• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

In corporate housing - they towed my cars!!!

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

choinga

Junior Member
I recently relocated from Texas to the Minneapolis, MN area. The company I came to work for put me up for a month in corporate housing (which is essentially an apartment complex that the corp housing company leases a few units here).

I recieved a small packet of information from them upon arrival - emergency numbers, office hours, etc... NOTHING about "Snow Emergencies" and what to do with your vehicle when there is snow.

I had to take a business trip for the better part of the last week and last night there was a lot of snow - about 6". I got back in town this afternoon - and came in through the garage - not the front door (this will be useful in a minute). Long story short - I have 3 cars right now - one of them is in the 1 car garage they have here and the other 2 were parked (legally) on the street in front of my unit. The car moving company wrecked my wife's Volvo so they gave me a rental to use since it was late arriving. Since they didn't drop the Volvo off until late Friday I wasn't able to get it to a repair shop before leaving for my trip on Sunday. So, that's why I have 3 cars.

When I returned this evening, I went out to start my wife's car and see if would even turn over. Thankfully, it did. I did the same with the rental. After getting bags and stuff in this evening, I took a 30 minute trip over to the post office to get mail from my PO BOX. When I returned BOTH of my vehicles were gone.

I called the corp housing company who made some calls then called me back and I told them the entire story. They asked if the apartment complex had 'tagged' them or had a note on either of them. I certainly would have noticed something on my wife's car when I went to start it - and there was nothing there.

She asked if they had left something by the front door. So, I went and looked. Of course, there's a flyer saying it's a snow removal day and went on to outline when they were plowing and that they would tow cars if they were on the street. Obviously, I didn't see that when I came home because I came in through the garage (we never use the front door here).

After looking on the flyer there's a section that says, "Your vehicle must be moved in accordance with the snow removal policy that we sent out back in October".

I HAVE ONLY ONLY BEEN HERE SINCE RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!

No one from the corp housing place, nor anyone from the apartment complex has ever said or given me any information on a "snow removal policy"!!!

What are my rights here? It's $133 per vehicle to get them out of the impound lot where they were towed. Certainly the corp housing company or the complex should have some liability here?

I've got to talk to these people tomorrow or Monday and would really appreciate any information that anyone can give ASAP.

Thanks!
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
you have no recourse . there are signs posted all over the city that spell out its parking rules in winter especially at the edges of the city limits . any one who lives in a winter area knows they need to learn what the rules are for parking in the winter when they park on public streets . the only part you can hope to get reduced is by complaining about being out of town to a traffic desk person in the city office where one can pay tickets in Hennepin county govt center down town , ( unless it was moved ) If you havent you need to get over to impound and get those cars ) . If your LL placed a notice at the front door about the winter parking rules and you didnt use the front door it makes no difference .You got caught and you have just learned a espensive lesson . YOUR LL owes you nothing more . besides being posted on the citys web site and the city having a phone number that offers a recording . the radio and tv media , news papers do mention snow emergency notices when snow emergencys are declared . (612-673-3000 ) is the general number that you can select from a menu to get snow emergency info . I used to live in Mpls for over 20 years only one time did I ever get a ticket for being parked in a snow emergency on a snow emergency route ( blue street sign ) I too missed the anouncement , And I too could have checked the news . I didnt , I was lucky back then they didnt have tow trucks following the ticketing officers and I got my car moved before the tow truck was around .
 

choinga

Junior Member
The city didn't tow the car - the apartment complex did (well, the plowing company that the apt complex contracts called the towers). There are NO signs posted anywhere in the complex regarding snow emergency laws. Like I mentioned previously - the complex sent out a letter to tennants in OCTOBER detailing the snow plowing schedules, etc...

I never saw those - nor did the corporate housing company give me any information on this process.

It's not feasible to think that all the notice that they owe a new resident is to drop off a 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper by your front door the day they are going to start towing cars. I was out of town and I don't even use the front door here so I didn't see the paper until it was too late.

So, it's not like my complex is parked on a major city street or something - it's essentially a private street that the apartment complex handles snow removal, etc...

Thanks for the reply though - anyone else????

I'm probably just going to hammer the relocation people for the company I work for to hammer it out. I found out that it's going to cost me ~$500 to get both cars out of jail. You have got to be kidding me? $250 to tow a car 1/2 mile from here?? What a racket - maybe I should quit my new job and start a towing company up here. :rolleyes:
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
the city of Mpls has very rigid tow truck licensing and is expensive to operate in . If your that serious about towing business open one in the burbs or Exurbs . Most of the burbs are more business friendly than MPLS . HELL Saint Paul is more business friendly than Mpls . ( that is my opinion wich is like that famous body part that we all have in common )
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
Did you know before you went up there that it snows heavily in that area all winter long?

In any event, you were given notice and did not comply.
 

choinga

Junior Member
That is a weak post Judge.

Of course I know that it snows up here - but how the hell am I supposed to comply with any rules when I don't know what they are??? There are no signs, I received no documentation about the policies or procedures until the day of - and even on that piece of paper they reference a detailed policy that was distributed to all residents several months ago, which of course I didn't get because I've only been here for 3 weeks.

