For sake of argument, let’s assume this is a hypothetical situation. I’m confident this will all blow over in a few days.
I live in a condominium with tandem parking. My roommate, who owns the property (or, to be precise, is heir to the Family Trust which officially owns the property) decided to leave his truck parked behind my car, preventing me from driving anywhere, while he left for a weekend concert festival and hasn’t returned any of my phone calls for the last twelve hours. This is apparently in retaliation for an argument we had over the air conditioner settings, where I was willing to compromise but he was not.
Naturally, I expect him to claim it was an honest mistake, and I’ll probably wind up accepting that, but I’m curious to know if any specific legal statutes were violated, just in case he actually does claim it was his right to do so intentionally, because he’s [del]a spoiled rotten trust fund kiddie[/del] the legal property owner. At this moment, I don’t expect the situation to escalate any farther than it already has – but like Batman, I like to be prepared.
Okay, false alarm…my roommate came home, said it was an honest mistake and apologized, and I’m actually inclined to believe him. (This time…)
So now this really IS a hypothetical question – if a property owner really did intentionally block access to his tenant’s vehicle, for whatever facile reason, what would be the tenant’s recourse?
IANAL, but I am a law student. The first thing that comes to mind would be that he would be breaching the contract for you to have quiet enjoyment of your home. Since the lease includes an available parking area, by intentionally disallowing you access to that area and your car, he is in breach and responsible for any financial or other harm that results from you not having access to your vehicle.
Off the top of my head, I can’t see why you couldn’t have his vehicle towed either. He is the owner of the property, but you have a lease. You have the right to control the goings on at the property just the same as he does. So long as you can move the vehicle without damaging it or otherwise causing a breach of the peace, I can’t see why you couldn’t tow it.
Maybe someone else will come along and tell me I’m wrong…
Are you a roommate or a tenant? Is there a lease and if so does the lease include a parking space ? I get that parking comes with the condo, but it seems like you have space to park one car behind the other almost like a driveway rather than two spaces side by side. I’ve known plenty of cases where the owner of a two-family house did not give the tenant parking privileges where one car would necessarily block the other.
I have a written lease, though I can’t recall if it specifically addresses parking. We do have a verbal agreement that Roomie & I will share the tandem lot, so any visitors or future boarders will have to park on the street (which can be a nightmare!) Most of the time, I live here full-time while Roomie shows up 1-2 days per month, whenever he’s passing through town, until last month when he decided to move in full-time while finishing his college degree. He’s actually a good kid, and doesn’t always act like a privileged trust fund brat…except around his friends. Dear GOD, he can be like Jekyll & Hyde sometimes.
It’s a family situation, so things can get a little, err, dysfunctional at times – basically, any argument between the involved parties has equal chance of blowing over peacefully or triggering WWIII.
I would argue “Course of Performance.” Even if your lease doesn’t specify parking, during the term of the lease you have been provided off-street parking without objection which has been fully understood and acknowledged by the landlord. Therefore, off-street parking, in which you can access your vehicle unimpeded, has become a part of the lease.
Rather than viewing this from a legal aspect, how about a practical aspect? You can each get a spare set of keys made for your vehicles, to be permanently stored in the condo. That way, if either one of you happen to find yourself in this situation again, the solution is easy.
