Garages & Carports — Who's Responsible?

Townhouse schemes almost always have individual garages or carports — one per lot, attached to or next to each townhouse. The structure itself (walls, roof, posts) is usually common property. Internal finishes, fittings and your personal stuff are lot. The garage door is usually common property, but the motor is sometimes treated as a fitting. Strata plans vary.

What we're talking about

Garages and carports in a townhouse scheme generally cover:

• The structural walls and roof of the garage
• The concrete floor or slab
• The garage door and its frame
• The garage door motor and remote
• Internal lighting and power points
• Storage shelves, racks and personal storage
• Carports (open structures with a roof and posts)

Typical position

Grey areas and common disputes

Floor cracking and slab issues

If your garage slab cracks or moves, the cause matters:

• Subsidence, soil movement, building settlement — common property issue, OC's responsibility
• Concrete cancer in older slabs — common property, OC
• Heavy point loads (hoist, workshop equipment) you installed — likely owner-caused, your responsibility
• Hydraulic oil or chemical damage from your activity — your responsibility

Garage door motor

This deserves its own mention. In many townhouse schemes, the garage door itself is common property but the motor that drives it is treated as a fitting and is the owner's responsibility. In others, the motor is OC because it's wired to the garage's electrical supply and considered part of the door system. The strata manager can confirm which applies in your scheme — confirm before paying for a replacement.

Storage and modifications

Owners often want to add:

• Shelving racks, wall hooks, pegboards
• Workshop benches
• Lined or insulated walls (e.g. converting part of a garage to a hobby room)
• Floor coatings (epoxy)
• Mezzanine storage platforms

Most of these affect common property to some degree (walls, slab, ceiling). Minor cosmetic additions (shelving, pegboards) are rarely an issue. Significant additions — particularly insulating, lining, or building a mezzanine — should be approved by the OC and, for anything substantial, registered as a by-law.

Carports vs garages

Carports are typically open structures with a roof and posts only. They're common property in their entirety. Owners don't typically modify them, though some schemes have approved enclosing them with later additions (which then need by-laws to be valid).

Using the garage as a workshop, gym or storage

How you use your garage is generally up to you, within reason. The OC can step in if:

• Activity is creating noise that disturbs neighbours
• Storage is creating fire risk or attracting pests
• You're running a business that affects others (depending on by-laws)
• Modifications have affected common property without approval