Parking at my apartment complex has become more of a problem. There are two assigned parking spaces per rental unit. Some of the tenants have more than two vehicles which causes a problem when they “borrow” the neighboring tenant’s unoccupied parking space. Can we limit the number of vehicles per tenant? Should this be covered in the lease agreement for tenant parking policy and rules?
Landlord–tenant statutes usually do not address issues such as tenant parking. A landlord should control parking spaces by assignments to tenants rather than by the number of vehicles a tenant may have. A landlord would not have a right to restrict parking on public property – for example, on the street in front of the property – except as restricted by the city or a home owner association. However, as with most rental issues, in order to avoid misunderstanding, it is best to have parking rules well defined in the lease agreement or by a “Rules & Regulations” document that is attached to the lease agreement and referred to by the agreement, with the R&R document and signed or at least initialed at the time of lease signing.
To help reduce tenant misunderstandings about parking at the rental property, a landlord should clearly state his tenant parking policy and parking rules in the governing lease agreement, as a separate parking addendum, or within a “Rules & Regulations document as mentioned above. The latter two methods is usually preferred because they can be updated as needed without amending of the lease agreement if so stated in the lease agreement. The R & R document is often used rather than a single-issue parking addendum, as other issues can modified as needed within a single attached document. It is a good business practice to review the appropriate document(s) during tenant move-in orientation and have the tenant(s) sign and date the document(s) to acknowledge tenant understanding of the parking policy and rules.
Some of the key issues regarding parking policy and rules that should be addressed in the lease agreement, attached parking addendum, or attached R&R include:
- A clear statement of the landlord’s parking policy and rules for the rental property. A landlord sets and enforces his policy and holds the tenant accountable to comply with lease provisions. Parking at the rental property is an amenity offered to the tenant. A tenant does not own his parking spot and cannot trade spaces with other tenants without permission of the landlord.
- A landlord is responsible for legal compliances for applicable laws including reasonable accommodations, local ordinances regarding on-site parking and public parking on streets, and local fire and emergency services codes for access and safety. Rules including signage should be posted regarding parking regulations, fire lanes, and designated handicapped parking spaces.
- Tenant and guest parking should be in designated parking areas only. No parking should be allowed on common areas, landscaped areas, by dumpsters, or off of paved areas.
- Tenant vehicles should have current registration and license plates.
- Tenants should be required to register personal vehicles and issued parking permits or identification tags for assigned parking spaces. A limitation of one standard-sized vehicle per parking space should be enforced.
- The parking policy and rules may prohibit or restrict over-sized vehicles, recreational vehicles, trailers, boats and other similar non-standard vehicles from being parked on the rental property or could restrict those types of vehicles to a designated parking area at the back of the property.
- Non-operating vehicles should not be permitted to remain in parking spaces or in parking areas beyond a reasonable amount of time necessary for inspection and repair.
- As applicable by statute or ordinance, landlords can develop and enforce a towing policy to remove non-operating vehicles, vehicles parked illegally or in violation of fire and safety codes, expired vehicle registration and license plates, etc. Landlords may be required by law to visibly post towing policy and procedures on rental property grounds and/or include towing policy and procedures in tenant lease agreements. Tenant warnings and notification procedures regarding towing and financial responsibility for towing costs should be disclosed to tenants.