In buildings with visitor parking spaces, the situation is worse, as these spaces are even used as a mechanism for corruption, with some owners illegally appropriating them.
SANTO DOMINGO – Have you ever come home to find your parking space occupied? Or perhaps you've arrived home tired from work and had to wait for your neighbor to "patiently" vacate it?
This is a reality in most buildings of this era. Nor should you be surprised by the cunning neighbor who lies in wait, even for others to leave, to usurp any empty space. The lack of parking creates a dynamic of tense relationships in many residential complexes, which has sometimes erupted into violence.
In November 2011, in a residential area of Ensanche Piantini, businessman Guillermo Moncada Aybar was murdered with ten gunshots, in an argument over the occupation of a parking space.
Most of the projects being built today only include one or two parking spaces, while the average number of cars in a current family ranges between 3 and 4 vehicles, generating a deficit of up to two spaces per home.
This situation becomes a daily cause of arguments, disputes and difficulties that disrupt the coexistence of the condominium owners, in the face of practices that sometimes border on abuse.
Condominium Law 5038 was created to guarantee standards of coexistence in residential complexes, defining private and common areas. In the case of parking spaces, it refers to them as private areas, meaning they correspond to each assigned apartment.
“The responsibility of the construction company in relation to the parking spaces is the same as that of the property because it is part of the same; we never deliver without the allocation of the parking space, as long as it is stipulated in the contract as such,” explains engineer David de la Cruz, president of De la Cruz Félix Construction, Real Estate and Service.
In buildings with visitor parking, the situation is even worse, as it's used as a tool for corruption, with some buyers illegally appropriating these spaces. In some cases, they take advantage of other owners who only find out through the signage.
“The fact is that we just found out that one of the visitor parking spaces was assigned to one of the neighbors, in collusion with members of the Neighborhood Council, who instead of guaranteeing order in the condominium, lends themselves to shameful and criminal acts like these,” said a source who wishes to remain anonymous, referring to a case in his building.
The criteria used by the developers is that the parking spaces furthest from the entrance door are designated for the first and second level apartments, and those closer correspond to the higher floors; where there are elevators, they are distributed in the way that the developer sees fit.
“The projects with visitor parking are managed by the condominium, but no one is assigned a private space because it is part of the common areas. No one can make any decision about it without the proper authorization of the other owners; in fact, an assembly must be called for that purpose,” explained De la Cruz.
Designer Yermys Peña, CEO and Partner of Construger architects and engineers, understands that the main reason why projects do not include more parking spaces is the cost, since many times for a project to have more parking spaces it would have to add another underground one, which does not support the profitability numbers.
She points out the size of the parking spaces as a deficiency, which in her opinion should be two meters eighty wide. Currently, they are only 2.35 or 2.40 meters wide and five meters long. “Parking in a shopping center is not the same as parking in a residential complex. Ideally, they shouldn't be on ramps because you arrive with children, groceries, your pet, and you don't know how you're going to get out. Some apartment complexes offer to expand your parking space, but the price per square meter is extremely high,” the executive explains.
The existence of multiple vehicles is attributed to the deficiency of public transport, which leads many families to acquire up to five vehicles.
