$%&#ing neighbours, parking spot edition
September 16, 2015 2:57 PM Subscribe
My wife and I are renting an apartment with two parking spots. It is adjacent to another apartment with two spots, but the people there always cram three cars (one of which is always covered with a tarp) into the space, which means that typically one of the cars is halfway onto our spot, which always means the cars are packed tightly together.
As I only have one car I've tried to be reasonable about this, but about a month ago this happened. It was almost certainly one of the neighbours, but I couldn't be 100% sure. However, tonight I returned home (by bike) to find a dent - a very small dent, but still, a dent - that looks like it was probably caused by someone's door. This time it *has* to have been one of the neighbours, because my car hasn't been moved since the weekend.
What should I do? My first impulse was to go nuclear and tell them that any car infringing on our space will be towed from here on in (nobody was home when I knocked on the door an hour ago), but I'm not sure escalating right off the bat like that is the right call (and would it be legal?). Building a fence is probably not feasible.
To date I have virtually no contact with the neighbours; I believe the property is some sort of boarding house, because the cars parked back there are constantly changing.
As I only have one car I've tried to be reasonable about this, but about a month ago this happened. It was almost certainly one of the neighbours, but I couldn't be 100% sure. However, tonight I returned home (by bike) to find a dent - a very small dent, but still, a dent - that looks like it was probably caused by someone's door. This time it *has* to have been one of the neighbours, because my car hasn't been moved since the weekend.
What should I do? My first impulse was to go nuclear and tell them that any car infringing on our space will be towed from here on in (nobody was home when I knocked on the door an hour ago), but I'm not sure escalating right off the bat like that is the right call (and would it be legal?). Building a fence is probably not feasible.
To date I have virtually no contact with the neighbours; I believe the property is some sort of boarding house, because the cars parked back there are constantly changing.
Do you have photos of their three cars taking over part of your parking space? I would probably take that photo along with photos of the car damage and send a letter to the landlord. I think this is something the owner of the apartments or the property manager needs to deal with.
posted by Lingasol at 3:08 PM on September 16, 2015 [21 favorites]
posted by Lingasol at 3:08 PM on September 16, 2015 [21 favorites]
I'm not clear from your question -- are the people using the two parking spots also residents of your building, or are they residents of a different building? If you and they have the same landlord, I would certainly bring it to the landlord's attention; when people rent an apartment that comes with parking, the idea is that you get one car per spot, not that you get the spots and then you get to cram as many vehicles as you can into the spots allotted to you. I'd be shocked if this weren't a violation of the neighbors' lease.
posted by holborne at 3:24 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by holborne at 3:24 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Different building; different owner/landlord.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:34 PM on September 16, 2015
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:34 PM on September 16, 2015
If your lot has signs stating that unauthorized parkers will be towed, call the tow company when you see them significantly encroaching on your spot. Short of going to the landlord, that's all you can do, unless your city has parking ordinances that apply on private property, in which case you might be able to get the police to deal with it. Emphasis on the might.
posted by wierdo at 3:50 PM on September 16, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by wierdo at 3:50 PM on September 16, 2015 [9 favorites]
And if your landlord won't do anything, how about a nice row of heavy planters (on your side of the line, of course): heavy concrete planters plus heavy dirt, too heavy to move but blocking them from parking half that third car in your space. You say you only have one car of your own, so you'll still have a space and a half to park in, but it would prevent them from whacking your car.
posted by easily confused at 4:01 PM on September 16, 2015 [38 favorites]
posted by easily confused at 4:01 PM on September 16, 2015 [38 favorites]
My first impulse was to offer to rent the neighbors the parking spot for $X/month. They appear to need it, you don't, might as well make some cash.
