Apartment or Flat Dweller? What to Do When Someone Parks in Your Space

Hopefully, it won't be a common occurrence, but if you live in an apartment building or a block of flats with dedicated parking, you might need to deal with the annoyance of finding someone else's car in your parking space. So what can you do? If there is general parking, you will at least have somewhere to temporarily park your car, and while you might feel better after leaving a strongly worded note on the offending vehicle, it might not achieve much. If this should happen on a regular basis, you need to take the appropriate steps to fix the situation. What's the best way to proceed?

Parking Rules

While it might be tempting to call a towing service to have the vehicle removed, it might not be possible at this stage. The towing company might also be unwilling to take the vehicle if the proper process has not been followed. This is because there are restrictions in place as to how a vehicle can be handled when it's on private property, even if it is one that is parked in an area that has been designated for your usage under the terms of your apartment/flat rental or purchase. This is different from when a car has been illegally parked on the street. You need to contact the strata management company who oversees the operations for your building. They will inform you about the parking rules that have been put in place for the parking area. But how can these rules help you?

  • Tenants will probably have been informed that any improperly parked vehicles can be removed, and that by using the parking area, they are in agreement of this condition. This essentially gives their permission for their vehicle to be removed if it's parked in an incorrect place while on the premises.
  • Such a notice might also be posted at the entrance to the parking area, notifying all users that improperly parked vehicles might be removed. Again, this means that usage of the parking area consents to this condition. Such consent means that the vehicle can be towed without complications.

Towing the Vehicle

Check with your building's strata management company as to who should contact a towing company in the event that reasonable notification has been given to the driver of the offending vehicle. The strata management company might have a particular service that they use. It might also be their policy to simply clamp the vehicle until the driver has been identified.

So while it hopefully won't be something you need to deal with on a regular basis, it's important to follow the correct process if you find that someone has parked in your space.


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