Parking in a housing society: who owns what
Parking generates more society disputes than almost anything else, partly because demand exceeds supply in most buildings and partly because buyers are frequently sold something the seller was not entitled to sell. The legal position is clearer than the practice suggests.
Parking is generally common area
The established position is that open and stilt parking spaces in a housing project form part of the common areas, which belong collectively to the society rather than to any individual member.
That has a direct consequence: a developer generally cannot sell a parking space as a separate saleable unit, because it is not theirs to sell independently of the flats.
Buyers are nevertheless charged for parking regularly, sometimes substantially, and the practice persists because few buyers challenge it at the point of purchase.
Covered garages built as distinct enclosed structures can occupy a different position, which is part of why the subject generates confusion, but the general rule for ordinary stilt and open parking is common area.
- Open and stilt parking is generally common area
- A developer cannot ordinarily sell it as a separate unit
- Buyers are nonetheless charged for it routinely
- Enclosed garages can occupy a different position
What that means for allotment
If parking belongs to the society collectively, then allotting it is the society's function rather than the developer's, and it is done by the general body under the bye-laws.
Societies commonly allocate by ballot, by rotation, by seniority of membership, or by a combination. What matters is that the method is decided collectively and applied consistently.
Allotment is generally a right to use rather than ownership, which means it can be reviewed and reallocated by the society, though doing so arbitrarily creates its own problems.
A member who paid a developer for a specific space and finds the society allocating differently is in an awkward position, and this is exactly the dispute that recurs.
The charges a society may levy
A society may charge for parking use as part of its maintenance structure, and differential charging for members using more spaces or larger vehicles is common and generally accepted.
What it charges should be decided by the general body and applied under the bye-laws rather than set informally by a committee.
Charging a member who does not use parking for parking they do not have is a frequent grievance, and whether it is justified depends on how the society structures its maintenance heads.
Where charges are disputed, ask for the resolution and the bye-law provision relied on. Our note on what society rules can enforce covers the general principle.
- Parking charges as part of the maintenance structure
- Differential charging by usage is common and generally accepted
- Charges should rest on a general body decision and the bye-laws
- Ask for the resolution when a charge is disputed
What buyers should do at purchase
Ask specifically what you are being sold. If a parking space is included in the price, ask on what basis the developer claims to convey it, and get the answer in writing.
Check what the agreement actually says. A brochure reference to allotted parking that does not appear in the agreement is not a commitment, as our note on agreement clauses explains.
Establish the ratio of spaces to flats in the project. A building with fewer spaces than units has a structural problem that will surface as a dispute regardless of what you were promised.
For a resale, ask the society directly what parking attaches to the flat and on what basis, rather than relying on the seller. Our resale flat checklist covers the wider set of society questions.
Why disputes escalate
Parking disputes are unusually bitter because they are visible daily and because both sides usually feel they have a genuine grievance.
A member who paid the developer feels they bought something. A society applying its allotment rules feels it is following the framework. Both positions are understandable and they are incompatible.
Vehicle ownership growth compounds it. Buildings designed when households had one car now house households with two, and no allocation method makes a shortage disappear.
Visitor parking is the second recurring flashpoint, particularly where it is informally colonised by residents and the society has never addressed it explicitly.
How to resolve one sensibly
Start with what the society has actually resolved. A great many parking arrangements are informal practice that nobody has examined, and simply asking for the resolution often clarifies matters.
Where allocation is genuinely contested, a transparent method decided by the general body is more durable than any individual accommodation. Ballots and rotation are unpopular with those who lose but they survive scrutiny.
Where a developer sold something they could not, that is a matter between the buyer and the developer rather than something the society caused, though the society is where the consequence lands.
Escalation through the co-operative framework is available and is preferable to a long argument among neighbours, which parking disputes otherwise become.
- Establish what has actually been resolved rather than practised
- Transparent collective methods survive scrutiny best
- A developer's misselling is a matter with the developer
- Use the co-operative dispute framework rather than escalating locally
The practical position
If you are buying, do not pay a large separate amount for parking without understanding exactly what you are acquiring and whether the seller can convey it.
If you are already a member, understand that your parking is most likely a use right allotted by the society rather than property you own, however it was described when you bought.
If you are on a committee, put the allotment method to the general body and record it properly. Most parking disputes trace back to arrangements nobody formalised.
And if you are renting, confirm whether a space genuinely attaches to the flat, since owners sometimes assume one does when the society has not allotted it. Our tenant's guide covers what else to check.
