Does you HOA comply with VC22658 aka CA towing laws

Started by VicjosS • 12 replies • 2521 views

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VicjosS (California)
Posts: 26

Posted:

I hear a number of nightmare stores of peoples cars disappearing after being parked on private streets or lots owned by HOAs or apartment complexes. The topic makes a lot of peoples blood boil.

Interesting I read about California towing laws for private property. There is actually a long list of procedures that must be followed to the letter for both property owners, managers, or board members as well as towing companies or otherwise serious consequences could result. In other words those who are unfortunate to be towed while living in or visiting such a property have much more rights than they realize.

There are plenty of restrictions and procedures property owners or community board members must follow as well as the towing company or serious consequences up to criminal penalties could result especially after 2007. Just a short summary is having proper signage at all entrances, board member must be present to sign off the tow, the vehicle if in an unassigned space(but not blocking fire access) must be there for at least an hour, duty to alert law enforcement, etc.

Therefore I ask for those who live in HOA communities how well are you or your community’s leader aware of VC22658 and the rights of vehicle owners and obligations HOA must follow in order to legally remove a car? Or most of you are not aware? How well does your community follow the law when it comes to removal of vehicles?

Interesting references:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hoalawblog.com/amp/2010/12/do_you_tow_vehicles_at_your_as.html

https://sanfranciscopolice.org/vehicle-towing-rights

https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-associations-20140803-story,amp.html

The full list of VC22658 is on the attachment.

After reading all that shouldn’t towing only be a very last resort an HOA and it’s board members should commence?

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📄111418151971.pdf(150 KB)

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By VicjosS on 11/04/2017 11:18 AM

Therefore I ask for those who live in HOA communities how well are you or your community’s leader aware of VC22658 and the rights of vehicle owners and obligations HOA must follow in order to legally remove a car?

Not applicable to me. I live in VA.

Towing regulations vary from State to State, County to County and City to City.
Every HOA who is or is considering towing needs to be in compliance with the applicable codes.

JillS8 (California)
Posts: 101

Posted:

Any Board member that would sign for a car to be towed from a owner's property or common area is crazy and opens themselves up to a legal action. Don't think that "Board Member" liability insurance would cover you for a malicious act. If you have ever uttered a negative word against the owner you are towing, it can be considered malicious. Just this thing happened a couple years ago and the association and the board member personally were held liable and lost. Search the internet the case is out there just can't recall where.

Best to do anything else before you tow. Have you inquired with your Property Management Company and what do they say about towing?

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I only skimmed the attachment and it appears that "agents" can have cars towed. I don't see a requirement that it must be a board member, Vicjos.
I believe our condo twin towers is compliant, but generally Our security staff can reach the violator, who comes and moves the car.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JillS8 on 11/04/2017 8:17 PM
Any Board member that would sign for a car to be towed from a owner's property or common area is crazy and opens themselves up to a legal action.

If your Association has parking restrictions that are enforced by towing and you are not willing to sign papers to have a vehicle towed when required then, perhaps, you should not be on the Board.

JillS8 (California)
Posts: 101

Posted:

There are 2 types of towing. Specific Authorization and General Authorization.
General Authorization: CA Vehicle Code Section 22658(L)(1)E(1) , only allows towing for vehicles parked in marked fire lanes, parked within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, or which interfere with entrance to, or exit from private property.

Specific Towing does allow for towing but a "specific" signed Authorization to the towing company and a representative of the association (BOD) must be on site to sign and give specific information for removal for each tow. It must include the following

-make, model, VIN number,license plate,
-name, signature, title, home address, phone, of the person authorizing the tow
-grounds for removal
-time when Vehicle was first noticed parked on private property
-time when Authorization was given
-show that a conscious effort to contact Vehicle owner was completed

The Specific Towing information is public information and given to the owner of the towed vehicle.

Also iif a tow is In process and the owner comes out to stop it, as long as the tow company is not in route, ( moving) the owner can demand or request the tow stop and the Vehicle must be released to the owner.

For any of the above to be legal, all curbs must be painted, proper signage erected, and paperwork to be legal which our Association has done.Hiring a Management Company or a Tow Company does not take the liability off of the Board or the "representative" . Just the opposite, a tow company agreement that you sign most likely releases the liability from the tow company and puts it on the "representatives" signing the agreement. Most Management companies has similar verbiage, as does ours.

So in response to the " perhaps you shouldn't be on the board comment"... it's not always the best idea to tow. BOD have a fiduciary duty to the Association members as a whole. Opening up the Association to a legal battle vs finding another resolution to the problem goes further to keep the peace and keep the BOD and Association out of costly legal battles.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JillS8 on 11/05/2017 10:49 AM
There are 2 types of towing. Specific Authorization and General Authorization.
General Authorization: CA Vehicle Code Section 22658(L)(1)E(1) , only allows towing for vehicles parked in marked fire lanes, parked within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, or which interfere with entrance to, or exit from private property.