Are you telling me that the apartment complex leaving a piece of white paper near my front door the day they are going to start towing cars is notice??

What about when you move into a complex the managers or corporate housing people GIVE YOU THAT INFORMATION BEFOREHAND??

You would think that they would be especially interested in making sure that people that are living there in temp housing that come from out of state would know about these policies?

If my relocation company or the complex doesn't pony up and cover at least some of this in good faith you can rest assured that I'll retain an attorney and we'll see what happens. I can't imagine that I'm the only one carrying any liability here - just not possible. The "Hey you live up north now and it snows and you should know that on specific days after it snows you can only have your car parked on this side of the street or over in the big parking area by the 6500 units at these specific times of the day - or if you can't remember we'll leave a piece of paper out in front of your door the day before but hey, since you don't know about any of these policies - OR, that we'll leave a piece of paper in front of your door to remind you - screw you! You'll just have to chalk it up as a learning experience and fork over $500 to get your cars out of jail."

Someone has to have some better advice than this!!!
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
Someone has to have some better advice than this!!!
Yep, pay the fines and sell the cars.

The complex, your relocation company nor the tow company are at fault. The only person at-fault here is you. You have no legal avenue to recover.
 
S

seniorjudge

Guest
That is a weak post Judge.
Reasons?

Of course I know that it snows up here ...

It snows a lot up there; there are snow route rules and all kinds of rules about snow. If I had moved up there, my car parking would be the first question I would ask.

Are you telling me that the apartment complex leaving a piece of white paper near my front door the day they are going to start towing cars is notice??
Exactly! You got it correct!

Someone has to have some better advice than this!!!
BB's advice is excellent.
 

choinga

Junior Member
When someone moves into an apartment complex and said apartment complex has policies and rules that they regularly inform their tennants of regarding snow removal - that individual certainly has some recourse when they aren't informed of those policies upon move-in. My vehicles were legally parked on the street with no signs indicating these policies.

Sure, it snows a lot up here but being that I've never lived in a place where it snows a lot, I'm not up on all the questions that I need to ask regarding parking.

I can assure you that if I were a regular tennant of this complex, upon move-in the manager would have given me explicit instructions on what to do with my vehicles when it snows. Since I'm only here temporarily, I didn't get the same treatment, and in fact have had no direct contact with the apartment management - just the company that is handling the corporate housing on behalf of my company.

If everyone else gets these specific instructions and is told that in the event of snow make sure that you check your front door because we'll drop off a note letting you know when the snow plows are coming through and I don't get the same information then I certainly believe that I have some recourse there.

As for you judge - the easy answer for you is to say, "it's your fault - quit complaining". That's why your post is weak. You offer up no explanation or divulge any legal reasoning behind your pompous remarks.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
choinga said:
When someone moves into an apartment complex and said apartment complex has policies and rules that they regularly inform their tennants of regarding snow removal - that individual certainly has some recourse when they aren't informed of those policies upon move-in. My vehicles were legally parked on the street with no signs indicating these policies.

Sure, it snows a lot up here but being that I've never lived in a place where it snows a lot, I'm not up on all the questions that I need to ask regarding parking.

I can assure you that if I were a regular tennant of this complex, upon move-in the manager would have given me explicit instructions on what to do with my vehicles when it snows. Since I'm only here temporarily, I didn't get the same treatment, and in fact have had no direct contact with the apartment management - just the company that is handling the corporate housing on behalf of my company.

If everyone else gets these specific instructions and is told that in the event of snow make sure that you check your front door because we'll drop off a note letting you know when the snow plows are coming through and I don't get the same information then I certainly believe that I have some recourse there.

As for you judge - the easy answer for you is to say, "it's your fault - quit complaining". That's why your post is weak. You offer up no explanation or divulge any legal reasoning behind your pompous remarks.
**A: hahaha. Thanks for the laugh.
 

choinga

Junior Member
Hmmm... I didn't know this was the 'wanna be comedian' forum...

For what it's worth - the corporate housing company before I even asked, volunteered to pay for all costs associated with getting my vehicles. This I'm sure is partly good faith on their part, but clearly they recognize that it's impossible for me to abide by rules/procedures that I am unaware of and that the apartment complex is required to distribute to it's tenants. I guess this one comes down to 'common sense', which none of you seem to take into consideration.

I don't know what it is with 'lawyer types', but apparently you all are more interested in making jokes and supplying little or no relevant information in the process.

I especially like the judge's signature line. Apparently, he's pretty adept at belittling and brow beating people and got tired of them coming back at him. Nice work judge!

So much for the 'help' in this forum.
 

choinga

Junior Member
Ah, and after doing a little research it looks like judge is nothing more than a law student (if that).

Get a life dude - no wonder you don't offer any relevant information. Typical lawyer - act like you know what you are doing and offend anyone along the way. You'll be a great lawyer and keep the stereotype alive!! Congrats!!
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top