Landlord towed my car

This is in the state of CA in the city of Fremont.
I was given a warning on Saturday (10/10/2009) that my license tags had expired. I promptly went to the DMV site and paid to have my new tags. The site said that it takes about 5 business days and I haven't received the new tags yet.
In the meantime, landlord towed my car. When I asked them about it, they said that they towed the car because they did not see the new tags. Also, they said that I had to tell them if I had renewed the tags online.
I have two questions:
1. In the warning sticker that was posted, it wasn't mentioned that I had to inform the office after renewing the tags.
2. I was waiting for the new tags to be mailed to me to update the sticker. But since I haven't received it yet, is it fair for the landlord to tow the car without allowing enough time to get the new tags.
What are my rights? Can somebody please advise.

[sunlover]

1. If you did not tell him how would he know you did anything?

2. You were warned you did nothing (far as he knew) Yes it was fair

1. I thought they are going by what DMV told them. Since it was not mentioned in the warning sticker that 'once you have paid, contact office' - I assumed that they are going to get the latest info from DMV.

2. If the normal DMV process is to get a new tag in 5 business days, how can somebody be given less time than that to place the new tags?

1. Why would the DMV release any information on your car to a 3rd party? Don't be ridiculous. Govt. offices inform no one but the person on the file. How would they know or care what a govt. office had to say? It was your responsibility (and state law) to ensure your car had current tags.

2. Why didn't you just go to the DMV office in person and get the tags then? You could have gotten them that day and had them on the car that night. You car would not have been towed.

Let's look at fault here:
-You let your tags expire which violates state law. (Hope you weren't driving on expired tags!)
-You ignored a warning about being towed.
-When the DMV stated it would take 5 days, you failed to inform the LL or ask for an extension.
-You could have moved the vehicle and parked it elsewhere to keep it from being towed.
-You could have gone to the DMV in person and got the tags that day, but you chose to go on-line.
-You believed it was management's responsibility to warn you to contact them when you had resolved the issue. (How is it management's obligation to tell you to contact them?)
-The LL is not bound by the DMV's time line - you are. He can give you whatever time limit he sees fit.

You should have seen this coming.