Neighbor suckyness

[Summerfly413]

This isn't super sucky, but it's really annoying.

I live in a 5 story apartment complex, on the bottom floor. There is one assigned and numbered parking spot per apartment. There are also guest spots.

It's perfectly ok to park in the numbered parking spots as long as no one is living in that apartment. When I was parking in the spot for the apartment next to us I got a note on my windshield one day saying that someone was going to move in, so I would need to move. Not a big deal, and I did.

Well, me and my mom live in my sister's apartment. She used to live on the 4th floor. My mom was parking in her old spot because no one was living there.

A few days ago I came home from school and up on the forth floor some woman asked me if I knew who was parking in spot 405(where my mom was parking). I kind of freaked out because I don't really like talking to random people, especially when I'm not prepared for it. I just said "I don't know.."

Then the lady started saying that it was her neighbors spot, and that the car parked in her spot hasn't moved for weeks(my mom doesn't leave the house a whole lot, but her car does leave that spot a few times a week, sometimes overnight or for a whole weekend). Then she said that they wanted to find the owner before they got it towed.

Ok, really?

There's a few things wrong with this.
1-How are we supposed to just *know* that someone moved in to an apartment four stories above us?
2-why didn't the neighbor put a note on my mom's car, instead of just waiting and maybe hoping to see the driver?
3-why would they be getting it towed when they didn't contact the driver at all? i could understand finding the driver, telling them to move, and they don't. but with absolutely no contact?

the whole thing just bothered me so much.
I went and told my mom and she moved her car. See how easy that is? My mom wouldn't have parked there for weeks after someone moved in if we knew someone was living up there!

[bainsidhe]

Yes, a note on the car would have been nice, but it really wasn't their responsibility. Whether your mother knew someone lived there or not, it was still another apartment's parking spot and she would be responsible if towed. Although I might add it isn't a neighbor's place to call towing unless it's their own parking spot.

My sister lives in an apartment where people often park in her stall because it's convenient. It's seldom other tenants, it's almost always the friends of other tenants. Leaving notes doesn't work. So she either knocks on doors to find out who owns the car and make them move, or she parks directly behind them so they have to find her before they can leave. I swear she's going to get keyed or worse one day, not that her car isn't already in terrible condition.

[Andara Bledin]

In my complex, if you're in a spot that doesn't belong to you, you have a very good chance of being towed. That day. No notes, no warning, if it's not your spot, you're going to be towed eventually.

If there's enough visitor parking that it's not an issue to move to it, why not be there in the first place?

^-.-^

[LillFilly]

In my complex everyone's vehicle(s) are registered to their apartments. You can have as many vehicles as you want, but should only take 1-space per apartment directly in-front, and park the rest of your vehicles further down. There's plenty for everyone, but some people gripe about wanting the 'front' spots and complain if any car parks in 'their' spot!

If they see a vehicle not registered to an apartment for a long time, or one with expired reg/insp, they will have it towed; but they leave a nice sticky warning on it first

[Midorikawa]

I actually had someone towed 2 days ago for parking in my spot, however, the HOA has made it very clear that if residents are found to be parking in guest spots, they will be towed, so my only choices were, put my very distinct 1973 Plymouth in the guest spot, and risk getting towed, or call to have the person in my spot towed.

At my condo park, there's 2 spots for each unit, one covered, one uncovered. We actually have 3 cars, but use a neighbor's unused second spot. This means I can't just go and not use the taken spot.

Unfortunately, the person in my spot was towed, but there was plenty of guest spots, and it shouldn't have been a problem to park in one of them, instead of a clearly marked spot, so the problem's on them, not me.

[blas]

It's always Parking Wars where I live.

If I didn't work night shift and wasn't home almost all day every day (well, until later in the evening at least), I know for a fact my parking spot would be rented out all day to my neighbor's friends.

They utilize every blank spot that there is (even if it's someone else's) for their friends.

But if I try that with my friends, they get greeted by my psycho elderly downstairs neighbors yelling at them.

[Stormraven]

We had some issues when we first moved into our Condo about parking. We get a garage and a designated spot. A lot of times, our spot was taken.

We got on the HOA to verify that it was our spot, then started calling the tow trucks whenever anyone was parked, but not near the car.

We figure if they're nearby, we just ask them to move, but if they're not, we call the tows.

It took about six months of that, but we haven't had any major issues for years.

[PepperElf]

it's actually pretty nice parking where i live.

for the most part it's open lot parking and there's enough spots for everyone. the only assigned parking is for the handicapped residents and their spots are in fact protected by the law by the use of handicapped signs.

but i've mentioned before what happened to one of my old coworkers M at his old apartment when he decided to park in one of the covered stalls... a stall you had to pay a monthly fee for... a stall that was being specifically rented by another resident. M woke up in the morning to find his car had been towed during the night.

