Lessees' rights to use/park in common courtyard?

[jmcqup]

Hello. We are leaseholders in a purpose-built building comprising of 10 flats and commercial spaces along the bottom. There is a common area out back with 5 small garages and 6 parking spaces. We do not own the garage and are not allowed to park in the court yard. While the sign “Private Parking Reserved for X Building” at the entry to the courtyard indicates that parking in the common area is reserved for our building, the parking spots are specifically marked for neighboring businesses; only one space indicates that it is reserved for one of the flats.

Recently we received a bill to pay for resurfacing the courtyard – in effect the parking area, though we are not able to park there! On reading the lease, we pay 1/20 of the fees including for maintenance of the court yard out the back. It seems to us that we are subsidizing the rental of parking spaces, while not being able to benefit. Should we be paying for surfacing the car park when we do not benefit?

Ideally we would like be able to park in the courtyard. But either way, do we have any recourse to refuse to pay for the resurfacing charges and/or to claim our right to park in the court yard?

With thanks

-james & shirley

[Poppy]

Thank you for explaining your situation concisely and clearly.

Always rely on the terms of the lease - which you signed. You have stated that the lease says that you must contribute 1/20 of the cost. That is what you must do.

I am sure you are reasonable and logical people and don't come under the category of people in ground floor flats who complain about contributing to the cost of roof repairs...

[jmcqup]

Thanks for the clear response, but at the risk of sounding unreasonable and illogical...

It still seems to me that if the common area is 'common' it would not be rented out by someone (presummably the landlord) with a charge to me for the upkeep. Again, there is no objection to paying as per terms of the lease, the objection is lack of equal access / use of the parking space in the common area.

Putting this perhaps another way, is it legal for a landlord to rent out common space? How would one check what defines the common space? This is not so clear in the lease.

with thanks and regards

-james