Got a question for all of you that currently or have lived in condos in the past.

My gf owns a condo that has assigned parking stalls (like most condos) with visitor spots that are clearly marked on the ground. We came home tonight and its been the third time (different cars each time) that some asshole parked in her stall. Obviously, there's no way of tracking the owner of that car except sitting there until they come back. We've left notes but that still doesn't solve the issue of losing her spot for the day/night. It's a giant pain in the ass when you come home later in the evening to find someone in your spot that is clearly not meant for visitor parking. There aren't even any visitor stalls on her floor of the parkade.

She has complained to her strata council about it, but their response is that there is nothing they can do and we're SOL. They said they can only fine/tow an illegally parked car if it's registered to a suite within the building. (i.e. I live in unit #203 and my license plate is registered to stall #33 but I parked in #41.) What they're saying is that any unregistered car (visitor or renting tenant) can park anywhere they choose to because the strata council can't tow them.

What avenues do we have if we run into another situation like this? Are they correct in what they said, or are they just completely incompetent?

^

Are the visitors area not separated from the private one?!

If that's the case, I'd get permission from strata council and install a parking stall lock and be done with it. I mean, it's annoying, but I guess it's better than coming home at night and be left without parking.

Just gonna put it out there, whoever wants mortgage advice you can PM me. I do alot of them

Is the parkade just open or is it other people with access to the parkade?

In our old building every sign in our lobby etc said "any parking violations such as parking in unauthorized spots etc should be reported to Burnaby towing"

Not sure if they would just come and tow someone because how do you prove it's your spot unless you have some paper work.

Kinda shitty since it's 3 different cars and not the same vehicle each time, would have made things easier

What? Someone is parked on your property, you are not allowed to call tow truck?

If the strata won't tow them or let you have them towed that's horseshit. I'd store my nail ridden 2x4 somewhere safe like under there back tires and if they happen to run over it when they leave that sucks to be them.

I'd key the fuck out of their car. Maybe they'll learn a lesson not to park there.

Or let all the air out of their tires.

In my condo, I can call the tow truck anytime someone parks in my stall.

The first gated area of the parkade is for the retail space. There's another gate that opens up, which leads to the visitor and resident parking. There are 4 visitor parking spots and the rest are all resident owned spots. The visitor parking spots are clearly labeled on the ground, whereas the resident spots have #s.

The strata council has said they do not have the power to tow a car that isn't registered to any of the units. I just want to know if that's actually true, or if they're just being lazy assholes about it.

We can't really key the car because there are security cameras everywhere and if they report it to strata or something then they'll just look up the stall number and find out that it's my gf's stall. We just want to know if we have legal recourse to call a tow truck to move the car without us getting into any legal issues

Yeah that's like vandalism, if they run over my 2x4 that's on them.

The strata won't be able to request the tow but you should be able to. Or be like Mr bean and see if you can push it out of the way

I'm guessing retail shoppers accidentally trickled in to residential parking lot.
Is waiting for gate to close, and not letting car behind in before gate close, strickly enforced?

Are there not any tow signs around in terms of who is responsible for the buildings towing?

Ask to see the bylaws. Strata is generally responsible for the care of the building which include the parkade. Them telling you they cannot tow non-tenant's unauthorized vehicles is most likely bullshit.

Put up some ghetto sign/blockade on the space in the meantime.

leave a bucket there lol

Unregister your car / change your license plate
Now you can park at any spot in the parkade! :alonehappy:

Leave a note saying you saw someone hit their car. Say you'll be their witness. Then have them call you back and there you go. License plate number, name, phone number.

So someone is parking in your designated spot?

If that's the case, the strata DOES have full rights to tow the car after a given period of time. For my building, the strata posts a note in the lobby/elevators and says the car has 72hours to be moved or else it will be towed & stored at the tow yard at the vehicle owners expense.

Again, 72hours is bullshit, but it's better than nothing?

I know my grandmas building tows the minute the car is verified that it does not belong to the spot. (Grandmas building has a number of license plates registered to each spot. Ie. A family has 2 spots yet 4 cars, all 4 cars are registered to the 2 spots, if a non-registered car is parked there, it gets towed IMMEDIATELY.)

can't strata just sub out to 1 tow truck company? i'm sure they'll love towing violators and making easy money.

Your girlfriend doesn't own the parking space, but she is legally entitled to the exclusive use of it. The strata by laws should give the council the full power of enforcement over common areas including parkades that are for the exclusive use of residents and their visitors.

Your girlfriend should get a written response from the property manager outlining the reasons under the current strata's bylaws why vehicles not assigned to the parking space can't be towed. In the meantime, the suggestions of using a bucket or some other obstruction to prevent people from using the space are good ones and perfectly reasonable and compliant with the strata's by laws.

I've slept on this, I think the best option would be to find out which spots belong to the Strata members and park in those spots when hers is occupied and sometimes even when it's not just to prove a point. I guarantee if they aren't towing now they will be after the next meeting.

Strata is likely too lazy to deal with the possible fallout of having someone towed.

Fallout? Are signs not good enough?