Guest Parking Problems

Started by EkremS • 6 replies • 2372 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

EkremS (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Our condo association has a major parking problem. Most of the spaces were sold off by the developer and we now have about 15 guest spaces for 222 units. The problem is that many condos have 2 cars and only 1 space so residents will use guest parking for their own 2nd car. This leads to no spaces for true guests. We've tried guest tags that limit parking to 24 hours and then 48 hours on the weekend but it's not helping as people are abusing it and just moving their cars one space to another and getting around the rules. What have other communities done to restrict parking to true guests and also prevent abuse by residents?

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

instead of guest passes, issue parking passes (1 per unit). then, any car that ISN'T bearing a pass gets one warning note.

Second time it is spotted, you run the tags to find out if it is an owner registered car or not, and if so, tow it.

All of this, of course, is predicated that your CC&R's allow such draconic activity.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Ekrem,

And, if you take Brian's advice to tow; you will want to know what the towing laws are in your city/county. I believe you may have to post signs indicating cars will be towed. Since this is a condo, I'm assuming (and I never like to do that! ) your streets are private so there is no problem in towing.

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

You say that you've used guest tags in the past. How do you keep the resident/owners from usiing guest passes for their own vehicles when one household may have 3 or 4 cars?

EkremS (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

Thanks for the responses and sorry for the delay. We lost power up in the DC area from the storms. But the problem is the residents using the guest spots for too long. We enforce a 24 hour rule with the towing company since we are allowed to tow but they often don't monitor them aggresively enough. If we were to issue parking passes one per unit then we'd not solve the issue i think. We want the guest spots to be mainly for guests and then if you have a 2nd car then you can park outside on the street. Right now folks with 2 or 3 cars and only 1 space park their cars in guest spots.

MikeS1
Posts: 668

Posted:

This sounds like a 4 level condo complex in the Fair Lakes, Fairfax Corner area. I say keep the residents totally out of the guest spaces. After a while, you know who is a resident and who isn't. Permit the resident vehicles with stickers and tow them if they park in the guest spaces. Yeh, they will try to scam it and make you believe that they are a guest, but then you could use this language in your next parking resolution to keep them out of the spaces. Define your visitor/Visitor vehicles.

"Visitor / Visitor vehicles: A visitor and/or visitor vehicle in XXX Community is an individual (and his/her vehicle, whether owned, borrowed or merely operated) who does not own, rent, or otherwise reside in XXXX Community and who visits no more frequently than three (3) separate occasions per every 7-day week . Visitor permit parking is limited to 24 consecutive hours in any of the visitor space(s) within the community unless the board grants written permission."

This should weed out the folks that would otherwise abuse your rules.

EkremS (Virginia)
Posts: 7

Posted:

It's close to fairlakes, we're in Merrifield and are a garden style community. If we ban all residents from parking in the guest spots anyway we can allow them short term parking there so they can hold a space for their friends? I like the concept you suggested. I know it'll cause anger at first as we have so few spare spaces for 2nd cars but oh well. I guess that's the only way you can make guest spots truly guest spots.

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here