Help, Laws about removing my car from 'private' property

[djrocketodd]

Recently I was staying at my girlfriends condo and my vehicle was towed from their visitor parking lot in Airdrie Alberta. I had parked there Friday night from about 8:00pm, then the following morning moved my car into her private spot as we left for the weekend. On Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm I moved my vehicle back to the visitor lot. All the signs say visitor parking only, and do not list a time frame of how long you can park there. Monday morning at 9:00am I noticed my car gone. It had only been sitting for 18 hours at one time.

Can I get back the money I will have to shell out to get it out of impound?
Is there legislation to charge the condo board with unlawful removal? (a police man said they probably towed under section 77 which mainly protects driveways etc, my car was parked perfectly in a visitor stall)
What besides BBB is there to file complaints with?

Thanks

[bubbley]

No point, you will most likely have to get a lawyer involved if you wanted to pursue this issue..just pay, get your car and move on.

[2002civic]

condo boards control anything and everything so good luck, any fight will make it hell for your g/f in the future....

[w_man]

This might have been in and around my building in Airdrie .. I'm assuming the POV condos?

My dad recently got towed as well ... He has been parking in a certain area for a while and recently they changed the signs and rented out some of the visitor parking. My bad for not reminding him but he ended up parking in someone's spot and got towed within a span of 3 hours.

Nothing really you can do .. as mentioned above, you'll have to get a lawyer involved and go through some headache trying to fight the board.

If it is infact the same buildings .. I do know that the condo board is getting very anal about visitor parking and have memos/signs on every door. If they see you parked in a paid spot and then see the same car parked in visitors, they will assume that you either live there are there for long term, trying to jack a visitor parking spot. It'll be a tough one for you to fight IMO.

GL.

[dannie]

The condo will have a set of bylaws that must be followed. My guess if that if you read them or your gf reads them, you will find guidelines for parking in the visitors spots. The only way to get your cash back would be to read the bylaws, see if you were or werent in violation of them and if you werent, have your gf contact her condo management co and see what the steps are from there. Each board deals with that sort of thing a little differently.

[dexlargo]

I think that there might be an argument if the signage was insufficient to give him notice that he couldn't park where he did.

As for the bylaws: He's not a condo owner, so how could he be aware of them? Unless they're posted conspicuously I don't think they can be enforced against him.

Anyway, it may be worth contacting the condo board to present your reasons and see if they'll voluntarily reimburse you, but if they say no, then all you can do is sue. It's up to you whether you think that's a worthwhile option.

[Thaco]

"visitor parking" rarely ever includes overnight privileges

[DENZILDON]

Originally posted by dexlargo
I think that there might be an argument if the signage was insufficient to give him notice that he couldn't park where he did.

As for the bylaws: He's not a condo owner, so how could he be aware of them? Unless they're posted conspicuously I don't think they can be enforced against him.

Anyway, it may be worth contacting the condo board to present your reasons and see if they'll voluntarily reimburse you, but if they say no, then all you can do is sue. It's up to you whether you think that's a worthwhile option.

The condo owner is responsible for informing their guests and should now the parking rules at the condo.

[w_man]

^^ this .. it is the owner's responsibility. The board will likely tell him to get reimbursed from his gf .... the only option is what dannie mentioned above ... grab the by-laws (which cost money btw ) and see if there's a loop hole in there somewhere.

[dexlargo]

I understand what you're saying, but at law, it doesn't make sense to me. The way that I'm looking at it, the Condo board has a relationship with the condo owner, including obligations between them. The condo owner has a relationship with the OP. This does not allow the Condo board to impose obligations on the OP, unless they manage to create an obligation with him directly. That could be done by posting conspicuous signs indicating that parking in designated areas will have certain consequences.

There's a principle in law called 'privity of contract' - (I know, this isn't a contractual situation, but I think it is analagous). If you have three people, A, B and C. and A has a contract with B, and B has a contract with C - this does not ever create an enforceable obligation between A and C - A is not privy to the contract between B and C.

Here's an example of how that works: If Andretti orders 40 tires for the racing season from the tire dealer, Big 'O' Tires, and Big 'O' has an exclusive deal with the tire manufacturer, Cooper Tire and Rubber Company, for supplying those tires in a certain region, but Cooper refuses to ship the tires to Big 'O' that would fill Andretti's order for some reason, maybe the owner of Big 'O' insulted Cooper's wife - Andretti's only recourse is against Big 'O' - Andretti can't try to compel Cooper to honor its agreement with Big 'O'. Only Big 'O' can do that.

I hope that makes sense.

I think this situation is similar. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I look at it.

[Ntense_SpecV]

Originally posted by dexlargo
I understand what you're saying, but at law, it doesn't make sense to me. The way that I'm looking at it, the Condo board has a relationship with the condo owner, including obligations between them. The condo owner has a relationship with the OP. This does not allow the Condo board to impose obligations on the OP, unless they manage to create an obligation with him directly. That could be done by posting conspicuous signs indicating that parking in designated areas will have certain consequences.

