Short answer
A strata committee generally can’t just call a tow truck to remove a car from visitor parking or other common property — doing so without following the correct process can expose the committee to legal liability for interfering with someone’s property. The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW), together with its Regulation, sets out a notice process for dealing with vehicles left on common property, with a limited exception where a vehicle blocks access or creates a safety hazard. Committees should follow that process rather than towing on impulse.
Why you can’t just tow it
A vehicle is someone’s property, even when it’s parked where it shouldn’t be. Arranging for it to be towed away without authority can be treated as unlawful interference with that property, which is why NSW law channels this through a defined procedure instead of leaving it to a committee’s discretion. The safe assumption is: notice first, removal only through the proper channel, and immediate action reserved for genuine safety or access emergencies.
The lawful process, in outline
The Act and the Strata Schemes Management Regulation set out how to deal with abandoned or unauthorised vehicles on common property. In broad terms:
- Give notice on the vehicle first. The committee places a formal notice on the vehicle requiring it to be moved, and must allow the notice period set by the Regulation before going further. That period is a specific number of days fixed by the Regulation — confirm the current figure before you act rather than relying on a remembered number.
- Then seek an order. If the vehicle isn’t moved within the required period, the owners corporation can pursue removal or disposal through the proper channel, which may include an application to NCAT depending on the circumstances.
- Safety exception. If a vehicle is blocking a fire exit, obstructing access, or creating an immediate hazard, the committee generally has scope to move it to clear the danger without waiting out the full notice period — but that’s about removing the hazard, not towing it off-site, which still needs the proper process.
Because the exact notice period and steps sit in the Regulation and can change, verify the current requirements before starting, and take advice for anything beyond a straightforward move-on notice.
Handling problem parking as a self-managed committee
A self-managed committee deals with visitor-parking and abandoned-vehicle problems itself — the notice, the timing, and the follow-up. Straita helps a committee run it correctly: logging the vehicle and when it appeared, tracking the notice and the required waiting period, and keeping the record of what the committee did — so if it ever escalates to NCAT, the process is documented and defensible.
Primary sources
- Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) — goods and vehicles left on common property, and the notice process.
- NSW Government — Strata schemes (Fair Trading) — parking and common property.
- NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) — orders to remove or dispose of vehicles on common property.