RETHINKING VISITOR PARKING

Visitor parking is one of the most common pressure points in strata communities. When bays are full, the first assumption is often that the building does not have enough spaces. But in many schemes, the more important question may be whether the existing bays are being used fairly, efficiently and with enough visibility. As more buildings adopt managed visitor parking processes, committees are starting to see that the true demand for visitor bays can be very different from what complaints alone suggest.

When Full Does Not Mean Full

A full visitor car park does not always mean there is genuine visitor demand. In many buildings, visitor bays become the overflow option for residents, second vehicles, contractors, long-stay guests or repeat users. Over time, this can create the perception that the building has a visitor parking shortage, when the real issue may be unmanaged access and poor turnover.

One vehicle occupying a visitor bay for several days creates a very different problem from several short-stay visitors using the same bay throughout the week. From a resident’s perspective, both situations may look the same: there are no visitor bays available. But from a management perspective, the causes, and the solutions, are very different.

This is why committees should be careful about relying only on complaints or visual inspections. A car park that looks constantly full may not be serving genuine visitors efficiently.

The Hidden Admin Cost

Visitor parking is often treated as a space allocation issue, but it is also an administrative burden.

Building managers, caretakers, strata managers and committee members can spend significant time dealing with parking-related complaints. Someone needs to check the vehicle, review the building’s rules, speak with residents, issue reminders, escalate repeat behaviour or bring the issue back to the committee.

Over a year, those small interruptions can become a major drain on building management time. The cost is not only frustration. It is the time spent handling emails, investigating disputes, preparing notices and revisiting the same issue at committee meetings.

Why Data Matters

Good parking decisions need more than opinion.

Managed visitor parking records can help committees understand how bays are actually being used. Useful information may include peak usage times, average length of stay, repeat vehicle activity, booking frequency, occupancy trends, unused capacity and bays with high or low usage.

This type of information helps shift the conversation from emotion to evidence. Instead of asking, ‘Do we have enough visitor bays?’, committees can ask a better question: ‘Are our visitor bays being used fairly, efficiently and for their intended purpose?’

Example Occupancy Data

For example, a managed visitor parking building in Norwest Sydney was reviewed across a six-month period from November 2025 to April 2026. The building had 45 visitor bays and recorded 2,021 parking events. Across that period, average capacity usage was 6.15%, with peak usage reaching 45% once.

This example is not intended to represent every scheme. It simply shows why actual usage data can be more useful than assumptions, visual inspections or complaints when committees are reviewing visitor parking demand.

Figure 1: Example managed visitor parking occupancy from a Norwest Sydney building. Average capacity usage over the six-month period was 6.15% across 45 visitor bays.

Rethinking Bay Allocation

In some strata buildings, managed visitor parking data may show that the building can operate effectively with fewer visitor bays than originally assumed.

That does not mean every building has too many visitor bays. It also does not mean visitor parking requirements should be changed without proper consideration. Every scheme is different, and any change should take into account the building’s size, resident profile, visitor patterns, by-laws, development conditions and relevant approvals.

However, there is a valid industry discussion to be had. If visitor bays are unmanaged, they can appear heavily used because they are being misused or occupied for too long. Once those bays are controlled, booked, monitored and made genuinely available to visitors, the actual level of visitor demand may be much lower than expected.

For some schemes, this can open up better decision-making. Rather than assuming more bays are required, committees may be able to manage existing bays more effectively, introduce clearer rules or stage changes over time based on real usage.

Better Records, Better Decisions

Visitor parking disputes often become difficult because committees are left relying on complaints, assumptions and conflicting accounts of what occurred.

A managed parking process can create a clearer history of parking activity. This may include when a booking was made, which vehicle was authorised, how long the bay was used and whether the same vehicle has been appearing regularly.

Good records do not replace proper process. They also do not remove the need for committees to follow their scheme’s by-laws and seek appropriate advice where required. In Queensland, parking issues in community titles schemes often depend on the scheme’s registered by-laws and the body corporate’s enforcement process. The Queensland Government notes that visitor parking or parking on common property may be regulated by a body corporate, and that enforcement steps may be available where vehicles are parked contrary to the by-laws.

Reliable records can still be extremely useful. They may help schemes respond to complaints more consistently, identify repeat behaviour and resolve issues earlier. Where disputes escalate, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) deals with certain body corporate and community management disputes, so having a clear evidence trail may help reduce stress, confusion and unnecessary cost before matters reach that point.

The practical point is simple: good records can turn parking disputes from emotional arguments into evidence-based discussions.

A Smarter Way Forward

The future of visitor parking is not simply about providing more spaces. It is about understanding how existing spaces are being used.

For many strata communities, the better starting point is visibility. Before assuming a building needs more visitor bays, committees should consider whether the current bays are properly managed, whether genuine visitors can access them, and whether decisions are being made from reliable data.

Managed visitor parking does not just help control vehicles. Used properly, it can help reduce complaints, save administration time, support fairer access and give committees the information they need to make better long-term decisions.

The real question may not be, ‘How many visitor bays do we have?’

It may be: ‘How many visitor bays do we actually need when they are properly managed?’

Useful References

Queensland Government: Parking in a community titles scheme.

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal: Body corporate and community management disputes.

Article Contributed by Nick Christian, Director at Visitor Parking Solutions.