The OP drove onto private property - he is at their mercy, and now under their rules and obligations. As mentioned, the OP needs a chat with his GF or whoever owns the Condo, so that he knows the full and complete rules for visitor parking. It will be their set of Condo Bylaws.

[djrocketodd]

Thanks everyone, I guess I will try to get a copy of the bylaws and then talk to the management agency. I could see if I left my car there for extended periods of time like 48 or 72 hours but overnight is a little short to get towed from visitor parking, in my opinion.

Why are people decent anymore, a note saying please don't park here would have been good enough, instead of a $250 tow.

[Thaco]

overnight is not visiting.

[Xtrema]

My bet is that they saw your car on Friday night and saw it again Monday morning and towed it, regardless of what happened in between.

Anyway, there's a reason for tight control as a lot of condo owners love to abuse visitor parking. They are the #1 reason I hate visiting people with condos.

[dannie]

Every set of bylaws has a statement under the section titled owners responsibility. The statement says that the owner is responsible for their guests and they must ensure that the guests follow the bylaws for the condo corp.

That means that the OPs gf should have known better and told him not to park there.

[dexlargo]

^I'll just shut up after this comment, but what you've posted is exactly my point - how is it reasonable or fair for the condo board to cause the OP to go to time and expense when it is not his failing, but his girlfriend's failing to inform him of the condo board's policy? In my opinion, the condo board has every right to go after the condo owner - but not against a third party where they took no steps to directly alert third parties that parking was not allowed in a certain area and in fact marked that area as 'visitor parking'.

I think there's an argument to make here. I doubt that it's worthwhile to go to court and make that argument though, so the point is probably moot.

[J NRG]

.

[Thaco]

Originally posted by dexlargo
^I'll just shut up after this comment, but what you've posted is exactly my point - how is it reasonable or fair for the condo board to cause the OP to go to time and expense when it is not his failing, but his girlfriend's failing to inform him of the condo board's policy? In my opinion, the condo board has every right to go after the condo owner - but not against a third party where they took no steps to directly alert third parties that parking was not allowed in a certain area and in fact marked that area as 'visitor parking'.

I think there's an argument to make here. I doubt that it's worthwhile to go to court and make that argument though, so the point is probably moot.

it's his gf's fault for not telling him the rules, they will most likely tell him to recoop the loss from the person he was "visiting" since they should have told him the rules.

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by dexlargo
^I'll just shut up after this comment, but what you've posted is exactly my point - how is it reasonable or fair for the condo board to cause the OP to go to time and expense when it is not his failing, but his girlfriend's failing to inform him of the condo board's policy? In my opinion, the condo board has every right to go after the condo owner - but not against a third party where they took no steps to directly alert third parties that parking was not allowed in a certain area and in fact marked that area as 'visitor parking'.

I think there's an argument to make here. I doubt that it's worthwhile to go to court and make that argument though, so the point is probably moot.

Then sue the GF for negligence since she didn't do her due diligence in informing the OP of the rules. The reason the condo board is able to tow the OP is because it is on their property therefore as long as they can prove that he was not following the rules of visitor parking use, they can enforce all they want.

Your Andretti analogy isn't 100% relevant to the matter because Andretti wasn't using something that Copper Tires fully owned. A more proper analogy would be:

Andretti signs a deal with a show/race organizer in which he will entertain the crowd by drifting, peeling out, etc. The Organizesrs, in turn, sign a rental agreement with the Indianapolis Speedway. However in that rental agreement with the Venue, is a clause stating that no one is allowed to do burnouts or drift around while on Venue property or risk getting your car towed and impounded until penalties are paid.
During the course of the show, Andretti starts peeling out and drifting around the track. The Venue obviously sees this and tows the truck and now faces fines of $100,000 to get his car out (I know this part is thin, but bear with me). The only real recourse that Andretti has here is to pay the $100,000 he owes the Venue in penalties, THEN sue the show organizers for:
A) Failing to do their due diligence and informing them it was against the rules;
B) Being fully aware that Andretti's actions were in direct violation of their agreement with the Venue and continuing anyways.

[G-Suede]

Originally posted by dexlargo
^I'll just shut up after this comment, but what you've posted is exactly my point - how is it reasonable or fair for the condo board to cause the OP to go to time and expense when it is not his failing, but his girlfriend's failing to inform him of the condo board's policy? In my opinion, the condo board has every right to go after the condo owner - but not against a third party where they took no steps to directly alert third parties that parking was not allowed in a certain area and in fact marked that area as 'visitor parking'.

I think there's an argument to make here. I doubt that it's worthwhile to go to court and make that argument though, so the point is probably moot.

As far as I know, vehicles can be lawfully removed from a premise if there are private property and other signs which indicate acceptable use eg. no parking, no stopping, handicap, etc. Additionally, most condo's will have a visitor parking policy which outlines in detail such items as parking passes and vehicle registration requirements for overnight or longer term parking. The onus to inquire about the policies is on the individual entering and parking on the private property. It's not the responsibility of the condo board or anyone else to educate or inform the illiterate, lazy, or ignorant that happen along.