Location: Washington
I moved into my apartment with my roommate in Feb and one of the things we were concerned about was not havjng to stress about parking. We were unsure about our complex: they have one assigned space per unit, and a handful of scattered guest parking. I’m talking maybe 15-20 guest parking spots for 80+ units. There is no street parking or even a shoulder because it is a main road.
When we were viewing the unit, we shared these concerns with the property manager who assured us we would be fine, because we were allowed to park along any yellow curb in front of our building. So we went ahead with renting the unit.
Partway through the summer, while parked along the yellow curb, I recieved a sticker on my drivers side window warning me that I would be towed. I moved my car and took the sticker with me to the main office to ask about it.
I was nervous because the property manager who told us it was okay to park there was no longer there, but the new property manager told us that they did not leave that, that it must have been the security company, and clarified with me that I was parked in the yellow, and NOT in the red, which is a fire lane. I clarified that, yes, I was parked in the yellow, and specified in detail exactly which part of the curb I was parked on. The property manager told me that I was absolutely allowed to park there and that she would let the security company know.
Fast forward to this morning, I get another notice to tow on my car. This one is not a sticker, it was printed on official management letterhead and gave me less than 12 hours from the time that I parked to move my car or they would tow me, and that they also took down the make and model of my car and would tow me in the future without warning if I ever parked there again.
I called the office and got one of the assistant property managers; she told me that in an event of a fire, that the cars parked along the yellow would block fire and ambulance from driving down that narrow corridor and that they could be fined for that.
This is untrue; the lot is elevated, with a stairway leading down to the walkway along the units. The staircases are built into the footprint of the lot and the width of them combined with the concrete posts in front of them (that prevent people from hitting the stairs) are much wider than a vehicle, so if a fire truck couldn’t get through it is because the lot is too narrow and not up to code.
The yellow curb runs from one staircase to the next, and then the fire late from that staircase to the next, alternating all the way back to the last building. Each section between staircases can fit 4-5 cars and there are at least 3 of them, so that is 15 people minimum that now have nowhere to put their cars and no street parking.
I explained that I was told by the property manager TWICE that it was alright to park there, and the assistant told me that SHE was told by the property manager to start towing cars.
I looked through my lease but all that was specified was rules around visitor/overflow parking, which is what this strip was considered. I am particularly upset about this because I had the integrity to come and ask to make sure I wasn’t breaking a rule and was specifically told that I wasn’t. If I hadn’t worked this morning, my car would have been towed at my expense with ZERO verbal or written notice of this rule change.
What options do I have in this situation?