Claiming parking spaces

A very common problem encountered by owners is that the parking spaces purchased are not suitable for their use, having to make complicated and repeated manoeuvres in order to be able to park; And even then, having real difficulties in opening the door and getting out of the vehicle;

The dimensions of a parking space for an average vehicle, although they may vary greatly depending on the applicable local regulations, should be at least 450 cm long by 220 cm wide, and must be free spaces between the axes of the boundary markers, with some tolerances allowed if there is a pillar or other fixed obstacle, as long as it does not exceed the established limits; Places bounded on the side by a partition shall have a 20 cm over-width to allow the doors to open freely;

What the regulation is protecting is, in short, something logical, such as the security that the owner of the parking space, for which he has paid good money, can access it with relative comfort, without causing inconvenience or damage every time he enters and leaves his garage; This routine activity should be protected by law, being a natural and uncomplicated exercise (as established by jurisprudence), devoid of stress and anxiety for the person who performs it;

Illegal parking spaces in a dwelling or community

In many communities there are serious doubts about the suitability of their garage ramps, their entrances on excessively steep slopes, spiral or spiral descents that mark very sharp angles;

Minimum measures are compulsory in the accesses, depending on how big are the basement floors destined to garages, if they are bigger than 2.000 m2 it will be compulsory that they have two lanes – they will have entrance and exit direction – with a minimum width in each lane of 3 metres, with a maximum slope, 18% is usually the maximum in straight line and 12% in curves; And the radius of curvature must be greater than 6 metres; If you have any doubts, please contact us;

Sometimes, even if the parking space itself is wide enough and easy to manoeuvre, it becomes unusable precisely because of the access ramp to it; There is no point in having a large, open-plan parking space if you have to walk up a winding ramp with irregular curvature radii in order to access it; The aim is to protect the entire access and exit of the communal garage, i.e. the owner can comfortably and safely enter and leave with his vehicle;

Claiming difficult parking spaces

It will depend on the General Urban Development Plan of each municipality, which although they do not vary too much from one to another, as they are changing administrative regulations, do not bind the Civil Courts, i.e., the fact that some garages strictly comply with the measures of a PGOU of a municipality dictated that year, does not necessarily mean that the spaces are suitable or suitable for the purpose, although it is usually an important indicator; However, a sensu contrario, if they do not comply with the minimum measures of the PGOU, they will not be declared suitable;

In order to prove the inadequacy of the accesses and their non-compliance, it is very important to have an expert’s report with a detailed measurement, tests of manoeuvrability with vehicles, as well as photographs of the scratches on the edges and walls of the garage, or dents on the vehicles, and finally the testimonies of the owners in court;

In other words, all the evidence necessary to give the judge a clear idea of the real situation of the communal garage; In addition to what is established by municipal regulations in each case, it is important to know, through other means of proof, the greater or lesser difficulty of access to the parking space;

Common problems in parking spaces

Report parking spaces that do not comply with the regulations;

In the case of finding a garage with this problem, the solution to this problem is not simple either, or a repair project must be carried out that proposes a new system for relocating the spaces, correcting the slopes that exceed the inclination etc..;

It is the task of the project management to comply with the responsibility of the 17.7 of the LOE, apart from the administrative regulations, but also the functionality of article 3.1.a) of the LOE, with the arrangement of the dimensions and spaces to facilitate the use of the functions foreseen in the building, as well as article 3c.4) Other functional aspects of the constructive elements or the installations that allow a satisfactory use of the building).

Or in the event that such a repair is technically impossible, compensation is requested, which not only compensates for the price necessary to acquire for each of the owners a parking space of similar characteristics – with the estimated average price of the area – but also the damage to the owners of not having the garage under the house, (forcing the owners to move people, luggage, etc.) and compensate the decrease or devaluation of their homes to each of the owners, as the value of a flat without a parking space in the same building is not the same as with such a space.