What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
My mother and I have lived in an apartment complex for about 15 years now and as of a few years ago we were given parking permits to hang in the window of our car. You were allowed to register 2 cars per apartment. There are approx 500 apartments here. There also 24 visitors spots scattered throughout the parking lots. No notices were sent out to the apartments explaining any rules or regulations regarding this. Our lease was just renewed November 2010 and no new rules were given with the lease. The first/last time we received any written rules were in 1996 when we moved here. Now with that being said my boyfriend has been coming here for 3 years now to visit me and has stayed over in the past. He has parked wherever he could finding parking, as the parking here is limited even for the tenants. We were always told that if a car is parked here without a permit for a night or so then it wasn't a problem. The management was more concerned with cars staying in the parking lot for a while without a permit. We have had no problems with him parking her for the past 3 years until this past weekend...
Sunday morning we came at 2am from a night out and he parked and came inside. When he left later that day at 2pm his car was not there and we were told by the local police department to try to call a specific towing company to see if the car was there. Sure enough it was and we were told it would be $300 to take the car out of the impound!! The place it was towed was 1 mile from my house. A witness at the apartment complex also informed me that after we came home at 2am she noticed the car being towed 1 hour later at 3am. So we went to the towing place and the guy had to meet us there to give us the car back. They also did not take credit cards, only cash. I asked the guy to explain why it cost so much money to tow the car and he said 365days a year they charge the same amount no matter how long the car is sitting there. He also informed me that he was contracted by our apartment manager to tow any cars parked there without a permit.
I noticed on the bill from the towing place that I was charged $100 to take my car out of the impound so I called there today to find out what that meant. Someone else there informed me that they are closed on the weekends so they charged me $100 for the time it took the person to come and open the gate so my boyfriend could get his car out. I was not informed of that when I initially paid to get the car out. Is that legal? $300 is an astronomical price to pay. I do not live in NYC and even in NYC they charge less than that.
Anyway, I am in dispute right now with the management company about this issue. My boyfriend does not park his car there every night and since all of the 24 visitors parking spaces were taken at 2am when we came home I do not feel that this is fair and just. You mean to tell me if I want to have visitors over, if there are no visitors spaces available then they have to go home? I do not live in a prison and I think this is an outrage. If any one has any advice on what I should do from here or if any of this is even legal please let me know.
Thank you.
My mother and I have lived in an apartment complex for about 15 years now and as of a few years ago we were given parking permits to hang in the window of our car. You were allowed to register 2 cars per apartment. There are approx 500 apartments here. There also 24 visitors spots scattered throughout the parking lots. No notices were sent out to the apartments explaining any rules or regulations regarding this. Our lease was just renewed November 2010 and no new rules were given with the lease. The first/last time we received any written rules were in 1996 when we moved here. Now with that being said my boyfriend has been coming here for 3 years now to visit me and has stayed over in the past. He has parked wherever he could finding parking, as the parking here is limited even for the tenants. We were always told that if a car is parked here without a permit for a night or so then it wasn't a problem. The management was more concerned with cars staying in the parking lot for a while without a permit. We have had no problems with him parking her for the past 3 years until this past weekend...
Sunday morning we came at 2am from a night out and he parked and came inside. When he left later that day at 2pm his car was not there and we were told by the local police department to try to call a specific towing company to see if the car was there. Sure enough it was and we were told it would be $300 to take the car out of the impound!! The place it was towed was 1 mile from my house. A witness at the apartment complex also informed me that after we came home at 2am she noticed the car being towed 1 hour later at 3am. So we went to the towing place and the guy had to meet us there to give us the car back. They also did not take credit cards, only cash. I asked the guy to explain why it cost so much money to tow the car and he said 365days a year they charge the same amount no matter how long the car is sitting there. He also informed me that he was contracted by our apartment manager to tow any cars parked there without a permit.
I noticed on the bill from the towing place that I was charged $100 to take my car out of the impound so I called there today to find out what that meant. Someone else there informed me that they are closed on the weekends so they charged me $100 for the time it took the person to come and open the gate so my boyfriend could get his car out. I was not informed of that when I initially paid to get the car out. Is that legal? $300 is an astronomical price to pay. I do not live in NYC and even in NYC they charge less than that.
Anyway, I am in dispute right now with the management company about this issue. My boyfriend does not park his car there every night and since all of the 24 visitors parking spaces were taken at 2am when we came home I do not feel that this is fair and just. You mean to tell me if I want to have visitors over, if there are no visitors spaces available then they have to go home? I do not live in a prison and I think this is an outrage. If any one has any advice on what I should do from here or if any of this is even legal please let me know.
Thank you.