Towing without notice.

[qwerty007]

What is the name of your state? PA

Hello, I had a question about towing without notice. I am a student that rents a room in a Condo. Another student also rents another room. The owner does not live there.

This morning both of our cars were towed from in front of our townhouse because they Condo Assoc. had hired landscapers or something.

Apparently they tried to ring the doorbell or get ahold of us in the morning, but upon getting no answer, they had the cars towed.

I was wondering, are they not required to provide written notice of any sort? I do not know much about the condo assoc. as I thought I was just renting a room in a townhouse. I didn't even know it was a condo.

Thanks.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? PA

Hello, I had a question about towing without notice. I am a student that rents a room in a Condo. Another student also rents another room. The owner does not live there.

This morning both of our cars were towed from in front of our townhouse because they Condo Assoc. had hired landscapers or something.

Apparently they tried to ring the doorbell or get ahold of us in the morning, but upon getting no answer, they had the cars towed.

I was wondering, are they not required to provide written notice of any sort? I do not know much about the condo assoc. as I thought I was just renting a room in a townhouse. I didn't even know it was a condo.

Thanks.

**A: the cars were not parked in the appurtenant designated condo unit parking stall correct? The cars were parking in the visitor's parking.

 

[qwerty007]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Both cars were parked in the 2 designated parking spots for each townhouse. They had the cars towed as 'tresspass tows' according to the towing company. Technically we don't own the spots as we only rent the condos but the owner gave us parking permissions with the rent.

The reason I am upset is not for just a towing fee and hassle. It is because they towed our FWD cars by the rear wheel while the gear was in park, mean they essentially dragged our cars away. I'm pretty sure that is going to come back and bite me in terms of brake wear, trans-axle, and of course the parking brake.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[justalayman]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Both cars were parked in the 2 designated parking spots for each townhouse. They had the cars towed as 'tresspass tows' according to the towing company. Technically we don't own the spots as we only rent the condos but the owner gave us parking permissions with the rent.

The reason I am upset is not for just a towing fee and hassle. It is because they towed our FWD cars by the rear wheel while the gear was in park, mean they essentially dragged our cars away. I'm pretty sure that is going to come back and bite me in terms of brake wear, trans-axle, and of course the parking brake.

Thanks for the reply.

Was ther some sort of decal or sticker to ID your car as a tenant's car?

Curious here, was your car parked front in or back in?

 

[HomeGuru]

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Both cars were parked in the 2 designated parking spots for each townhouse. They had the cars towed as 'tresspass tows' according to the towing company. Technically we don't own the spots as we only rent the condos but the owner gave us parking permissions with the rent.

The reason I am upset is not for just a towing fee and hassle. It is because they towed our FWD cars by the rear wheel while the gear was in park, mean they essentially dragged our cars away. I'm pretty sure that is going to come back and bite me in terms of brake wear, trans-axle, and of course the parking brake.

Thanks for the reply.

**A: so what did the towing co. and the management co. tell you?

 

[qwerty007]

Hey,

The car was parked front-end in so they could really only tow by the rear wheels initially, but they could've hooked it back up the other way after pulling it out.

The towing company are the people that told me that they got a call in from the president of the condo. association that there were 2 tresspass tows. I'm not even sure who the management co. here is or where I'd find them. I tried looking on the internet but found nothing. I didn't even know what a condo. association was until yesterday morning.

Before I go knocking on doors, I was just trying to find out if they are allowed to knock on my door in the morning and expect me to move my car without atleast a prior written notice. I talked to our condo owner (the guy we pay rent to), he informed me he had no notice of this either.

Thanks.

Edit:

There are no parking decals, etc.. here. But I've been parked out there since last semester (September) so they knew it wasn't some guest.

 

[justalayman]

Well here is the good new bad news thing

good news they didn't hurt your brakes. they generally lift the rear and drag the front to get the car out far enough to get to the front. the e-brake is on the rear and the fronts are not applied when you don't have your foot on the brake pedal

bad news they did drag your front end

good news if you have not noticed any damage now, there probably is none. There is a thing in your trans called a parjing pawl that locks you tran to prevent rolling. if this was not broken there is probably no other damage.

bad news well, I don't have any to go with that.

Anyway enough with the attempt at levity.

You need to look if there is anything regarding this in your lease. (you are the lease holder correct?)

if there is not then I think the LL owes you the money.

 

[qwerty007]

Yeah, there was no damage (that I'm aware of). It was a Camry & Accord in question, and both of those cars are pretty good with abuse.

I just want to do something to send a message, so this does not happen ever again. But I wanted to be sure they were in the wrong. I've always heard you need 24hrs written notice for this stuff, but never knew if it was a law of any kind.

I also work overnight shifts, so I get to bed about 7AM, so knocking on my door at 8AM isn't going to work for me. I just want to prevent this from happening every couple weeks.

Thanks for the replies. Take care.