Real estate Q&A: Should HOA pay for off-site parking during structural repairs?

Gary M. Singer, South Florida Sun Sentinel on May 29, 2025

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Q: We live in a 20-story condominium where every unit has one assigned spot in the garage, and we all share a large upper parking deck. Last year, the upper parking deck was deemed unsafe, resulting in the installation of shoring poles in the garage below, which blocked some assigned parking spots. The people whose spots were blocked, along with everyone who parked on the deck, have to park in the public lot next door. While our association is paying for the parking expense for the assigned spots that are blocked, everyone who used to park on the deck has had to cover the cost. Given that the parking deck is a common element, shouldn’t the association cover all off-site parking costs and reimburse those already paid? — Paul

A: Each association is governed and controlled by its formative documents, such as the condominium declaration, which must be reviewed to determine precisely what the association’s responsibilities are in a particular community. Similarly, since each community is different both in location and structure, what is reasonable in each situation must be taken into account.

That said, generally speaking, a parking deck is a common element of your community, and your association must act reasonably and in good faith when managing common elements and addressing related expenses. This means it must repair and maintain the common element, and is responsible for covering related expenses associated with providing and maintaining it.

This responsibility arises from the association’s duty to maintain, repair, and replace common elements of the property. For the same reason, the association should also reimburse residents for parking expenses incurred since the parking deck became unusable.

Of course, acting reasonably depends on the situation, so your community only needs to provide for a similar amount of parking, which can be further limited by, for example, what is locally available.

Because you and your neighbors fund both the repairs and the additional parking, your association may need to raise your dues, or even pass a special assessment to cover the additional expense.

It is essential to remember that all owners share community expenses; therefore, your board is understandably trying to keep expenses to a minimum. Still, the board needs to do what it must to maintain your community, even if it means that everyone will pay more each month.