New Pavement Leads to Unfavorable Condo Parking Lot Reassignment

O.S. from Georgia writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

My husband and I bought our townhouse in an Atlanta suburb 9 years ago. We had 2 assigned parking spaces. This year the association installed new asphalt in our subdivision and reassigned one of our parking spots to another owner and gave me a parking spot away from our house. Does the Board of the association have the right to do that?

Mister Condo replies:

O.S., in many condominiums, parking spaces are assigned and reassigned at the discretion of the Board. Unless your parking is deeded (part of the deed to the townhouse), then the Board is likely well within their rights to assign the association-owned parking as they see fit. I will say it is petty of them to move your space after 9 years for no apparent reason and you can certainly petition the Board to give you the space back but they are under no obligation to do so. One of the more common reasons parking lot spaces get reassigned is an increased request for handicapped spaces. While the Board does not have to grant each request, they must make reasonable accommodation when possible. If they decide they have a space, even several units away from yours that they need to reassign, that can lead to many spaces being reassigned. I don’t think that is what happened here from your story but there may be more to it than just showing favoritism to one unit owner over you. Write them a nice letter asking for your old space back and see how they react. All the best!