[vstorevigilante]

Slightly OT, but my boyfriend (well, his parents really) owns the 6-building, 72-unit apartment complex I live in (that's how I ended up here ), and has a backhoe he uses to do "work" (a 20 year old guy and a backhoe? that's just an oversized tonka truck ) around the buildings, and for a week he had it parked at the end of one building's lot. Finally, after days and days of it being there, he gets a call from someone in the building asking if, "Someone could please maybe move the tractor? It's in my spot and I didn't want to be rude, but I really do need to park there." Polite as anything! He felt terrible and moved it ASAP of course. But basically, this woman was the complete opposite of your neighbor.

[sprocket79]

I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate sucky parkers!!! I rent a house now and park on the street (1 car garage is used by my mom). A renter 2 houses away has a BMW - on the new side, if not totally brand new - that she NEVER drives. She parks it in front of my house, my neighbors house, other neighbors' houses for days or WEEKS at a time. It pisses me off so much when she parks in front of my house. It's *my* house. There is no reason for anyone to park there who is not me or visiting me or my direct next door neighbor.

I could probably be evil and call the cops on her because technically you can't leave a car for more than a few days on the street without moving it, but I'm not mean enough to do it - YET.

[Andara Bledin]

First: Sure, it's your house, but it's not your curb. Anyone on the street can park anywhere they want that isn't otherwise marked, and while you find it irritating there's nothing wrong with it.

Second: Check your local laws. In my area, it's 72 hours, at which point you can report it as abandoned and if it's still there 24 hours after that, it gets towed.

^-.-^

[sprocket79]

First: Sure, it's your house, but it's not your curb. Anyone on the street can park anywhere they want that isn't otherwise marked, and while you find it irritating there's nothing wrong with it.

Second: Check your local laws. In my area, it's 72 hours, at which point you can report it as abandoned and if it's still there 24 hours after that, it gets towed.

^-.-^

It may not be my curb, but as I said, no one has a REASON to park there who is not either myself or visiting me or my direct neighbors. My sucky neighbor could park in front of her house, but for some insane reason, she doesn't. Leaving her car for days or weeks at a time in front of various houses has not endeared her to anyone. I could call the cops on her, like I said, because I do know my local laws, but I am not ready to start a war. It's still annoying to no end.

I'm not some curb-nazi. I don't care if my neighbors have visitors who park in front of my house. I just care when someone leaves their car where everyone knows I usually park (ie. directly in front of my house) for a week.

[HYHYBT]

...a 20 year old guy and a backhoe? that's just an oversized tonka truck ...

For a while, Dad had an old front end loader. It was essentially a 1950-ish John Deere tractor, but yellow, with tracks instead of wheels, and a backhoe on the back and a scoop on the front. Stepmom made him get rid of it after he nearly tore the living room off the house one day.

Trying to have you towed out of your own spot, then having the unmitigated gall to complain when you have her towed from the same place? Sometimes never seeing people again is too soon.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Second: Check your local laws. In my area, it's 72 hours, at which point you can report it as abandoned and if it's still there 24 hours after that, it gets towed.

In my area I think it's 4 days. However, if you consistently leave your car there week after week, then the county considers you to be "garaging" or storing your car in the county and requires that you get a county sticker. Failing to do so involves the usual fines, etc.

I had this problem with a local school employee that would park their truck in front of my house on Monday, then leave it there until Friday. They had a sticker from a nearby county. After a few complaints, my county finally left them a nasty note (or maybe a ticket), and they haven't been seen since. An additional suck on their part was they had a parking sticker for the school parking lot.

[Mnemjian]

Oh, parking!! Why is there so often a huge problem with parking spots? I've definitely had my share

This kind of reminds me of this one time a few months ago: someone (I never found out who) started calling the cops because my car and a few other cars didn't appear to move from the street parking. My car, at least, moves at least a few times a week when I go to shopping/school. I walk to work so I don't use it every day. Sometimes, however, I would park it in the SAME spot when I got home! gasp! So to the casual(ly annoying) (un)observer, it may have looked like I wasn't moving my car.

A few other cars which along the street and I started getting typed notices about how if we didn't move our car every 72 hours, we would get towed. I was kind of worried because I WAS moving my car at least every 72 hours. Obviously they couldn't tell! How could I even prove that I was moving my car? I was not about to let it get towed for someone else's stupid mistake. So I've started to make sure to park in different spots and the notes disappeared. Seriously, though, it was pretty stupid But at least there was a note!