Requirement to Communicate in Writing

[Leonard Liau]

I lived in an apartment complex in downtown Seattle, as a tenant. While I was away on vacation (for 2 weeks), my car which was parked in the underground parking lot, was impounded by a towing car at the instruction of the property management company. On checking with the property manager, I was told the reason for the impoundment; my car was removed so that the parking stalls can be painted. I was further informed that advances notices were posted in the elevators and/or placed on vehicles in the parking lot to inform the tenants. It has cost me $400 to retrieve my vehicle from the pound. The property manager is not prepared to refund me the cost of the impound.

I informed the property manager I did NOT see any of the notices they claimed to have posted in the building or left in the windshields of cars. I used my vehicle two days before I left for my vacation. I did not see any notice on the windshield of my car. I stated , as a minimum, that they should have communicated this notice in writing to all the tenants. Do I have a legal case against the property manager to recover my $400?

[OHlandlord]

This is an odd case. How long after you left was the car towed? Had you notified the management that you would be gone on vacation for an extended amount of time? I'm not sure how much notice has to be given for this, but here the city or police department has only to notify you 48 hours in advance to move your vehicle if street work was going to be done. If this is the same timeline for a private company, or if the timeline is the same as notice for entry (2 days) and you failed to notify management that you would be gone for the extened period, it is possible that legal notice was posted. It would only have to be posted 48 hours prior to towing.

Since this was notice to move the cars, notice could be posted in a conspicuous place in the garage (like stairwells and elevators) since you would have to use one of these to get to your apartment or exit the garage. Since the notice was for the garage, it may be proper to post the notice in the garage on the cars and in easily noticed places. If it had to do with your unit, they would have had to post it on your door or send it by mail. But when the police or the city want you to move your car for street repairs, they do not notify every household on the street. They post notices on the vehicles and in conspicuous places (like poles, trees, and parking meters). So I doubt notice would have to be sent to your residence for this.

Additionally, if you rent this space separately, this area (a parking garage) may be considered commerical property. Residential property rules would not apply. Did you sign a separate agreement to rent a parking space?

If your car was towed at least 2 days after you last used it, you would not have seen any warning notices. If this is the case, it is likely that the towing was legal and you may have no recourse. Had you notified them in writing that you would be gone, you might have a case for being towed without proper notification.

Thank-you for the comments. I pay an additional monthly fee for the underground parking stall. There is no separate agreement for this. It was included as part of the rental agreement for my suite.

I did not inform the property management company of my absence, which was only two weeks (Sept 6-23). My first day of vacation was September 6th and the painting of the stalls happened on Sept 19th. I can only guess the notices were posted in the building after I left on Sept 6th. Based on what you have said, it would appear that they have served legal notice, provided they have allowed for 2 days of notice?

[OHlandlord]

I can only guess that 2 days notice is the requirement based on the amount of notice they must give you to enter a unit in your state, and the amount of notice that our local city posts for removing cars from city streets. I don't know that I could find a requirement for this type of notice in the real estate statutes. Since it requires an extra fee, it may be considered a commercial rental. Commercial rentals often have even less regulations to follow than residential. Governments often allow the business to establish the rules through their own contracts (perhaps with the apartment complex?)

Even if the notice to remove the vehicle were required to be longer, since they had 13 days to post this (actually 15 since you hadn't driven your car since 2 days prior to leaving), I would suspect that whatever notice they posted was legal. No where in the U.S. does a LL or manager have to notify a tenant that far in advance to make repairs.

Did your lease have a clause about notifying the LL of extended absences? (Most do.) In the future you may consider notifying the LL prior to leaving for extended periods just for this reason. You may also want to inquire if any repairs are planned during your absence, and have a trusted friend as a point of contact for the LL in case of unplanned repairs or an emergency. The friend could have moved your car for you and saved you the towing and inmpound fees. You could do further research yourself if you want to find a definitive answer. But I doubt you have any case against the PM. Sorry.