Apartment Parking: Breach Of Contract?

Question

Here is my issue:

I live in an apartment community in Columbus, Ohio. There are two parking garages and additional private street parking. Residents are required to park in one of the three areas (garage 1, 2, or street) or they will be towed. There are also visitor spots in each garage (entire top floor) and on the street; all are marking with "Visitor" on them. I was towed for parking in a visitor spot in my garage because all resident parking was full. The apartment mgmt GM states that they cannot give assigned parking out of fear that there will not be enough spaces - they gave out more resident passes than open resident spaces - and residents are not allowed to use Visitors parking as overflow.

The community advertised "private garage parking with opener". The opener doesnt work, and I cannot see why it would be private if visitors can park there. Instead of being towed and paying $100 each time, can i cite them for breach of contract to get out of my lease legally?

Just to add additional details: This is not the first time - in fact its the 3rd time ive been towed out of my own apartment complex.

They contract with a towing company who has access to both garages and comes in to tow everyone between 11pm and 7am. When you have issues, the apartment place says to deal with the tow company.

FYI: the tow truck drivers know who is a resident because all residents have a sticker with that matches their license plate number attached to the inside of the back window. So they can tell if that sticker really belongs to the car. so the tow trucks drivers are definately not just "mistaking" residents for non residents.

to me, it just seems like a money making scam where the Apt is getting kickbacks

Answer 1

It sounds like the management is in breach of contract by not fixing the opener. Residents should take presidence over visitors. I dont know about breaking your lease, but you could at least get the charges refunded to you by the management. It's their fault that you had to use a visitor's spot. I've managed apartments and I know management will think of themselves first. But-you're the customer. You pay their salary, so put up a stink and try to get things changed before you consider breaking the lease.

Answer 2

I would firstly send them the towing bill. If you have parking and it was part of your contract - if it was not available to you, they should not have had you towed. That takes gall.

I can't imagine any management company having your car towed from a visitor spot when all resident spots were unavailable.

Unless your lease specifically states that you have access to a parking space for your use - you cannot break the lease for that reason. Check your lease - if it does, you can. (And they should not have told you they gave out more resident passes than they had spaces - tsk tsk tsk on their part!)

Answer 3

you can try it in court

over in Michigan, I had a similar situation in a parking garage for which I paid a monthly fee. the gate mechanism was frequently broken and the gate locked open. I parked illegally [not in a space] one day because structure was full.

I lost in court on the ticket/tow. I also lost on the contract issue -- Judge said the situation was out of managment's control despite that their gate wasn't working and they couldn't be held responsible for illegally parked vehicles that they hadn't towed. He also said that I hadn't proved my case that managment had sold more spaces than existed. [As if I could identify the vehicle illegally parked without permission and wait to have it towed from my space -- I had to be at work in 10 minutes!!]

maybe you can prove they gave out more passes than spaces existed. maybe it is also against public policy in Ohio for a landlord to not provide adequate parking to his tenants [might be a city ordinance -- ask zoning department]

GL