Managing Common Area Disagreements

A cluster of homes around a central green is problematic.  How are 7-14 households going to actually use this open-space /common area? The owners and occupants may have wildly divergent expectations about acceptable uses and maintenance standards. A central open space isn't an adequate replacement for single family front yards. Yards are private, and legal digests and planning dockets are replete with cases of the unacceptable use yard by a problematic neighbor for such uses as vehicle parking, junk storage, raising chickens, and gardens.

Condos are notorious for co-owner disagreements, characterized by both lawsuits and violent altercations, despite having explicit legally sanctioned governance structures. In a way, it's simpler when the central space is a street, plaza, or park--nobody owns it, and there is an impartial external arbiter for disputes about use. The provision of unsupervised, under-regulated and uncontrolled common areas was one of the blights of the use of the 'Towers in the Park' model for public housing. Anyone who has ever lived in a 'group quarters' situation (such as a dorm) can tell how quickly common areas become dirty, disgusting and damaged through neglect and abuse.