Generally speaking, would I as an owner in good standing, have a right to copies of service contracts the the Association signs? This had to do with a vehicle that was towed (my tenant’s). The towing company says they don’t tow without specific authorization/request as that’s not they type of contract they have. They won’t say who, specifically, requested the tow. The association says the towing company checks for permit tags and tows if they don’t see them. Somebody is lying. I’ve asked the Association for a copy of the contract but anticipate a fight. The permit was displayed (according to my tenant) and no one will tell him why his truck was towed. He already paid $200 and missed a days work in order to get it back. I think someone goofed and doesn’t want to own up to it.
IANAL, but it’s been my experience that tow companies maintain paperwork for each tow job and it usually describes the reason for towing a vehicle. Otherwise, they have no way of justifying why it was towed and why the owner should pay them. Didn’t your tenant get a copy or a receipt or something along these lines? If the paperwork says “no parking permit,” then that’s something that can be challenged. But there’s not much to challenge if it’s a question of exactly how they came to find the vehicle to start with.
TL;DR: Who cares how they came to tow it? Argue about whether the permit was properly displayed.
When he went to pick up his truck, couldn’t he have pointed to the permit that was there if it was, in fact, there?
Missed the edit: Most towing contracts I’ve seen specifically give the towing company permission to tow vehicles from a property when they are not displaying the required permit. Whether or not the towing company actually patrols the property to actively find such vehicles is an option. What generally happens is that a business owner or property manager let’s the company know that they’ve been having problems with unpermitted vehicles recently and so the towing company runs over to tow a few and makes some $$$$. Doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with one specific vehicle.
YMMV
Condo associations serve at the pleasure of, and for the benefit of, the homeowners. Any agreements they have entered into on behalf of the homeowners are a matter of public record. Granted, sometimes it seems as though they become petty tyrants, but they can’t deny you a copy of an agreement that affects you as a homeowner.
Most states give condo owners the right to inspect the business records of the association.
In my condo association’s rules, cars parked in “visitor” spots are okay, cars parked in “permit only” spots must display a permit, and cars parked in “reserved” numbered spots are towed only if that spot’s owner calls the tow company. Even the condo board president can’t have a car towed from a “reserved” spot unless he/she owns that spot (every owner gets ONE reserved spot).
Needless to say, we’ve had a few cases over the years of cars in reserved spots being mysteriously towed or ticketed. Happened to me once in my own spot. In most cases, I assume a nosy or vindictive neighbor called and pretended to be the owner, and the highly sophisticated towing company ethics officer verified their identity before sending a truck.
That last part is sarcasm.
I don’t know if he pointed out the permit when he picked it up. I have a copy of the paperwork and all its says in the “Requested by” box is “Owner”. He certainly didn’t request that his own car be towed. And it is dated 10 days prior to the actual tow. In the Type of Service box it looks like a box UAPV has a mark next to it - unapproved vehicle , I assume. If he says the permit was there and they say it wasn’t its “He said, she said” and they have the money.
I have to say, if I was subject to the hassle and expense of what your tenant went through, it would be foremost in my mind to look on the dash when I went to pick up my car, check if my permit was displayed correctly or if it had fallen off or something. In fact, I would be videoing entering the lot and approaching the car to document it clearly. If he failed to do that, it’s really on him that he isn’t getting his $200 back, even if he is being truthful that the permit was displayed.
Wait, the tow paperwork is pre-dated? As in, filled out with a date PRIOR to the tow occurrence?
That seems like shenanigans to me.