Specific Towing does allow for towing but a "specific" signed Authorization to the towing company and a representative of the association (BOD) must be on site to sign and give specific information for removal for each tow. It must include the following

-make, model, VIN number,license plate,
-name, signature, title, home address, phone, of the person authorizing the tow
-grounds for removal
-time when Vehicle was first noticed parked on private property
-time when Authorization was given
-show that a conscious effort to contact Vehicle owner was completed

The Specific Towing information is public information and given to the owner of the towed vehicle.

Also iif a tow is In process and the owner comes out to stop it, as long as the tow company is not in route, ( moving) the owner can demand or request the tow stop and the Vehicle must be released to the owner.

For any of the above to be legal, all curbs must be painted, proper signage erected, and paperwork to be legal which our Association has done.Hiring a Management Company or a Tow Company does not take the liability off of the Board or the "representative" . Just the opposite, a tow company agreement that you sign most likely releases the liability from the tow company and puts it on the "representatives" signing the agreement. Most Management companies has similar verbiage, as does ours.

So in response to the " perhaps you shouldn't be on the board comment"... it's not always the best idea to tow. BOD have a fiduciary duty to the Association members as a whole. Opening up the Association to a legal battle vs finding another resolution to the problem goes further to keep the peace and keep the BOD and Association out of costly legal battles.

Sound advice.

LetA (Nevada)
Posts: 2,679

Posted:

In all honesty, it is the towing companies that are supposed to be following the towing regs not the HOA. If the HOA wants something
towed, it is the responsibility of the towing company to school the HOA.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By LetA on 11/05/2017 4:35 PM
In all honesty, it is the towing companies that are supposed to be following the towing regs not the HOA. If the HOA wants something
towed, it is the responsibility of the towing company to school the HOA.

Not exactly - if you pay them, the towing company will do whatever you want and if there's a lawsuit, both the towing company and HOA will be named as defendants. That's why it is important for the Board members to know the rules as well. If they want to tow cars, they need to think things through, check the laws to see what is and isn't allowed and go from there.

That said, this doesn't necessarily give homeowners the right to park whatever type of vehicle all over the neighborhood - they have to learn to share, so it's helpful to poll the homeowners on what they feel are the biggest parking issues, then develop policies to deal with them. You can always tweak them as circumstances change.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 3,868

Posted:

As a property manager, my job is to make sure the association has proper signage within their community and that the towing company is towing only with published association rules and regulations.

In 8 years, haven't had a problem. People may not like the consequences, but there has never been a challenge.

VicjosS (California)
Posts: 26

Posted:

From all what I read I believe its best for HOA's to tread lightly in the subject. All owners, leasees, tenants, as well as board members living in associations with private streets or parking lots should know their rights regarding towing in this state and what are the proper procedures to tow.

It appears a number of communities may be very careless on this matter allowing tow truck companies to pick up cars without following procedures which is treading thin ice.

Really in most cases I believe towing should be a last resort and be used in cases such as a vehicle blocking critical access/fire lanes, blocking a driveway, taking up someone's assigned space, abandoned and not affilated with anyone in the neighborhood, or is a habitual member of the public offender. Towing should never be used on a whelm to enforce neighborhood beautification rules particularly in low density neighborhoods where parking congestion is not an issue and they are no fire lanes.

The community I am living is a new one which the builder were in control and the builder majority board and management company just don't seem to bother to follow the civil code on rule changes and added a towing policy without proper notice( noticed required by Civil code and CC&Rs) to many owners that were moved in nor did they make clear changes to the rules on it. The issue is that the builder is leaving and the homeowners would be taking over which means liability for any wrongful policies would end up in the homeowners hands. Thats why the owners and potential board candidates are discussing what to do with the "phantom" policy when the builder leaves.

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 3,868

Posted:

There are different rules when a developer/declarant is in control in regards to changing of the governing documents.

VicjosS (California)
Posts: 26

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By RichardP13 on 11/15/2017 7:57 AM
There are different rules when a developer/declarant is in control in regards to changing of the governing documents.

Richard please let me know of the different rule about changing the CC&Rs in state of California. Our builder has not pulled out of the community yet but will within the next coming year. Though the most important thing is the builder failed to disclose the full CC&Rs document during escrow to many buyers who bought in the same phrase as me. We only learned down the road of some very annoying provisions in there some are not even mentioned in the documents we did receive. As usual in practice some are overlooked completely while others are selectively enforced. When homeowners complain to the board and management company who have hired a lawyer backing them they stated its in the CC&Rs and that would be very difficult and expensive to change. Of course they don't seem to follow their own responsibility to residents in the CC&Rs such as giving us such as giving US mail notices.

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