My fiance and I moved into our apartment several months back. It’s incredibly well-located - close to the CBD and opposite a popular fresh food market (for Victorian dopers it’s the Queen Vic market). Finding a car park is brutal especially on weekends when everyone goes to the market and you get cars circling the block. It’s not a bad area but it’s in the inner city so parking on the street is a bit dodgy at night. Luckily for us there is an underground car park for every apartment in the building. It’s not free-for-all parking - everyone has a set car park and they’re stencilled prominently with the apartment number. I’ve seen car parks our end of the city sell for 25-35k and obviously renters will pay more for an apartment with security parking - so they’re pretty valuable.
When we first moved in we had some trouble with a silver hatchback parking in our spot. We weren’t really fussed the first time and we left a polite note letting them know that we’d taken possession of the apartment and would need the spot from now on. But then we found them in our spot again and left another note telling them that next time we’d have them towed. After that we didn’t have any problems. I don’t know which apartment the car belongs to - I normally see them out on the street but I’ve seen them steal at least 4 other apartments’ car parks. The other week I saw them in our neighbours’ spot - they parked there all weekend which meant that on Saturday our neighbours had to keep moving their car every 2 hours.
Anyway my fiance and I were sick of the silver hatchback stealing people’s spots. They always get notes on their windshield from irate owners if they park in their spots but it doesn’t stop them. So I called our body corporate (the body that collects fees and organises for the maintenance of the property) and complained that there was a car that kept taking other people’s parking spaces. They asked which spots had been taken and I said that ours had in the past, as had our neighbours, and they promised they’d send a notice about the car. I told them that I didn’t want to get our neighbours in trouble and the body corporate promised that it would all be handled anonymously.
So today we got a notice in the mail. It identified the car by the license plate which was good, but then it identified our apartment number and our neighbours’ apartment number! Gee thanks for the anonymity. Yes I know I was being a busybody and yes I know it’s come back to bite me hard. But I feel awful that they identified our neighbours and possibly opened them up to retaliation. They weren’t home today but we left a note under their door apologising and explaining that it was supposed to be anonymous.
I feel so, so guilty for dragging them into this, and I was hoping you guys had suggestions on how to make it right. Cookies don’t really seem to cut it.
Maybe they just identified that information in the copy you got and not the copy that was sent to the owner of the car? Or did I completely misunderstand something?
Nah everyone got the same copy - it was one of those apartment-wide notices that have “To The Resident” on them. We get them from time to time reminding everyone that they’re not allowed to sublet their parking spaces, or telling people that they need to get their garage remotes reprogrammed on a certain day.
The owner of the car is the one that we don’t want with the information because we’re worried that there will be some form of retaliation. Especially against our neighbours, who didn’t complain to the body corporate but now look like snitches.
Not to nit pick, but shouldn’t this issue be addressed to your property management company/landlord?
Have you talked to them about this?
I know it’s annoying, but you seem to have an assigned parking space, and I would pester them (management) about the problem. Let them deal with it.
Sorry for the confusing wording in the OP - the body corporate is the property management body. We own so we don’t have a landlord to bring it up with unfortunately.
The first time I called the body corporate they sent out a general “everybody park in your own spaces” notice. This time, when I gave them the car’s license plate, they identified the car (which is good because everyone was giving them the benefit of the doubt and now people will know that they’re serial offenders) but they also identified the apartments that complained. Only we were the ones who complained, not our neighbours - I’d only given their apartment number as an example of someone else affected. And the hatchback owners know which cars belong to the apartments because our apartment numbers are stencilled on our spots - so my main worry is retaliation against the cars.
As far as I can see, the only thing you’ve done wrong is not calling to have this moron’s car towed every time you see it parked in a spot that doesn’t belong to them. I am kinda surprised at the guilt you seem to be feeling over this - when I lived in a condo and someone parked in my assigned spot, I had them towed immediately, completely guilt-free. It’s like stealing food from a work fridge - you might not know whose it is, but you know it isn’t yours.
People like your idiot neighbour make my blood pressure skyrocket. What makes him so damned special that he gets to take other people’s assigned parking spots in a tight parking area? Make sure you get him towed every time he pulls this stunt in the future. Maybe you could get a car alarm, if you can hear it from your apartment.
I’d be busting their chops for releasing that kind of information to the general public…
On re-reading you OP, I get your point. Sorry to mis-understand.
Is this car owner such a jerk that you would feel they would key your car or something. Are there security cams in your parking area?
To apologise to your neighbours, just knock on their door with a bottle of Johnny Black under your arm and a note. They WILL forgive you, have no worries about that.
But I must say, after the first or second times the silver hatchback had nicked spots, with warnings, I would have been doing something a bit more drastic than contacting the Body Corp.
Nothing says, “Piss Off and Don’t Come Back” like a well-slashed tyre or two.
Just go to your neighbours and apologise in person, explain the situation, and I’m sure they’ll understand. The owner of the car is in the wrong and by now they should know perfectly well that they’re not going to keep getting away with it.
If anything, the letter from the body corporate might not inspire retaliation from them, it might just send them off looking for a different parking space to use for a while. Of course, if there is suspicious damage to vehicles, you have a suspect (and the silver hatchback owner should be smart enough to work that one out too).
Hopefully your neighbours will understand that you were trying to resolve the situation in the appropriate manner and despite asking for anonymity for both apartments, you weren’t to blame.
Okay we just popped round to the neighbours’ place (no Johnny I’m afraid) and explained what happened. The guy we spoke to wasn’t the one we initially talked to about the cars, so I think he didn’t really understand what was going on. But he seemed pleasant enough and said not to worry about it - so we’re off the hook but they also think we’re crazy. Incidentally there are like 4 people crammed into that 2BR apartment - I have no idea how they all fit.
My fiance thinks I’m being paranoid since the body corporate just sent out a “don’t do it again” letter and it’s not like it affected the silver hatchback people at all. It’s mainly public shaming - but I guess if you’re brazen enough to steal parking spots then you’re probably not too concerned about social niceties.
But if you guys reckon that they’re unlikely to retaliate then I don’t feel so bad (and I do feel better after speaking with the neighbours). It’s just that our car is a fair bit nicer than theirs, and it really is my fiance’s baby, so better safe than sorry.
Incidentally there are like 4 people crammed into that 2BR apartment - I have no idea how they all fit.