Exclusive use of a garden or terrace: what it actually allows

A garden you have exclusive use of does not belong to you. The whole difficulty sits in that sentence.

A ground floor with a garden, a terrace reached from a single flat, a courtyard one unit uses: these are common situations and almost always misunderstood. The occupant believes they own the space; they hold only exclusive use of it.

The distinction is not theoretical: it decides what may be planted, built or altered, and who pays for what. It is one of the subjects that reaches boards most often.

A common area with reserved use

An exclusive use right applies to a common area: the ground remains the property of all owners, but its use is reserved to one unit. The right attaches to the unit, not the person: it passes on with a sale.

• It usually appears in the building rules, or results from a meeting decision.
• It may be permanent or granted for a fixed period.
• It may carry a financial consideration payable to the association.
• It is not a sale: the area still counts as common and creates no additional shares.

That last point triggers the most debate at meetings: see how ownership shares work.

What the occupant may do

In practice, everything falling under use and routine upkeep: maintaining, mowing, planting as the rules allow, placing unfixed garden furniture and movable planters.

These have one thing in common: they are reversible and alter neither the ground, the structure, nor the building’s external appearance.

What requires the meeting’s approval

• Pouring a concrete terrace, laying tiles or permanently changing the ground surface.
• Erecting a shed, a conservatory, a fixed pergola or any permanent structure.
• Installing a fence, wall or screening hedge where there was none.
• Cutting through a façade wall to create direct access from the flat.
• Felling a tree, including one planted within the exclusive-use area.

These affect a common area and follow the same regime as works affecting common areas. A structure built without approval may have to be removed, even years later.

Who pays for upkeep

The second source of conflict. Routine upkeep — mowing, pruning, cleanliness — generally falls to the beneficiary, who has exclusive use. Structural matters remain with the association.

The classic case is a terrace: the occupant maintains the surface, but the waterproofing protecting the flat below stays a common area. A defect there falls to the association — see damp and ingress and balconies and railings.

What the board should check

Three points prevent most disputes: is the right established by a written document, and which one? Do the installations match what was approved? Are upkeep obligations met, in particular pruning and drainage?

These belong in the annual walk-through, with dated photographs. A structure spotted in its first year is far easier to regularise.

Exclusive use grants the use of the ground, never its ownership: which is why whatever is built on it belongs to the meeting.

Document approvals with CoproHarmony

CoproHarmony records installation requests, meeting decisions and before-and-after photos, unit by unit, so you can find later what was approved and on what terms. Create your free space.