To claim for an undersized parking space, the first step is to verify whether the space falls short of the minimum urban planning dimensions, or whether it is suitable for the use it was given. A parking space is not merely a place to leave a car, but enough room to park comfortably, without cumbersome back-and-forth manoeuvres, together with adequate access to it.
Thus Law 38/1999 of 5 November 1999 on Building Regulation (LOE), continuing and broadly developing the guarantees in Article 1591 of the Civil Code, extended this functional ruin due to construction defects to cases of functional defects. It does so specifically in Article 17.1 b), which sets the reduced three-year guarantee period for defects that imply a breach of the building’s habitability and functionality requirements, that is, defects that prevent satisfactory use of its elements and installations, rendering them useless for their intended purpose.
To claim against those responsible, an expert report can be provided, or even a professional driver repeating the manoeuvres needed to park a normal-sized vehicle in the space. If you would like to have it checked, contact us.
Dimensions of compliant parking spaces
According to the courts, it matters less whether the parking space complies with the administrative urban planning regulations of the time, since the aim is not to review that legality. From a civil-law point of view, what matters is the suitability of the parking space for its intended purpose, in order to determine whether the seller has satisfactorily performed its obligations under the contract.
Parking spaces below the legal minimum dimensions
Measurements vary depending on the type of space, the municipality where it is located and the age of the town planning regulations. Widths can range from 2.20 metres to 2.50 metres and lengths from 4.50 metres to 5 metres.
Some regulations also allow tolerances for fixed obstacles that intrude into a space, but only permit, for example, a reduction caused by pillars or other obstacles of at least (10%) of the width by at least (20%) of the length of the space.
It all depends on the General Urban Development Plan (Plan General de Ordenación Urbana) or the applicable urban planning regulations. If the measured space already breaches current regulations, that is an important symptom of its inadequacy, but even a space that meets the minimum urban planning requirements can be declared unfit for use by a court.