Short answer
Yes. A scheme can make by-laws about parking — covering the use of visitor parking, unauthorised vehicles on common property, and the use of common-property parking areas generally. Like any by-law, a parking by-law must be reasonable and is made by special resolution and registered. What a scheme cannot do is enforce it by self-help that breaks other laws — towing, in particular, has to follow the correct legal process.
What a parking by-law can cover
Parking is one of the most common sources of strata friction, so many schemes adopt by-laws about it: who may use visitor spaces and for how long, how to deal with vehicles parked on common property without authority, and rules for using shared parking areas and driveways. A by-law can also work alongside a common property rights by-law that grants a particular lot exclusive use of a specific space. (See what is a common property rights by-law.)
The limit: enforcement has to be lawful
Making a parking by-law is straightforward; enforcing it is where schemes get into trouble. A by-law cannot authorise conduct that other laws prohibit — a scheme cannot simply tow, clamp or block a vehicle because it is convenient. Removing a vehicle from common property engages separate legal requirements (including signage and process rules), and getting that wrong can expose the owners corporation to liability. The safer path is usually a notice-to-comply process rather than physical self-help.
How the by-law is made
A parking by-law follows the standard route: a special resolution of the owners corporation at a general meeting, then registration with NSW Land Registry Services before it takes effect. (See how to make or change a by-law.) Drafting it clearly — exactly which spaces, which vehicles, what time limits — is what makes it enforceable when a dispute arises.
Turning parking rules into something you can act on
The parking by-law that fails is the vague one nobody can point to when a car is in the wrong spot. A system such as Straita keeps a self-managed scheme’s registered parking by-laws visible to residents and gives the committee a clean notice-to-comply and record trail, so a parking dispute is handled by a rule everyone can see and a process that holds up — not a tow-truck decision made in frustration.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — by-law-making power, the reasonableness limit, and by-law changes by special resolution (s 141).
- NSW Government — Strata by-laws (Fair Trading) — parking and common-property by-laws and enforcement.