This article about where responsibilities lie for a shared driveway in a mixed use development in QLD has been supplied by Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal.
Question: Our building has two bodies corporate. We have a common area shared driveway however we’re not sure which body corporate should be policing current parking issues.
Our building has two bodies corporate – one for residential lots, and one for commercial lots.
It has a common area shared driveway down the side of the building, and round the back for loading vehicles etc.
Both BC’s by-laws state no parking on common areas without written permission from the BCC. But which BCC? Can the commercial BCC give permission to a commercial owner without consulting the residential BCC?
The caretaker/letting manager parks there frequently, as does his receptionist. As he is the chairman of the commercial BCC, he believes he has no need to get the written permission. The BCC for residential owners seems to be disadvantaged with no way to prevent this from happening.
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Answer: The driveway simply has to belong to one of the bodies corporate with access rights granted to the other.
If there are two bodies corporate, the driveway simply has to belong to one of them with access rights granted to the other. In theory, it is possible, but in practice, I have never seen bodies corporate with joint ownership of common property.
So you need to start with the survey plans of each body corporate to determine who owns the area you refer to and after that it is the rules of that body corporate you need to look at. It has to belong to one or the other.
Other articles you may be interested in:
- QLD: Q&A Can a Lot Owner Access Body Corporate CCTV Footage?
- QLD: Can a Body Corporate Tow a Car?
- NSW: Q&A Mixed Use Developments, Maintenance Bills and the BMS
This post appears in Strata News #275.
Frank Higginson
P: 07 3193 0500
W: http://www.hyneslegal.com.au
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