surveying, plans drawn up, legwork done, new bylaws etc, if the Shire wants everyone to approve, we will be road blocked by the tiny minority that will be inconvenienced. Purely for the fact they will be reduced to 2 cars on the premises only or they are likely to say no just to be difficult.
Where do we stand on this is we have majority vote on going ahead and the Shire says no, we have to have 100% of owners buy in? I know I’m worrying ahead, but I don’t want to waste our dollars on all the pre-work for nothing.
Thanks in advance
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I’m going to take a hard-line view on this but it may help you in the end.
By allowing some owners to park in visitor spaces, you are taking away common property and giving it to them. That ois of considerable value and those that don’t benefit are therefore being defrauded.
Also, when your plan was drawn up, the shire decided the community required a certain number of car spaces. Has that need changed in any significant way?
But let’s just assume that the shire says OK; you are legally obliged to find a way of compensating members of the strata scheme who don’t get any benefit from this.
The easiest way to do that is to RENT the car spaces to the owners who want them and let the money go into the strata scheme’s funds. That way everyone can benefit, the multi-car families can park their vehicles and the owners corporation doesn’t lose a valuable asset that it may require in the future.
Take that plan to the Shire and they might be more amenable, as will the nay-sayers when they realise their levies (fees) could be reduced accordingly.
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.
While this is a creative plan, in the case of Sydney City Council their policy is to limit the number of available parking spaces, the idea being to encourage people not to bring cars into the council area. If you allow residents to use visitor parking you have effectively increased the number of resident vehicles within the complex, which is not in line with council’s policy.
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