This article about problems with the strata plan in QLD body corporate has been supplied by Michael Kleinschmidt, Bugden Allen Graham Lawyers.
Question: The car parks allocated on the strata plan do not match the painted numbers on the parking spaces. How serious is this? What action do you recommend?
I am an owner occupier and ordinary member of the body corporate. One of the buildings in the complex is a 2-storey building with 5 units on each floor. There are ten covered car parking spots on the ground level with individually painted numbers.
The first-floor unit markings are in accordance with the strata plan. However, the ground floor units are reversed marked North to South (e.g unit 11 on the plan is marked as unit 15 etc.).
Similarly, the car spots have painted marking numbers which have been reversed from North to South.
How serious is this? What action do you recommend?
Answer: When it comes to car parks in community title schemes, the lines on the ground mean pretty much nothing.
Paint has lifesaving superpowers, which can be observed in action every day – it can stop us from driving into each other at stop lines, or from smashing into each other at high speed on the motorway. As a society we are (thankfully) inculcated with a respect for painted lines on roads and access ways. When that superpower is used for good, we are happier and safer. Sometimes however, it can be used for evil.
I have personally seen lot owners engage in sneaky land grabs using nothing more than a pot of line marking paint and a brush.
In Queensland, when it comes to car parks in community title schemes, the lines on the ground mean pretty much nothing. What matters is the survey plan (for car parks on title) and the exclusive use plan (for exclusive use car parks).
Paint can never trump a survey plan. Paint could trump an exclusive use plan, but only in very rare situations; for example, where under a (very) old grant of exclusive use the paint on the ground was used to define the exclusive use car park. While that is theoretically possible, I’ve never seen it. Generally speaking, it does not matter how long the paint has been on the ground, and whether it defines an area with lines or numbers. A useful, recent example of this principle is in Osprey Mooloolaba [2022] QBCCMCmr 459 (It was a nice win for my client!).
As for what to do? Raise the apparent error with your committee, and recommend that they conduct an audit – ‘map to ground’ – by comparing the plan/s with the painted numbering. The results will inform the next steps. If the parks are ‘on title’, then things could be very difficult to resolve (but conversely, the law should be quite clear!). If the parks are exclusive use, then if there is a consistent error, the lot owners can agree to ‘swap’ their areas, so they can keep parking where they have become accustomed to parking.
Michael Kleinschmidt Bugden Allen Graham Lawyers E: michael.kleinschmidt@bagl.com.au P: 07 5406 1280
This post appears in the April 2023 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.
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