B.Z. from Cook County, Illinois writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I live in a townhouse with 4 units in the building, each which its own garage. The garages are adjacent to each other with a contiguous driveway, where the part of the driveway in front of each garage is for use by that unit. The HOA takes care of maintenance of this driveway. Often others will park temporarily on my portion of the driveway, and it’s causing problems with some vehicles leaking oil and other asphalt damaging fluids. Sometimes these cars are associated with other units in my building, and sometimes they are people from other buildings. If I don’t want those people there, would that be considered legal trespassing?
Mister Condo replies:
B.Z., I am sorry that you are having such a problem. I wish I could tell you that it is uncommon but, if you read my column with any regularity, you know how big an issue parking is at condos and HOAs all across the country. It usually comes down to too many cars in too small a space and residents and their guest not caring about where they park. Parking areas outside of your garage are typically association owned and maintained, even if they are for your specific unit. That means the association, governed by the Board, bear the responsibility for parking lot rule enforcement. You need to alert your Board to the problem (they probably already know) and pressure them to provide a solution. Trespassing is their call as they own the land, not you. All you can do is insist that they enforce the community’s parking rules so that everyone, including you, can enjoy their parking spaces and are unencumbered to come and go as they see fit. All the best!