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Landlord towed our car
YodaTuna
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Firstly, I live in Minnesota. This afternoon my girlfriend and I left to go to work in my car which was parked in the basement garage. When we pulled out into the parking lot, we noticed, it was completely empty, including my girlfriend's car. We immediately went to the rental office. They informed as that they were repaving and that we had been given notification and it had been posted in our building.
They said a notification had been put under our door two days ago. This is false, however we were given our lease renewal form two days ago. They also brought the lady responsible for posting the notifications who informed us that she did NOT post any notifications in the building (even though she was supposed too and they always do when it snows).
They have said they are going to go through the security footage to see if they can see the notice being put under our door. They will see something put under our door (lease notification). It will cost us 200 dollars to get the car back.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I've been trying to find the pertinent laws for Minnesota regarding notification before towing and haven't found anything concrete.
They said a notification had been put under our door two days ago. This is false, however we were given our lease renewal form two days ago. They also brought the lady responsible for posting the notifications who informed us that she did NOT post any notifications in the building (even though she was supposed too and they always do when it snows).
They have said they are going to go through the security footage to see if they can see the notice being put under our door. They will see something put under our door (lease notification). It will cost us 200 dollars to get the car back.
Does anyone have any suggestions? I've been trying to find the pertinent laws for Minnesota regarding notification before towing and haven't found anything concrete.
YodaTuna on
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Landlords are typically total pricks about this type of shit. How much longer do you have to live there?
Alternative, contact your local renter's association and see if you can't deduct that release from the impound lot from your next month's rent.
Well, they say they did knock on my door (at 7:30 AM). Both me and my gf work the late shift so we were sound asleep. There is no way that can be considered proper notification though. If things go poorly, I will definitely be contacting a lawyer.
Unfortunately at this juncture, we wanted to stay in the apartment for another year and then get a house. I don't want to move to another apartment just to move out again next year. Kind of stuck for the moment.
Our apartment complex did this very same thing, right down to the girl at the office not putting the notice on our doors, but our complex paid the towing fees.
I hope yours does the same.
Well I don't think I would even be able to bring them to small claims court unless I know what the law actually is. I wouldn't be hiring a lawyer, just find some place that give free consults.
Hopefully I just watch too much Operation Repo and it's not that bad.
Couldn't today as we didn't find out until just before we had to leave for work. The impound lot has a 20 dollar a day fee.
It may be different with a repo, since at that point, the owner is deliquent and the bank just wants their property back.
Yeah, definitely get on that. I know it sucks to have to pay and then hope you get reimbursed, but the alternative is even worse. I've seen situations where people believe they were towed wrongly, and let the car sit in impound while they went to court over it, then the court says "Sorry, man, the tow was legit," and now the people are on the hook for a $500+ tow bill. Or worse, the car gets sold by the impound because no one claimed it.
Is the parking spot an assigned spot or is it just a general garage where you could park anywhere? If the parking spot is on your lease, they don't have any right to do anything on that land regardless of how much notice they give.
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http://www.bing.com/search?q=renters+advocate+minnesota&src=IE-SearchBox&FORM=IE8SRC
Then:
1. Go get your car out of the towing lot; as above, you don't want it racking up daily charges.
2. The towing lot will likely force you to pay in cash. GET A RECEIPT. Do not leave without a receipt.
3. Make a copy of that receipt and a copy of the lease renewal you received in lieu of the supposed towing notification.
4. Bring those to the rental office and request they cut you a check on the spot for the full amount of the towing receipt. Remind them that you never received a notification of imminent towing, and neither did anyone else in the building.
5. If/When they deny you reimbursement, declare your intention to deduct the full amount of the the towing fees from next month's rent, and that you'll be including a copy of the towing receipt and lease renewal for their records.
6. If/When they continue to deny you reimbursement, inform them that it's in their best interest to settle this NOW, before you start adding on Small Claims Court fees.
edit: I'm not even certain of the legality of step 5 above in MN, but the point isn't to actually short them rent, it's to make clear your intention to follow through to get your reimbursement for their screwup. If they continue jerking you around I'd proceed directly to small claims court.
Start finding new habitation post haste.
At least around here, tow companies have a certain amount of protection if somebody hires them to tow a car they weren't authorized to, that person is liable, not the tow company. They're not protected against something really negligent, but in this case, the landlord does own the property. The tow company isn't in on the lease agreement, but it's pretty reasonable to assume a guy having a car removed from his own property is doing so on the up-and-up.
So the leasing office can be on the hook for "full amount + small claims filing fee." Something to consider.
You do know that Operation Repo is staged? The stories are based on real events, but everything else is dramatized and acted out (Poorly at that).
[Vader NOOO.jpg]
I actually was never quite sure. If it was on a major network, then yeah, but figured TruTV might care more about ratings than lawsuits.
Went down to the office today to see the building manager. Explained to her what happened. She acknowledged that they failed to put signs up in the building, but refused to believe we didn't get notified. But she offered to pay half the fee. I tell her I would have to run it by my gf(because it was her car). I then told her that we would be taking further steps in necessary such as calling the management company and then to small claims court. I let her know that our lease said nothing about cars being towed.
She pulled out another form we signed when we signed our lease two years ago specifically for parking. I got a copy of that and told her I would be in touch. Got back to my apartment. Read over the parking agreement which also didn't cover the situation at all. My gf was typing in the phone number of the management company when the apartment manager called back and offered to deduct the entire bill off my rent. Hooray!
Get that in writing so they can't claim you stiffed them after you move out.
Already taken care of it and paid the rent and gave them a copy of the receipt.