WOLOHOJIAN, J.
The parties are neighboring condominium associations in the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline, where parking is at a premium. In 1978, when both condominiums were controlled by the same developers, they entered into a written agreement concerning the shared use and allocation of parking spots on their respective properties. Summarized in broad strokes, they agreed that twenty percent of the spots would be reserved for residents of the plaintiff, the smaller of the two condominium associations (Sewall-Marshal), and eighty percent would be reserved for residents of the defendant, the larger one (131 Sewall),
Background. The judge's findings have not been shown to be clearly erroneous, and we summarize them here. The parties are condominium associations situated on abutting parcels of registered land in Brookline, near Coolidge Corner. Both associations were created in 1978, pursuant to the provisions of G. L. c. 183A, and their master deeds and by-laws were registered with the Norfolk registry district of the Land Court (registry district). With certain exceptions, the organizing documents of both entities mirror each other, which is not surprising given that both properties were developed by the same owners, Roger and Matthew Stern.
Roger and Matthew, along with Jeffrey Stern, constituted the original boards of both condominiums and, pursuant to various enabling provisions in the by-laws,
The agreement was never submitted to registration or otherwise placed in the record at the registry district. Some original unit owners were provided a copy of the agreement with the condominium documents. Although shortly after the agreement was entered into, the by-laws of Sewall-Marshal were amended to reflect that each unit owner would be allocated the use of a parking spot pursuant to the parking agreement, the by-laws of 131 Sewall were not.
There were sixty-two parking spaces between the two condominiums in 1978, and there are now sixty-eight. The majority of these spaces (approximately sixty) are part of 131 Sewall's common area, which includes a parking garage. The remaining spaces are part of Sewall-Marshal's common area, and are all outdoors. 131 Sewall has more units (fifty-one) than Sewall-Marshal (sixteen). At the time the condominiums were created, Brookline zoning ordinances required a minimum of one parking space per condominium unit.
It appears that the parties operated under the parking agreement without incident for close to thirty years. Then, on December 14, 2006, 131 Sewall announced to Sewall-Marshal that, as of February 14, 2007, it would "designate spaces to our own unit owners," and that "[a]s of February 15, 2007, any vehicle that is parked on [131 Sewall's] property without a written agreement for the same ... will be towed at the vehicle owner's expense."
Discussion. 131 Sewall argues that the parking agreement is unenforceable because of various provisions of the Massachusetts condominium statute, G. L. c. 183A (Act), which has been characterized as "essentially an enabling statute."
An easement is a property interest appurtenant to land which allows "one proprietor ... some profit, benefit, or beneficial use, out of, in, or over the estate of another proprietor." Commercial Wharf E. Condominium Assn. v. Waterfront Parking Corp., 407 Mass. 123, 133 (1990), quoting from Ritger v. Parker, 8 Cush. 145, 147 (1851). The parking agreement did not create an easement because it did not create a property interest appurtenant to land. Although the agreement sets the percentage of parking spaces each condominium has the right to use, it does not assign any particular space to one or the other condominium, or to any specific unit owner. There is no specific property benefited or burdened by the agreement; accordingly, the parking agreement did not create an easement.
Nor did the parking agreement alter 131 Sewall's unit owners' percentage interest in the condominium's common areas such that unanimous consent was required under G. L. c. 183A, § 5(b). See Kaplan v. Boudreaux, 410 Mass. 435, 438 (1991). In Kaplan, a condominium's governing body executed an amendment to the condominium's by-laws that allowed one unit owner the exclusive use of an area that had previously been part of the condominium's common area. Id. at 441. The court held that because "other unit owners ... lost all right to use part of the common property, and one unit owner gained the right to use it exclusively" the percentage interests in the condominium's common areas had been altered by the by-law amendment. Id. at 443. The court concluded that the amendment violated G. L. c. 183A, § 5(b), because unanimous consent by the affected unit owners had not been obtained before their interests in the common area were diminished. Id. at 443-444. By contrast, the parking agreement does not grant exclusive use of the condominium's common
Rather than creating an easement or altering interests in the condominiums' common areas, the parking agreement was instead simply an exercise of the boards' powers under G. L. c. 183A, § 10(b) (1), inserted by St. 1963, c. 93, § 1, "[t]o lease, manage, and otherwise deal with ... [the] common areas." See Commercial Wharf E. Condominium Assn., supra at 129 ("In G. L. c. 183A, § 10 [b] [1], the Legislature has proclaimed that the [condominium's governing body], as the owner of the possessory interest in the condominium land, has the power to manage and control that land"). Because the Massachusetts condominium statute does not circumscribe the means by which a board can exercise this power, the boards here were allowed to exercise it in whatever lawful way they saw fit. In this case, the developers did so by including in the by-laws the power to enter into a parking agreement with the abutting condominium, and then signing a contract that pooled and allocated parking spaces located on the common areas. Cf. id. at 129 (prior recorded developer-created easement did not violate § 10[b][1]).
The parking agreement is a valid contract, that is, a bargained-for exchange supported by consideration.
131 Sewall argues that the parking agreement, if a contract, is an unconscionable one. "[U]nconscionability must be determined on a case by case basis, giving particular attention to whether, at
131 Sewall urges us to consider provisions of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) (2008)
Under § 3-105 of the UCIOA, a condominium board (once it is controlled by the unit owners) may terminate contracts and leases made during the period of developer control within two years of the developer ceding control of the board to the unit owners, unless the contract is unconscionable, in which case the unit owner-controlled board may cancel at any time. UCIOA, supra at § 3-105(a), (b). See Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes, supra at § 6.19(3)(d). Here, the agreement was not unconscionable, as we have discussed, and 131 Sewall's board did not seek to terminate the agreement within two years of the developers transferring control of the board to the unit owners.
Section 6.19(3) of the Restatement (Third) of Property: Servitudes, supra, allows the unit owner-controlled board to terminate,
For these reasons, we conclude that the judge did not err in enforcing the parking agreement as a valid contract. The judgment is affirmed. The postjudgment order dated December 31, 2014, is also affirmed.
So ordered.