A non-compliant parking space in a building

What is a non-compliant parking space in a shared building, and what should you check before you buy? Check the dimensions against the parking standard: the minimum height, the standard width, the dimensions required for residential parking and the height of covered parking, and whether anything changes for a private home or for the standard space size in commercial buildings.

If the space does not have the standard size or width, the contractor will usually be liable: the space has to be built to the width standard and meet the minimum width and, where relevant, the height.

What makes a parking space non-compliant

A home inspection (bedek bayit) checks everything, from the window height standard to the standards for sound infrastructure. A parking space in a building can be non-compliant because it does not meet the parking standard for shared buildings or the standard dimensions, such as the minimum height or the standard width.

Not the parking space you expected

Your car has been scraped in the parking space once too often. At first you put it down to someone else's bad driving… but, awkwardly, it happened to you too, and little by little you find yourself parking on the street instead… it's easier. It may well not be you at all but the parking space you received as part of the apartment deal, and yes: you are entitled to compensation!

The parking space is part of the property you bought

The parking space that came with the apartment is not a "perk". It is part of the real estate you bought, so you should insist just as firmly on getting full value for your money. Most of us simply do not know that a binding standard applies to it, and that if you did not get the minimum the law requires, you have been shortchanged and are entitled to compensation.

The contractor has to provide you with a compliant parking space under the Ministry of Transportation's parking design guidelines.

What the standard requires for a parking space

As a home inspection company, Arad explains: if parking in a shared building is part of your apartment purchase, the space you get may be large or small, but the standard sets a minimum area that the contractor must provide once he lists parking as part of what you are paying for.

The minimum dimensions of a parking space are:
Width: at least 2.3 meters where no wall or column bounds the sides of the space.
Length: at least 5 meters.
Height (if the space is covered): at least 2.05 meters.
Where the space lies between walls or columns, the standard requires a width of 2.8 meters.

Keep in mind that when you buy a parking space in a building you are buying not just a "box" but also the access to it. If for any reason the access to your space is unreasonable, or takes maneuvering that could lead a reasonable driver to scrape the car because access is limited, that also counts as a defect.

Who checks for defects like these? In principle anyone can measure their own parking space, especially if it has no unusual structure. But when you bring in a building inspection engineer to inspect your apartment, he also checks the parking space as part of the property, using a laser meter, and his measurements are accurate to the millimeter.

"We don't want to be petty": why 15 cm matters

You have found that your parking space is 2.15 meters wide, just 15 cm short. Is that worth making an issue of? Absolutely! The standard sets minimum dimensions for a parking space, and those minimums are already as tight as they come.

A generous contractor gives more. If even that minimum has been trimmed, your enjoyment of your property suffers: parking accurately becomes much harder, there may be friction with neighbors that sours the atmosphere, your car may get scraped now and then and cost you money, and in the end it may wear on you until you prefer not to move the car, to park on the street, and so on. So which is better?!

Stop, pipe ahead: obstructions in your parking space

"The parking space itself is fine. You checked the width, the length and the height, great. But a building pipe runs through your space. Well, a pipe has to run somewhere, doesn't it?" Not through your parking space!

If a pipe, a column or the like passes through your parking space, you have less room to park, or a problem down the road if you switch to a larger car. For more information, see the slope standard for a shower stall.