Landlord wants to tow vehicles

[RJPETE]

What is the name of your state? California

I have been behind on my lease payments, but always come through and bring it current. This has created a hostile relationship between the Landlord and I. I have been at my current location for two years. He now says I am in violation of my lease and wants all my trucks and trailers removed from the facility or he will have them towed. This move on his part caught me by surprise since it has never been an issue. If he is going to insist that I remove my trucks, does he have to do the same to all tenants? By my count there are three others that have trucks. They are not as large as mine, but are trucks. Also if he is correct about my violation, if he has never enforced it for the previoius two years, can he now hold me to it? I feel I am being discriminated against because of my payment history. Any help is appreciated, Thanks.What is the name of your state?

 

[justalayman]

It sounds as you are now being strictly held to your lease because of your payment situation.


Nothing wrong with that. If the LL wants to continue to be lenient with others, it's his choice.

 

[fairlight]

You've been a lucky tenant. It sounds like your luck has run out.

 

[HomeGuru]

I guess you start moving your trucks this weekend.

 

[RJPETE]

From the response I got, I guess my landlord has the right to tow my vehicles. If there are not any laws to protect a tenant in my situation, there should be. By towing my vehicles I cannot operate my business and therefore cannot pay my rent to him. I have another three years on my lease and he is using this as a way to evict me without going through the process. He knows I will have no choice but to leave. And I will still be responsible for his lease payments until a new tenant is found. This is not right, may be legal, but not right. Thanks for the response.

 

[justalayman]

From the response I got, I guess my landlord has the right to tow my vehicles. If there are not any laws to protect a tenant in my situation, there should be. By towing my vehicles I cannot operate my business and therefore cannot pay my rent to him. I have another three years on my lease and he is using this as a way to evict me without going through the process. He knows I will have no choice but to leave. And I will still be responsible for his lease payments until a new tenant is found. This is not right, may be legal, but not right. Thanks for the response.

You just threw a wrench into the gear works.

You didn't state anything about this being a business before.

Are your trucks part of your business/ (apparently so)
Are the storage of business vehicles allowed per your lease?

You need to explain this alot more. Spill the beans, the whole can.

 

[RJPETE]

My landlord has become a thorn in my side. I have three years remaining on my lease and I believe he wants me to leave. My business is run from a 5 acre commercial business park. The nature of my business needs trucks. I have two businesses I run from this facility under the same name. A trucking company and a food distributorship. As for parking commercial vehicles, I can't find anywhere that states I can't park them. What it does say is the spaces directly in front and behind are mine. I have 10,000 sq. ft., so you can imagine how much of the frontage I should command plus the rear. At first I use to park my 48 foot trailer in front of my warehouse. The other tenants complained. At that point the landlord asked if I would not mind parking it at the bottom of the hill. This was fine with me. And that’s where my trucks and trailers have been parked ever since. It meant a small walk rather than having them next to my warehouse. When he accepted me as a tenant, he knew what type of business I had. He has tried to bully me with the fact I am always late with my payments and fall behind sometimes. I think he has someone interested and is looking for a way to get me out. He continues to accept late payments, rather than starting the eviction process. I guess me packing up and leaving would be easiest for him. I can’t find space for my business elsewhere at this time and if he impounds my trucks, he will have put me out of business. I am having enough trouble keeping up with all my current payments, so to add impound fees, attorney’s fees would cause a hardship. Not to mention loss of business income and cost to relocate.

I continue to feel I am being singled out due to my payment history. If he does follow through with his threats of towing my vehicles, I will seek the advice of a local attorney. All I want from this forum is advice on how best to handle him and maybe some tenant law I am unaware of that I can use in my conversations with him. I have always thought if you don’t enforce your rules you can’t later expect a tenant to abide by them when it suits you. The late payments for example: I pay late and he cashes the check. By his actions of continuing to accept late payments, does it mean he is cooperating with me from a legal point of view? Or does the written date of “due on the first of the month” have a greater influence. I thought the trucks would be the same thing, he has known since day one I have had trucks and trailers on the premises, now he wants them off. The same logic has me worried about moving my trucks. If I move them then I agree I was violation and would maybe lose my right to park my trucks on the premises. He has given me until this coming Thursday to remove my trucks. I don’t want to move them just to appease him. That’s basically the story to date. Any bit of advice would be appreciated. Thanks to all who respond, in favor or against me.

 

[PghREA]

He has tried to bully me with the fact I am always late with my payments and fall behind sometimes.

Being consistently late would tick me off too.

I have always thought if you don’t enforce your rules you can’t later expect a tenant to abide by them when it suits you. The late payments for example: I pay late and he cashes the check. By his actions of continuing to accept late payments, does it mean he is cooperating with me from a legal point of view? Or does the written date of “due on the first of the month” have a greater influence

If your rent is due on the 1st of the month - that's when it is due. Accepting late payments is the landlord's way of being nice to you. Believe me, there comes a point in time that late payments are no longer acceptable.

 

[ecmst12]

FYI, your landlord is ALLOWED to "discriminate" against you because you don't pay your rent on time. As long as he's not violating your lease, he can be as strict as he wants. It's not like "people who make late payments" is a protected minority group. If you were a tenant in good standing, then he'd be inclined to be lenient. Since you have caused him many problems with your constant late payments, he doesn't want to be nice anymore. Maybe if you promise to pay on time from now on, AND STICK TO IT, he might be willing to continue to be nice, but of course he might not belive you either.

 

[justalayman]

although everybody that chastized you for being late with your rent are justified in those statements, it does not allow the LL to violate any lease agreement you may have.

Due to it being a commercial concern and the specific statements and wording of those statements is critical, I would recommend you speak with an attorney asap.


The fact this is part of your business, I suspect you have a right to have your business trucks on the property but I also suspect there is more to the story than you care to post here.

 

[RJPETE]

I am going to speak with an attorney just out of curiosity what my rights are in this situation. I have decided over this weekend I am going to move my trucks to a yard and put my products in public cold storage. It will be tougher to do business, but will save me alot of money. Thanks