Car got towed from apartment parking, who is at fault?

[Eli]

Apparently it's a feature, and I discovered it the exact same way. Tried to enter a thread I made, and oops... the thread title got edited something odd.

I guess it's a feature for thread-creators to edit the thread title on the fly?

It's especially annoying for me since I can edit all thread titles. I have a habit of double clicking in the window so I can scroll with the arrow keys, but half the time I end up selecting a thread title and have to click out before accidently changing it to jibberish.

 

[Crusty]

I left the Campus Legal Services out of my first reply. Check into that and see if your school offers it. My roomie and I had to use that 3 years ago to get our landlord to fix the bathroom ceiling which had cracked from a leaking drain pipe and flooding our bathroom. (Hah, they fixed the pipe too)

THIS! UT has free services for students on the 3rd or 4th floor of the SSB. I've used them before in lease situations and they definitely can help you out. Dealing with land lords in West/North campus is a bitch, they all treat you like you are pieces of shit since you are in college.

For whats it worth, living in south austin along a bus route to campus(1,5,7,10) is far far better than west campus IMO.

 

[ElFenix]

I have never heard of someone depositing rent via online banking. How does that even work? Maybe if they happen to be with the same bank as you, but with most banks you can't transfer money between different banks online.

I know that Wells Fargo just added this feature, but I don't think it's the norm.

Checks are used because it provides a paper trail. I am sure some people use money orders too.

your online bank only allows bill pay via electronic transfer?

mine sends a check if it's not someone they're connected to electronically. pay my rent that way all the time. haven't had a checkbook since 2003.

I deal with a lot of landlords in my job - I've never, EVER seen a landlord here who gets paid with cheques, and I doubt any of my clients would accept a cheque any more than they would accept a napkin that says "I promise I'll pay you in a week". With every landlord I deal with, and every landlord I've ever had/seen/met, rent is paid by straight bank transfer - usually automatically debited, but that's up to the tenant.

i sure as fuck wouldn't want a landlord to directly debit my account. and i doubt the landlord would want me to know their account and routing number.

 

[CraigRT]

Not enough advance notice. How did they know you were even in town?

This for sure!
They should not have gone ahead and towed any cars, or done any of the work, without making sure everyone in the building knew. (confirming it with live people)

 

[Crusty]

your online bank only allows bill pay via electronic transfer?

mine sends a check if it's not someone they're connected to electronically. pay my rent that way all the time. haven't had a checkbook since 2003.

All of my utility bills are sent electronically from my bank as well, with the option to mail checks to businesses that aren't registered or whatever on their system.

 

[Eli]

your online bank only allows bill pay via electronic transfer?

mine sends a check if it's not someone they're connected to electronically. pay my rent that way all the time. haven't had a checkbook since 2003.

I completely forgot about Bill Pay. I've never used it, so it never crossed my mind. When I think of "paying online", the first thing that comes to mind is an electronic transfer.

But no, Wells Fargo has the bill pay where they'll issue a check. I still think that's different than the system Mike Gayner is talking about, though.

And yeah, I've written about 10 checks in my entire life. Though we're currently writing checks for rent. I wonder if we could use Bill Pay. Sure would make things a lot easier. But the check is placed in a UPS Store PO box, so I'm not sure if Bill Pay would handle that.

 

[Leros]

THIS! UT has free services for students on the 3rd or 4th floor of the SSB. I've used them before in lease situations and they definitely can help you out. Dealing with land lords in West/North campus is a bitch, they all treat you like you are pieces of shit since you are in college.

For whats it worth, living in south austin along a bus route to campus(1,5,7,10) is far far better than west campus IMO.

I live on right on the north edge of north campus. Its a 50/50 mixture of students and non-students. Quiet, clean, etc. But my unit is owned by the same crappy landlords as all of the other college apartments.

West campus sucks. North campus is better. Where I live is better and I'm 1 block away from the last UT shuttle stop.

 

[SooperDave]

1. Beats the crap out of me.

2. Its check only. No other option.

3. I probably should, but meh.

You seem "meh" about the whole thing. Id be livid! Are you paying for this yourself or is someone paying the bills for you? (not an attack; I just don't see how you can be so nonchalant)

 

[BurnItDwn]

Break the lease, move all your valuable shit to storage, and live there until they physically kick you out for nonpayment. The landlord sounds like a scumbag. Don't pay a dime. Teach them a lesson.

 

[aigomorla]

Break the lease, move all your valuable shit to storage, and live there until they physically kick you out for nonpayment. The landlord sounds like a scumbag. Don't pay a dime. Teach them a lesson.

and watch you screw your own credit + no new rent place likes a tenant with previous evictions.

Meaning fat chance your gonna get rent somewhere else..


OP, pay the full rent on time.
Dont give management an excuse to use against u in court.

Talk to management, and let them know if they dont work with you, your going to goto small claims court.

Trust me, the owners will get pissed at the managers for making them go out to small claims court, when they dont have a 100% of winning the case.

And it will piss the owners off even more at the manager when they lose and they need to pay you.

So its the best way to get back at the managers.

