Getting behind the wheel of her brand-new, spotless Dacia Sandero, flashing her access card to the reader—and hearing a sharp clunk against the metal. In many buildings erected years ago, this scene has become increasingly common: cars have grown, but the parking spaces and garage doors have not, and the extra centimeters sometimes end up in court.
That is exactly what happened to a Spanish homeowner with a parking space in Basauri, near Bilbao. Her space sits directly behind the large swing-up garage door of the condo. For years, with a compact car, everything went smoothly. Then she replaced her old model with a Dacia Sandero… and the door began striking the car at each maneuver, until the matter reached the courts to decide where the condo’s rights end and the vehicle-choice responsibility begins.
When the garage door hits the Dacia Sandero: the condominium association digs in
The configuration of this underground parking is unusual. The owner’s space is immediately after the access door, a large swing-up door that, as it opens and closes, passes above the spot. With her former small vehicle, there was enough headroom—the door simply cleared the car. Since the arrival of the Dacia Sandero, the metal panel now collides with the car on its opening and closing path.
Having noticed the repeated contacts, the owner asked the neighbor community to replace the swing door with an alternative model, a roller-type door that would no longer encroach on her space. The estimate ran around €4,500 (about $4,800), i.e., roughly €200 per unit. She argued that “it should cost around 4,500 euros,” according to Xataka Home. The issue was taken to a vote in accordance with the Spanish Horizontal Property Law (Horizontal Property Law), which treats such a replacement as an improvement that must be approved by a majority, under Article 17.4. During the vote, the proposal received no votes in favor. The community contended that the space remained usable and that the problem stemmed more from an ill-suited car choice than from the space itself.
What the court decided on this garage door and the Dacia Sandero
Facing this outright denial, the owner brought the case to the Juzgado de Primera Instancia No. 10 de Bilbao. She argued that changing the door fell under normal maintenance, thus a mandatory community improvement, and challenged the configuration that allowed the door to travel through the air space above her space. The community countered that it was simply a comfort improvement and that the space continued to serve its parking function.
The trial court rejected her claim. Judges held that the space bore an easement created at the outset by the developer when the facilities were converted into parking. This visible and intermittent easement consisted of enabling the door to pass through the air space above this parking space. The owner appealed, contending that an easement cannot exist without two distinct properties—one dominant and the other servient—and reiterating that replacing a door is a routine maintenance task.
On appeal, the Vizcaya Provincial Court partially sided with her on the easement issue, but that did not change the outcome. The court rejected the easement-based reasoning and recalled that the access door is a common element to serve the entire condominium association. The space must tolerate the door “flying” above it, because this passage is necessary for the installation to function—opening and closing the garage for all users.
The judges also refused to treat the door replacement as mere maintenance. They found that the current door works and that replacing it does not meet the criteria for mandatory repair. They stressed that the decision to switch to a larger vehicle, such as the Dacia Sandero, is not the responsibility of the community. The owner’s appeal was rejected, and she must bear the consequences of her car choice in a garage that has not moved an inch.
