Malaga court convicts woman of invading neighbour's space to park Porsche Cayenne, Jeep Cherokee and motorbike

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The defendant, who would also leave a metre between her vehicles in order to be able to get out, justified her attitude on the grounds that her parking space was smaller than it should have been

Susana Zamora

Tuesday, 24 February 2026, 14:58

The provincial court of Malaga has settled a conflict between two neighbours that began in a communal car park. The court has upheld in full the decision handed down at first instance and convicted the owner of three vehicles of invading her neighbour's parking space.

The court proceedings started when a man launched a complaint, stating that his neighbour - the owner of a Porsche Cayenne, a Jeep Cherokee and a motorbike - was regularly invading the common area outside the lines that delimited her parking space. By doing this, the complainant stated, she was making it difficult for him to manoeuvre in and out of it.

The court of first instance ruled in favour of the complainant in December 2022 and ordered the defendant to "immediately cease" the invasion of the common area. It also ordered her to pay the costs of the proceedings.

The defendant appealed the decision to the provincial court. Her main argument was that the judge of first instance had made an error in assessing the evidence. According to her, her parking space had to be 1.32 square metres bigger as per the property registry. This, she said, explained why she needed to use more space that did not belong to her, the loss of which did not prevent the plaintiff from manoeuvring.

The provincial court's ruling

The provincial court upheld the court of first instance's ruling, stating that the defendant herself had admitted to occupying communal space. Acording to the court, even if her space were smaller than registered, that would not give her the right to use shared areas.

The ruling declares the use of communal space by everybody using the car park more important than one resident's space. The court agreed with the report presented by the complainant, which showed how parking positions affected manoeuvring and normal use of his space.

In addition, the defendant would leave space between her vehicles to be able to open the door, which further encroached on her neighbour's space.

According to the ruling, all of these repeated actions were disruptive to the coexistence in the communal car park. The provincial court ordered the defendant to pay the costs of the second phase of the proceedings.