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unregistered car towed from "private property"

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lilnittany

Guest
The front 16 feet of my neighbor's property, which is a newly paved official driveway is considered easement/public right-of-way property. I had a car parked there (out of state car/unregistered) and it was to be towed to charity later that week.

Less than 48 hours later the car was towed for being an unregistered car. Now technically this is "public right-of-way property/easement", but the owner has and uses it as a paved obvious driveway..... He paved it for pete's sake...... is this legal.

You can't have an unregistered car on a public road, highway or off-street property, (this is in California unincorporated land) but is a paved right-of-way property public enough to tow a car?

Any help would be great, the charity (http://www.21cats.org) really needed the donation much more than the city needed the car.
 


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lilnittany

Guest
Thanks for your reply but the area in question definitely is not meant to be an ingress. The owners has a permit from the county and it has been paved as a driveway. It is the only entrance into the home and by law there has to be at least one entrance to a home. So the area the car was on was a paved driveway, in which a legal permit had to be applied and granted before he could make it a paved driveway, rather than just an egress. The only technicallity though is that even though it is permitted and a paved driveway it is still in the legal 16 ft public right-of-way (why he had to get a permit).

So I guess the first question is even though the are is public right-of-way, the use still reverts (in california law) to the use of the owner of the land. So is the land public highway/off-street parking enough to tow a car from. Or is it a private driveway/private property thus illegal to tow a car from.

If you looked at the property it looks obviously like private property and a newly paved driveway with a stone rail. But the easement does technically cross into his driveway.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
LIL where you live do you know for sure what if any local ordinances say about plates being current even if the vehicle is parked off the street ? In my last home the local govt had a ordinance that defined non running cars as junk and also cars that had expired plates . As well as what they did to get the owners of the land the offending car was parked on to correct it as well was what they would do for failure to comply . so call your county /city govt center and ask them .
 
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lilnittany

Guest
There are all sorts of nuisance ordinances etc in our area but the car was towed due to the following reason and that is all we need to consider:

Ordinance 22651(0): being parked on a highway, public street, or offstreet parking facility with expired plates over 6 months."

It was an operational car, parked on our neighbor's property, with his written permission, there were no complaints about the car, and the car had been there less than 48 hours. Legally the car in no way classifies as being abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, or a nuisance.

The only real question here is that the law says that you can NOT tow an unregistered car from private property. Private property here is private property. They towed it based on the fact that they "thoughtt" it was on public property. Their defense now being that although the area it was parked on was an obvious paved driveway (with permit to pave it) and part of someones property, and an obvious driveway (seemingly private driveway), that technically it could be classified as public right-of-way land. And if on public property with expired plates it can be towed. In our county here is the law "The public doesn't necessary own the right-of-way with fee title but has the access right over it for street purpose. Many properties have their deeds described to the center of the street for this reason. They technically own the land. The street would revert back to the property owners if it was ever vacated and abandoned." For example our deed says that our property has a 10 ft. easement for public utility. So was it legal for them to tow this car, was it really on obvious public property that it made sense to tow it.

The bottom line is, is public right-of-way property technically public or private if it is on someones property.

m
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Ordinance 22651(0): being parked on a highway, public street, or offstreet parking facility with expired plates over 6 months."

theres the answer off street is also private property so if the car had sat farther back and out of view it may not have happened
 
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lilnittany

Guest
Actually I should put the whole ordinance, because off-street parking facility doesn't jive with that.

The car was towed due to a code that says:

1. When a vehicle is found or operated upon a highway, any public lands, or an offstreet parking facility with registration plates expired .... it can be towed.
2. As used in this subdivision, "offstreet parking facility" means any offstreet facility held open for use by public for parking vehicles and includes any publicly owned facilities for offstreet parking.

The car was towed from a piece of private on a paved driveway in which the owner of the parcel got a permit to pave and use the area as a private driveway for his house. The vehicle in no way was towed from anything that jives with "highway, public land, or offstreet parking". He had to get a permit because technically this part of his land (16 feet into it) is public right-of-way.

I need advice as to whether or not it is legal to tow a car from a private property driveway that is technically (if you measure the road etc. etc.) public right-of-way. I see how this is confusing, but is there anyone that can help.

michele
 
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bgram2

Guest
Many old cars, on private property, rights??

I live in a small town in Utah. My father has many old cars (1935-1968) on private property which he has restored since before the city was incorporated. The city recently passed a nuisance ordinance. They deemed the cars a nuisance and threaten to come in and crush them. Does he have the right to keep them? Is his "pursuit of happiness" comming to an end? How do I get help fast?
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
Re: Many old cars, on private property, rights??

bgram2 said:
I live in a small town in Utah. My father has many old cars (1935-1968) on private property which he has restored since before the city was incorporated. The city recently passed a nuisance ordinance. They deemed the cars a nuisance and threaten to come in and crush them. Does he have the right to keep them? Is his "pursuit of happiness" comming to an end? How do I get help fast?
**A: please start your own new thread.
 

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