Neighbourhood Watch: Good parking space a major selling point

Property developers frequently look for added features that will inc-rease the marketability of their projects. Whether it is a beautiful foyer, a light fitting, or an expensive stone finish, one feature that will always be a good investment, is adequate parking.

In new properties the obligatory numbers of spaces are provided according to regulations, which rarely covers the contingencies of guests with residential property or clients in the case of office space.

Not having enough parking causes great inconvenience, irritation and stress due to time lost as a result of having to search for space.

Whether it is related to office or apartment buildings, retail centres or even villas, there is no question that easy parking facilities are a major selling point. It is high on the list of perquisites for any potential tenant and a deal maker in many instances.

Parking is a problem worldwide and a person will think twice before visiting a friend at a residence, a client at his office, or shopping at a mall, if parking is going to be a problem.

In addition to the actual size of the parking spaces, consideration must be given to access as well. There are regulations to which owners obviously must adhere, however when looking at the marketability of a project, a plan exceeding more than these requirements is certainly worth studying.

One consideration is to the kind of vehicles owned by many of the tenants. Four-wheel drives are abundant but often the allotted parking spaces allow for only smaller cars. This is frequently due to the constraints of pillars and other structures in the basements of many buildings.

We repeatedly receive complaints from tenants who have scraped their cars while accessing the parking areas, often due to tight driveways as opposed to poor driving!

It has been suggested that we allocate parking spaces according to the kinds of vehicles owned by the tenants, however this does not provide a solution, as tenants are often transitory.

Lack of parking or limited parking facilities often cause management problems that could be avoided if this issue was considered in the first place. This must be studied in the original design and the sacrificing of a given number of apartments may be mandatory as a result.

Allowing for wider accesses as well as adequate parking bays may seem like a waste of space, thereby reducing revenue, but with the continuing supply of rental properties that we are seeing in Dubai, it would be prudent for investors to once again look at the long term, and prepare for some of these inevitable demands.

The gradual turn towards a buyer's market is further proof that extra amenities such as surplus parking will greatly enhance the leasing potential of most properties.