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"Junk" vehicles on private property question

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wamydia

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? OH

Hi everyone.
I have been having some problems with the city I live in regarding vehicles on my property. As things stand, I have 7 vehicles. Six of them are parked in my driveway and one on the street. All of my vehicles are licensed and, as I have told the city many times, all of them are operable. Three of these cars are less than 5 years old, have bright shiny paint and are regularly driven. Two of them are older cars with some very minor body problems (a few rust spots) and start with minimal problem. Two of these cars are quite old and do have some significant rust on the bodies and a few mechanical problems that make it difficult to start them, however they do start. Furthermore, both of these last vehicles are covered with tarps and are properly licensed as historical vehicles in Ohio.

For the last month or so I have been getting increasingly nasty communications from the city telling me that I must "get rid of the cars in my driveway." I received a phone call from the police department in which they demanded I "get rid of them" even after I explained that they were all licensed and functional. I then requested that the city at least send me a letter stating which vehicles they felt were in violation of which ordinance. Three weeks later I received a certified letter in the mail. The first paragraph of this letter states "This letter is in reference to the vehicles parked in your driveway. These vehicles appear to be inoperable. It is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code to have "Junk Motor Vehicles" parked on your property." The letter then goes on to quote sections 4513.65 and 4513.63 of the Ohio Revised Code and then inform me that I must make an appointment to "prove" that my vehicles are running.

So, after that long-winded explanation. My questions are as follows. First, can the city simply come on to my property and tow away my vehicles without my permission without first obtaining a court order? If so, how do I fight this? If the city demands that I drive all of the vehicles down to the city building (as they have in the past), am I required to do this to "prove" that my vehicles are running? I ask because I am not insured to drive them all (not all of them are mine) and I don't currently have the keys to two of them and am unable to get them until my brother gets out of jail. Since two of my cars are licensed historical vehicles, am I correct in saying that the city can do absolutely nothing about them, even if I were unable to get them to start without my brother's help? Can the city actually fine me for junk vehicles without giving me due process through the courts? And last, shouldn't they be required to inform me, at least by a basic description, which cars they are accusing me of keeping as "junk" vehicles? At this point, all I've gotten from the city are demands that I "get those cars out of my driveway" with no specifics about which cars are the problem and why they claim they qualify as junk.

Thank everyone who took the time to read this extremely long post and especially everyone who can give me any advice at all. I feel a little like the city is trying to bully us (my family has had problems with them off an on for years) and I'm just not sure what they can really legally do and what is just bluster.

Amy
 



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