In the alternative, can you contact your landlord and tell them you want your rent reduced by $50/month because one of your parking spots is not available? If they were both owned by the same landlord I'd 100% tell the landlord I wanted a reduction in rent because my parking spot was being used by another resident, and leave it to the landlord to sort it out. Since it's two different landlords it might not be as effective, but it might be worth a try.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
In the alternative, can you contact your landlord and tell them you want your rent reduced by $50/month because one of your parking spots is not available? If they were both owned by the same landlord I'd 100% tell the landlord I wanted a reduction in rent because my parking spot was being used by another resident, and leave it to the landlord to sort it out. Since it's two different landlords it might not be as effective, but it might be worth a try.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2015 [7 favorites]
File an accident report with the police. Make a claim against the building's insurance to have your vehicle dent & scrape fixed.
Be REALLY really nice, but thorough and professional about the whole situation. Include pics of the 3 cars cramped into 2 spots. Make sure your police report states you have not moved your vehicle since X date.
You might not win the claim, but by being thorough yet very nice, you've made correcting this behavior a top priority for the owner of that rental property.
posted by jbenben at 4:04 PM on September 16, 2015 [34 favorites]
Be REALLY really nice, but thorough and professional about the whole situation. Include pics of the 3 cars cramped into 2 spots. Make sure your police report states you have not moved your vehicle since X date.
You might not win the claim, but by being thorough yet very nice, you've made correcting this behavior a top priority for the owner of that rental property.
posted by jbenben at 4:04 PM on September 16, 2015 [34 favorites]
My first impulse was to go nuclear and tell them that any car infringing on our space will be towed from here on in (nobody was home when I knocked on the door an hour ago), but I'm not sure escalating right off the bat like that is the right call (and would it be legal?)
Check your lease, first. The leases for our apartments have a clause that gives the tenant the right to tow vehicles in their designated parking stall.
posted by CKmtl at 5:16 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Check your lease, first. The leases for our apartments have a clause that gives the tenant the right to tow vehicles in their designated parking stall.
posted by CKmtl at 5:16 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
If the parker cars rotate but the tarped car stays put, it seems likely that the tarped car belongs to a more permanent resident than a boarder. Perhaps pinpoint that car as the issue - it is forcing the two boarders with theortically-real parking rights to spill over into your parking space - and discuss it with the landlord of the other building. Moving thay car would likely solve the problem, or allowing only one other car to park rather than two. Perhaps your landlord knows how to get in touch with them or has dealt with them in the past. Best of luck.
posted by hepta at 5:32 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by hepta at 5:32 PM on September 16, 2015 [3 favorites]
You have two parking spots but only one car? Can you not park in your other spot? Even if your two spots are side by side I'd park waaay over to the opposite side. And talk to your landlord for sure.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:49 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 5:49 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]
Unregistered cars are illegal on private property if in public view in my municipality. Contact the town code official and if this applies get them to investigate the tarped vehicle. It's almost certainly unregistered if it doesn't move.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 6:13 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 6:13 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
You could arrange to rent your extra space to the car in the tarp. It's less likely to be use, so less dints.
posted by kjs4 at 6:33 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by kjs4 at 6:33 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]
Call the towing company for your building if they park blocking your spot. Problem solved. This is not an "escalating" or aggressive move. You've already asked them to adhere to the rules and they don't care so they can take it up with the landlord and/or towing company.
posted by deathpanels at 7:20 PM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by deathpanels at 7:20 PM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]
It sounds like you haven't engaged with the neighbors yet ("To date I have virtually no contact with the neighbours").
Having their car towed may be within your rights, but seems like a harsh move. Depending on where you live, that will almost certainly set them back by more than $100, maybe even several hundred dollars. That's going to make them hate you.
Can you communicate with them first? Chances are they might be embarrassed and apologetic and stay in their spot from then on. Or they might be totally dismissive, in which case, sure, escalate to towing (or ideally, escalate to your own Landlord).
posted by reeddavid at 10:38 PM on September 16, 2015
Having their car towed may be within your rights, but seems like a harsh move. Depending on where you live, that will almost certainly set them back by more than $100, maybe even several hundred dollars. That's going to make them hate you.
