Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
hi my name is nicole. my car was towed today from the place i work at. there are two buildings, and both used to belong to one guy but he sold the one i work in. we have a covered parking but its very small and hard to find parking. especially because people from the other building still come park in our covered parking. outside there is more parking but there are painted lines on the floor and signs indicating where you can park with a permit only. i little ways down i parked where there are no painted lines on the floor saying "permit parking only" and there are no signs either.
is it fair that they towed? i took pictures of the property to prove there are no signs. so they dont put any signs there over night. by the way i been working in the building for almost a year now and parked there about twice a week. nothing happened. till now.
2 Answers from Attorneys
If there clearly are no painted lines or signs restricting parking where yuou did park, yuou should be able to beat the parking ticket, but you still have to pay the tow charge and storage. Find out from the police, if they were involved, why you were towed; find out who asked for the tow and their reasons. Until you know why you were towed who knows if it was fair or not.
Vehicle Code section 22658 covers removal of vehicles from private property by the property owner. There seem to be four circumstances in which tow is permissible: (1) posting signs as described in the Code; (2) 96 hours after the car has been ticketed and not removed; (3) the car is a derelict, i.e., it lacks an engine, a transmission, a windshield, a door, wheels, tires or some other major part necessary for lawful operation; or (4) it is on property improved with a single-family dwelling.
Your car apparently didn't meet any of these tests (but maybe it lacked a "part" such as a headlight or current registration sticker or ???), so I'd say the tow was improper and the person who arranged the tow is liable for any harm done. The property owner is also guilty of an infraction, and can be fined up to $1,000.
Obtain and read a copy of VC 22658 for full details; it is several pages long and I cannot write out all of its provisions in full on this web site.
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