Vehicle Information Required?

Does our Unit Owners Association require that residents provide our Condominium management with information about the vehicles residents authorize to be parked in the garage parking space(s) assigned to the unit the resident lives in? While I am unsure, I don’t think there is such a requirement that is valid and enforceable. There definitely is no such vehicle registration requirement in our condominium instruments. (Our condominium instruments are our Declaration, Bylaws, and plats and plans, all of which are recorded in the Fairfax County Land Records, and which require approval of 2/3 of the unit owners to make any change other than correcting obvious errors.)

But the question of whether any of our Boards of Directors has ever adopted such a vehicle registration requirement that can reasonably be construed as part of our “Rules and Regulations” and thus be valid and enforceable is difficult to answer. I don’t think a Board of Directors has ever duly adopted such a requirement, unless the posted notice itself would be considered part of our Rules and Regulations. (See some of my previous posts on this blog for more information about “Rules and Regulations”.)

I think the Board of Directors should make clear to all of us unit owners whether a Board has or has not duly adopted a requirement to register vehicles with Condominium management. I believe that the Board of Directors should NOT adopt such a vehicle registration requirement. If the Board can demonstrate that a Board of Directors has already adopted such a registration requirement, then I think the Board ought to repeal that vehicle registration requirement. I can give many reasons why I take this position, but I’ll leave that for a future post if that becomes necessary.

Garage Parking

I am concerned about the request in the notice posted in elevator lobbies that we register each vehicle we expect to park in each of our parking spaces with building management.

My view is that building management (and towing companies) should assume that any vehicle parked in my parking space has been authorized by me to be parked there, and that building management should contact me if they believe that vehicle--or someone who entered our building in that vehicle--is somehow not in compliance with our condominium instruments and our "Rules and Regulations". As the owner of the unit to which the space is assigned, I accept responsibility for such compliance.

If I should have a problem with an unauthorized vehicle parked in my space, building management should be available to guide me in getting the unauthorized vehicle removed from my space. But otherwise, please assume I authorized any vehicle parked in my space to be there. I don't see why there should be any requirement that unit owners in this situation must register vehicles with building management.

On the other hand, if there are unit owners who want management assistance in checking for unauthorized vehicles parking in spaces assigned to their unit, that is fine with me. Just please don't give the rest of us "assistance" we don't want and don't want to pay for in our condominium assessments.