Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

Alright, I left my apartment in Sacramento on Tuesday morning for a LASIK eye-surgery appointment in Stockton. I stayed there until tonight (Friday night) because my girlfriend, who also lives with me, had a dentist appointment on Thursday and also ended up having a cist... so she had to go get an ultrasound and tons of crap. So we get back to my apartment, I get out to check on my truck... it's not there. I call my dad and he's getting all the paperwork because we are about to call 9-1-1 and report a stolen vehicle. I get to my apartment door and there's a paper wedged in that's dated on the 27th that states: "We are striping the parking spots. Don't be parked in these areas at 7:00am Friday June 30th or your vehicle will be towed at the owner's expense"

They didn't call my cellphone, girlfriend's cellphone, or the house phone in Stockton (which all are listed on the apartment papers, we don't have a house phone in our apartment... our primary is my cellphone). Do they expect us to check in on their apartment each day? Are we not to leave the apartment grounds for 24 hours? 3 days notice that was simply wedged in the door? What if someone took that piece of paper or it blew out??

Another problem is: I have a lowered truck, the proper towing would be a flatbed tow-truck... anything else risks ruining the truck.


I have to wait until the morning to call the office. I'm basically going to be demanding them to pay for the towing/etc, and if there are any damages to the truck for them to pay that also.

Does that sound OK? I'm pretty pissed right now and would like to know what OOT would do...

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

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Does that sound OK? I'm pretty pissed right now and would like to know what OOT would do...

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Check your lease to see what it says about parking. If there's nothing there that clearly screws you, go ahead and ask them to pay for the tow. Don't let on that you are angry, be civil and explain that you had a medical emergency and they could have contacted you.

If the lease doesn't say anything about this and they refuse to pay I would consider taking it to small claims... I'd want to look over the local statutes though.

NT

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

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Does that sound OK? I'm pretty pissed right now and would like to know what OOT would do...

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Check your lease to see what it says about parking. If there's nothing there that clearly screws you, go ahead and ask them to pay for the tow. Don't let on that you are angry, be civil and explain that you had a medical emergency and they could have contacted you.

If the lease doesn't say anything about this and they refuse to pay I would consider taking it to small claims... I'd want to look over the local statutes though.

NT

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Thanks, I was thinking about just asking them to pay... and if they refused to get a lawyer.

Man, I might have been away from my apartment even longer if I packed more clothes and didn't need two vehicles. We were just going to stay until after the 4th of July. What is wrong with these idiots, what if you went on vacation for a couple of weeks?

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

As someone already said, take them to small claims and get a little extra for your trouble.

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

OK updates...

Of course office says they won't pay.
They used a towing company thats 30 minutes away, and my dad has to drive up from Stockton to get it because he's the registered owner.

The rate increased because of my truck being lowered and because it's a weekend. We could have got the truck out last night if we knew what towing company had it... of course my apartment complex didn't leave anything at my door.

Do I threaten to take them to small claims first, to see if they'll agree to pay?

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

How much money are you out so far?

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

Man, that sucks. I would check and see if there is anything in your lease that stipulates that you can be forced to move your vehicle with only three days notice. What about people who travel for work, etc?

If your spot is an assigned spot then that is part of the property you're paying for with your rent. But I have a feeling it will come down to whether or not a court deems three days notice to be sufficient.

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

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How much money are you out so far?

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Close to $400.. like $397 or something.

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

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Man, that sucks. I would check and see if there is anything in your lease that stipulates that you can be forced to move your vehicle with only three days notice. What about people who travel for work, etc?

If your spot is an assigned spot then that is part of the property you're paying for with your rent. But I have a feeling it will come down to whether or not a court deems three days notice to be sufficient.

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It's an assigned spot. They had 3 ways to identify my vehicle and call me. First, it's an assigned spot. Then they gave me a specific parking permit which was dipslayed in the truck. Finally, my truck's lincense plate is in their records.

3 days notice (when it wasn't even really 3 days, they put up the flyer sometime in the afternoon/evening the morning we left and you had to be moved by Friday morning. More like a day's notice.) by a piece of paper wedged in the door. They had every thing needed to contact me. They also use a tow-trucking company 30minutes away which drove up the price.

Re: Apartment Complex towed my truck... play?
 

You have a good case. I have no idea if you would win.