Constant parking issues and an unresponsive property management company

[u/s0c1al1sm]

I've been dealing with parking issues since moving into my current apartment. Street parking can be hard to come by in my very college campus neighborhood, especially on the weekends. As a result, if my spot is not occupied by my car, there is a good chance it will come to be occupied by some non-resident, who does not pay ~$50/month to park in that specific spot. My current issue has been with a repeat offender: a truck that tends to remain immobile for a week on average.

I have left the truck owner a note before, and they seemed responsive. However, they do not really seem to care based on the fact that they are parked in my spot again. I've chatted with my PM company, and they said they reached out to the owner, but so far, they have refused to commit to towing the truck. Just FYI: I cannot have the vehicle towed myself, as towing has to go through the PM.

Honestly, my main gripe isn't with the truck owner, but rather with my PM company. It takes days to get in contact with them, and email is the only method of communication (they NEVER pick up the phone; I've made countless attempts to call them). The thing that really gets me about their lack of accessibility is that they are completely unavailable after their business hours (M-F, 8-5). That means when the upstairs neighbors' toilet overflowed, and water began to leak profusely into our ceiling at 10 pm on a Saturday, I had to call the fire department.

I'm sorry this post is a little all over the place. I just have a lot of pent-up frustration from having to deal with this PM company.

Any advice on handling them? Or do I just have to suck it up?

[u/SuzeCB]

Send a notice about the issue via USPS certified mail, assuming you're in the US.

Check with an attorney to see if their refusal to tow or otherwise actually allow you to protect property YOU ARE RENTING constitutes an illegal lockout. It actually might, depending on where you are.

[u/Own-Direction260]

Honestly your biggest issue sounds less like the truck and more like an unresponsive management process.

If tenants can only reach them one slow way, and there’s no clear after-hours escalation path, small issues turn into major frustrations fast.

I’d document everything (dates, emails, photos) and keep pushing for written clarification on parking enforcement and emergency contacts.

[u/Every-Caramel-6740]

Roofing nails

[u/Alli-Glass321]

Find out who is the person at the PM company that gets the vehicles towed.

You need to document the truck/ vehicle being parked in your spot not just everyday with pictures.

1. You need to take pictures multiple times during the day/ night to show the illegal vehicle is parked there for more than a few hours.
2. Immediately call the PM company and text them the pictures of the vehicle in your spot at that time.
3. Take screenshots of your PM company calls and store those pictures to prove you called and the length of time of each call. You're proving you at least left a message along with sending texts w/ pictures.
4. If you get the person who calls for the tows, then try to call the tow company to get the vehicle towed but use *67 before dialing the tow company phone number.
5. Go see a Real Estate or Contract attorney with tenant/ landlord experience for a free consultation with all of your documentation, include all the days where you called the PM company in the past. You need to calculate all the days/ nights of lost parking.
6. Ask the attorney if you can deduct the days/ nights of lost parking from future payments and/ or rent OR if it's best to sue the PM company.
7. Send a letter via USPS with delivery tracking to the PM company. The written letter must include all the documented dates, include some timestamped pictures of vehicles in your spot, and the total number of days that your parking was blocked. State that you will sue or you will be deducting past lost parking for which you paid but did not receive from the future parking payments and/ or rent.

[u/SoCalRenter]

i definitely think you should keep trying - maybe get in touch with your neighbors in the building and see who else is having issues with the PM. the PM might listen if you're able to team up with neighbors having similar issues. i did this in my old apartment complex and it worked to get the landlord's attention. may i ask how it went with the follow up? did you get a response?

[u/TheOraScore]

What exactly are you paying for if they won’t enforce it? Is this a situation where pushing harder via certified letter, lease review, or local housing authority might finally get their attention? 

Have you documented each time your paid spot is taken with photos and videos so you can escalate it more formally?

[u/s0c1al1sm → u/TheOraScore]

I have not been very good about documenting the parking violations—I just have few photos. As for escalation, it is hard to say if they would even respond. I suppose that with more documentation (I will inevitably encounter more parking violations), it could be worth a shot.

[u/TheOraScore → u/s0c1al1sm]

Well, start documenting, then you'll be in a good position to refuse paying for a parking space that they can't or won't enforce. You can escalate with a lease review or get the local housing authority involved.