How do you get a tenant to move non-operational cars blocking your rental property driveway is the question this week for Ask Landlord Hank. Remember Hank is not an attorney and he is not offering legal advice. If you have a question for him please fill out the form below.
Dear Landlord Hank,
I have a long-time tenant who has 2 non-operational cars on a shared driveway. I have asked her to move them with no avail. I now want to give her a 30-day notice to move the cars (I don’t think they are hers) or have them towed at the car owner’s expense. I live in California. Can I do this without repercussions?
-Pat
Dear Pat,
The first thing to do is check your lease to see how parking is handled. Normally there would be clauses to address this issue. In one lease I checked, the document states: “Parking: Non-operative vehicles are not permitted on the premises. Any such vehicles may be removed by management at the expense of the resident owning same, for storage or public or private sale, at management’s option, and resident owning same shall have no right of recourse against management thereafter.”
In the Florida MLS lease agreement, it states that: “Tenant shall not obstruct the driveways, which shall be used for purposes of ingress or egress only.” Later in this lease it states that: “A tenant shall have three days to cure parking in an unauthorized manner or permitting such parking.”
I would give your tenant an official written notice of the lease violation with a time limit to resolve the issue or face consequences, which may be found in your lease or even eviction. If this is a shared driveway, it’s a burden on the other tenants that use this driveway or should be able to use it.
Sincerely,
Hank Rossi
Sarasota, Florida
Each week I answer questions from landlords and property managers across the country in my “Dear Landlord Hank” blog in the digital magazine Rental Housing Journal. https://rentalhousingjournal.com/asklandlordhank/
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