QLD: Q&A Are bollards an unreasonable restriction on visitor car parks?

This article discusses whether using visitor car park bollards to reserve spaces is an unreasonable restriction on common property.

Question: Can the body corporate committee use bollards to “reserve” visitor car parks, or is this an unreasonable restriction on common spaces?

In our complex, the body corporate committee installed bollards on allocated visitor car park spaces as part of a manual “reserved visitor parking” scheme used during holiday periods. The committee installs the bollards at least two days before the reservation begins, which prevents genuine visitors from using spaces even when they are vacant.

The committee is also slow to remove the bollards when the visitor leaves, sometimes taking more than 12 hours to free up the space. The booked visitor can still access the reserved space until the committee removes the bollard.

The bollard scheme frustrates owners because empty visitor spaces can’t be accessed by our bona fide visitors. Can the body corporate committee lawfully manage visitor parking in this way, or is this an unreasonable restriction on common spaces?

Answer: I very much doubt that the body corporate committee can do that for two main reasons.

I very much doubt that the body corporate committee can do that for two main reasons:

1. The planning approval likely included the obligation to provide a certain number of visitor parks. If those are denied to genuine visitors, it is likely a breach of that approval.
2. Leaving aside the potential denial of the right to use common property for proper purposes, which I don’t think the committee can do on their own in these circumstances, the bollard is an improvement to common property and would likely need approval at the general meeting.

Frank Higginson
Redchip Strata Law
E: FrankH@redchip.com.au
P: 07 3193 0500

This post appears in the February 2026 edition of The QLD Strata Magazine.

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Read next:

• QLD: Q&A Accessible parking in strata: can residents use the visitors’ space?
• QLD: Q&A The First rule of Visitor Parking in Apartments – umm, it’s for visitors!
• QLD: Q&A Body Corporate Rules for Cars on Common Property

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