Can you communicate with them first? Chances are they might be embarrassed and apologetic and stay in their spot from then on. Or they might be totally dismissive, in which case, sure, escalate to towing (or ideally, escalate to your own Landlord).
posted by reeddavid at 10:38 PM on September 16, 2015
This is 100% the responsibility of your landlord to deal with. The parameters of your lease are not being fulfilled, and they need to take care of it.
I'd send him a nice email or give them a quick call to discuss it.
posted by mayonnaises at 7:13 AM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'd send him a nice email or give them a quick call to discuss it.
posted by mayonnaises at 7:13 AM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Hi everyone, thanks for the advice; I knocked on the neighbours' door last night and this morning, but nobody was home. I've called and left a message with my landlord (who has always been a good guy)...pending future conversations with both, I'm leaning towards putting down some sort of barrier (I like the idea of heavy planters, as suggested above) to moot the issue.
Also, to address one comment above; I forgot to mention that we also have people parked on the other side of our spots too, with no barrier, but they only have two cars and never park outside their space. In effect, between the three apartments there are six parking spots in a row.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:57 AM on September 17, 2015
Also, to address one comment above; I forgot to mention that we also have people parked on the other side of our spots too, with no barrier, but they only have two cars and never park outside their space. In effect, between the three apartments there are six parking spots in a row.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:57 AM on September 17, 2015
YMMV, but this situation at a previous place i rented led to cars being vandalized and all kinds of stupid brinksmanship and warfare, with lots of lying on their part after the landlord got involved. I ended up just not parking one of our cars there for the rest of the time we lived there. It started because the blocking thing came in to play.
If i had to approach this again, i'd definitely start with both my landlord, and try and push them to contact the other landlord.
Don't block them from parking, since that might not even be their tarped car and they might have been guaranteed a spot. Some people come home from work really late and will get borderline homicidal if their spot is suddenly blocked by some cute thing or dummy car or whatever.
posted by emptythought at 3:05 PM on September 17, 2015
If i had to approach this again, i'd definitely start with both my landlord, and try and push them to contact the other landlord.
Don't block them from parking, since that might not even be their tarped car and they might have been guaranteed a spot. Some people come home from work really late and will get borderline homicidal if their spot is suddenly blocked by some cute thing or dummy car or whatever.
posted by emptythought at 3:05 PM on September 17, 2015
Response by poster: Argh...yeah, that's my biggest fear (the escalation, vandalizing, etc.). These parking spots are in a laneway behind the house, so it's not like it would be easy to monitor if things came to that. I'd love to just park my car out in the street and avoid the whole issue, but to get a parking permit in Toronto when you have spots available where you live is really expensive.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:25 PM on September 17, 2015
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:25 PM on September 17, 2015
Response by poster: Okay, so I spoke with my landlord, and he called the neighbours' landlord. The other guy said he understood and that he would speak with his tenants and ask them to stay off our property from now on.
I also spoke with one of the people living there after I saw him park back there; he told me that the place is a boarding house, and that he just moved in and is subletting for a couple of months. The other landlord also told my landlord that the owners of the other two cars (the one under the tarp is his) have moved out, meaning there are only two cars, including the tarped one, back there now. Sooooo...hopefully that's the end of it? I'm still stuck with two scrapes on my car, but I'm not sure I can do much about that because while I know that people living next door damaged it, I don't think I can *prove* it in a legal sense.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:41 AM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also spoke with one of the people living there after I saw him park back there; he told me that the place is a boarding house, and that he just moved in and is subletting for a couple of months. The other landlord also told my landlord that the owners of the other two cars (the one under the tarp is his) have moved out, meaning there are only two cars, including the tarped one, back there now. Sooooo...hopefully that's the end of it? I'm still stuck with two scrapes on my car, but I'm not sure I can do much about that because while I know that people living next door damaged it, I don't think I can *prove* it in a legal sense.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:41 AM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by raw sugar at 3:07 PM on September 16, 2015 [17 favorites]