 

[Leros]

You seem "meh" about the whole thing. Id be livid! Are you paying for this yourself or is someone paying the bills for you? (not an attack; I just don't see how you can be so nonchalant)

I don't feel like wasting countless hours of my life for probably no purpose at all. I'll make a little bit of effort personally with the landlord, but I'm not going to small claims court for $150.

 

[Leros]

Break the lease, move all your valuable shit to storage, and live there until they physically kick you out for nonpayment. The landlord sounds like a scumbag. Don't pay a dime. Teach them a lesson.

I really like living here.

Its a single floor apartment (ground floor, nobody above me). I'm on an end unit. Its quiet. I'm far from campus and the obnoxiously crowded college neighborhood. I'm only a 2 minute walk from the farthest out campus bus stop.

I'm a happy camper, except for the shitty management problems which happen a few times a year. It would cost me more money and more stress to move than to just suck it up and deal with my problems

 

[lurk3r]

pay the tow fee, subtract it from your rent and attach the receipt to your cheque, and I'd probably report the car stolen first and press charges, give him as much legal trouble as you can, if you have to pay a taxi to turn the cheque subtract that too.

 

[TwiceOver]

If you like where you live, you'll pretty much have to eat it. At best, you may be able to talk them into half or something.

If you cause trouble I imagine your stay to be short.

And yes, two days notice is not enough. There had to be much longer planning than that involved in ripping up a whole parking lot.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

It's not legal unless they notify you and can prove it. Registered mail.

Have fun collecting though.

 

[Lotheron]

I don't feel like wasting countless hours of my life for probably no purpose at all. I'll make a little bit of effort personally with the landlord, but I'm not going to small claims court for $150.

He's saying that the threat alone will probably make them cave.

That being said, be prepared to follow through if you actually make said threat.

 

[Brainonska511]

I really like living here.

Its a single floor apartment (ground floor, nobody above me). I'm on an end unit. Its quiet. I'm far from campus and the obnoxiously crowded college neighborhood. I'm only a 2 minute walk from the farthest out campus bus stop.

I'm a happy camper, except for the shitty management problems which happen a few times a year. It would cost me more money and more stress to move than to just suck it up and deal with my problems

You're just going to let them roll over you? I'd move out of an apartment with shitty management like that - it's not worth the hassle and there are too many other fine apartments available where you don't have to deal with that crap.

 

[Leros]

Sigh. I just got a notice on my door.

"The following property has been acquired and is now owned by Fannie Mae. Contact the agent below immediately or your unit will be determine unoccupied and your possessions may be removed."

There is a business card for a broker from Prudential. I'm waiting for them to call me back.

My property management company (the people I've been calling the landlord) must have known this was coming because she called me two weeks ago to let me know that a person from the bank was coming to inspect the unit. I thought it was just changing owners. This sort of explains why they didn't bother making any proper notifications.

 

[Leros]

He's saying that the threat alone will probably make them cave.

That being said, be prepared to follow through if you actually make said threat.

Btw, I wasn't planning on making any threat, because I don't feel like having to follow through. But I find a nice stern asking is usually enough.

They never bothered replying to me though. I now see why. See above post ^

 

[Leros]

So the broker said that I can live here rent free until somebody buys the place or they'll give me $1400 to move out in 30 days.

I can also do a month to month lease, at my current rate. Once the property is purchased, I may not be able to continue living here. It all depends on what the buyer wants to do with the property.

 

[alevasseur14]

Find a new place, take the $1400 and run. You're probably going to have to move anyways, may as well try and make a buck.

 

[Nitemare]

Or, you could always claim that you posted the rent in an envelope taped to their door 2 days ago. You're sure it was there because you put it there yourself. 😛

This

 

[Leros]

This is kinda funny. My apartment management company knows nothing at all about the foreclosure, but they said that they never know about the foreclosures until a while after it happens. I guess we'll see what happens.

The management company called me back after my first call and said that the people who were about to purchase the buildings had no idea either.

So, somebody was just about to purchase the apartments from the owner. The owner just foreclosed. I'm guess that the people who were about to purchase the apartments will now buy them for cheaper than originally? So hopefully nothing will change for me?

Find a new place, take the $1400 and run. You're probably going to have to move anyways, may as well try and make a buck.

They new owner can't tear down the old building and build a new building because the units are owned individually and only about 1/3 of them were foreclosed. So the building will still exist and the new owner will probably want to rent it out. Why not? And the new owner wouldn't force out an existing tenant? That would just be stupid.

If anybody has any interest in how this turns out, I'll keep updating this thread.

 

[Eli]

I would assume that if there were negotiations to sell happening and the property goes into foreclosure all previous negotiations are null and void. Just depends though I guess. I'd assume it would fall under the short sale category at that point, and that could take months.

 

[Leros]

I would assume that if there were negotiations to sell happening and the property goes into foreclosure all previous negotiations are null and void. Just depends though I guess. I'd assume it would fall under the short sale category at that point, and that could take months.

Right, but I would assume the buyer is still interested and might even be able to get a cheaper price since it foreclosed.