W.C. from Florida writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Recently, my Florida Condo Association changed one of the handicapped spaces to a “Visitor Handicap” space. They have notified the residents that only handicapped visitors are allowed to park in that spot; handicapped owners can not. The community has more handicapped spaces than are required. As an owner, can they prohibit me from parking in that “Visitor Handicap” space?
Mister Condo replies:
W.C., while I cannot imagine why your condo Board decided to convert the space from general handicapped to visitor’s handicapped parking, they are most likely completely within their rights to do so. The common parking areas are owned by the association and their use is governed by the Board. As long as they followed the proper procedure as outline in your governance documents for changing the parking designation, they are well within their rights to do so and enforce the parking rule. If I were you, I would ask them to consider transitioning the space back to general handicapped use but understand they are under no obligation to do so. Good luck!
Our community had to do this because an owner had three cars (only two allowed) and used the visitor handicapped space to park his 3rd car. He was monopolizing the only handicapped space at this end of the property too. Rules usually come from people being bad neighbors.