Question: A resident received an email saying our by-laws prevent parking of commercial vehicles. He owns a ute. Is this by-law reasonable?
My friend has a work ute. He does not carry anything in the back tray. He parked the ute on his neighbour’s driveway, and then he and his neighbour received an email saying the by-laws prevent parking of commercial vehicles. Is this by-law reasonable and enforceable?
“No commercial vehicle, truck or recreational vehicle, including a boat or trailer (other than a four wheel drive), is allowed to be parked anywhere that is visible from another lot or the common property, i.e. in a lock up garage is acceptable, but on a driveway or a parking pad within a lot is not.”
Answer: First, check whether the area of driveway forms part of the common property or the lot.
The first thing to check here is whether the area of driveway forms part of the common property or the lot.
If it is on the common property, there is a separate and probably more difficult issue, in that the common property cannot be used for parking on an ongoing basis without some form of use right.
Use right aside, the by-law is capable of being reasonable. Prior adjudicators have upheld such by-laws in circumstances where there has been a focus on a consistent and well-kept visual amenity. One example is Champagne Boulevard, which prevented a caravan from being parked on a lot’s driveway that was visible from the street.
This post appears in the October 2023 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
Todd Garsden
Mahoneys
E: tgarsden@mahoneys.com.au
P: 07 3007 3753
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