Reserved, but not protected: Are parking spaces for the disabled serving their purpose in Serbia?

In new residential and commercial developments in Serbia, developers are required to provide parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities. But what happens to these spaces once construction is complete? Can they be sold? Who can buy them, and will they be used by those in actual need? – questions that underscore the deeper issue of Serbia’s commitment to making space for those who need it most.

What the law says and doesn’t say 

According to Serbian technical regulations, at least 5% of parking spaces in new buildings must be designated for use by people with disabilities. These spaces must be wider, easily accessible and located close to entrances. The law, however, stops there.

There is no requirement that these spaces be sold only to people with disabilities. Nor does the law oblige the developer or notary to check that the buyer belongs to the category of people who actually need such a space. Even if a parking space is clearly marked for disabled people, it can be – and often is – registered and sold as regular garage space. These spaces are usually priced higher because of their size and convenient location.

Use and misuse

In practice, these larger, better-located spaces are often used by owners of oversized or luxury vehicles rather than by people with disabilities. Once sold and registered, the space becomes private property, and the building management has no power to reallocate it – even if someone with a real need lives in the building.

There are no post-construction inspections, no oversight of how these spaces are used, and no institution to deal with misuse. There are no sanctions if a disabled-marked space is used by someone who does not need it since the transaction was legal and the space privately owned.

This reflects a deeper dilemma. The intention of the regulation is to ensure access, but ownership rights in Serbian law leaves little room to enforce this goal once the space has been sold.

What begins as a measure of inclusion often ends up as a matter of comfort or profit.

Lessons from other countries

Across the west Balkans, regulations generally require developers to include a percentage of accessible parking spaces in residential buildings, but enforcement is limited and ownership rules remain unclear. 

In Croatia, regulations require that at least 5% of parking spaces (with a minimum of one) in any new residential building be designed and designated for persons with disabilities. Property owners are legally obliged to maintain those marked accessible spaces after construction and ensure they remain designated for disabled use. Although non-compliance can incur fines, enforcement in practice is weak, and there is no explicit legal ban on selling a “disabled” parking space to a buyer without a disability, as long as its official markings and intended use are preserved.

Montenegro and North Macedonia impose similar obligations, but post-construction oversight is limited, and accessible spaces remain vulnerable to misuse.

In Slovenia, accessible parking spaces in residential buildings are often part of the common property managed by the homeowners’ association, which may allocate them based on residents’ needs – typically prioritising people with disabilities when such rules are in place.

At the EU level, there is no mandatory requirement for accessible parking to be held in shared ownership, although many cities follow this model in practice. 

In contrast, US federal law requires accessible parking in residential developments (e.g. multifamily housing) and authorises enforcement even on private property. Unauthorised use is penalised with heavy fines or vehicle removal, and building owners can be held legally responsible.

What can be done in Serbia?

To ensure that disabled parking spaces in residential buildings are used for their intended purpose, several practical steps may be considered:

• Ensure that a certain number of disabled parking spaces remain in common ownership, outside of private sale: Regulations could require that a certain number of accessible parking spaces remain in common ownership of the residential community, reserved for people with disabilities.
• Mark disabled parking spaces in the cadastre: A note could be added to the cadastre registry or to the occupancy permit that a specific parking space is designated for use by people with disabilities.
• Introduce post-construction monitoring: Local authorities could be tasked with checking that accessible spaces remain properly marked and available. In cases of misuse, responsibility could fall on either the individual owner or the homeowners’ association.
• Raise awareness among residents and buyers: Public information efforts could highlight the importance of preserving these spaces for those who truly need them as part of a broader understanding of what it means to live in a shared community.
• Raise awareness among developers: Developers could be required, either by regulation or by internal policy, to ensure that accessible parking spaces are not sold before confirming that they are needed by a person with a disability, a practice that demonstrates corporate responsibility, strengthens reputation, and aligns with the social responsibility principles increasingly expected under ESG frameworks. Developers should also be discouraged from treating accessible parking as a high-margin business. These spaces are not intended to generate additional profit, but to uphold the basic principles of inclusion and fairness.

True measure of accessibility

In Serbia, legal requirements for accessibility are often treated as a checklist – something to comply with and then forget. Accessibility, however, is not just about technical standards, but reflects how much space we are willing to make for others in everyday life.

A wheelchair symbol on the ground is not just a formal requirement. It is a signal that someone else might need that space more than we do.

For more information on construction and real estate regulations in Serbia, contact your CMS client partner or Ivan Gazdić, Real Estate Partner for Serbia.