Parking Space Problem

Hi,

I am the owner of an apartment with an allocated parking spot in Dublin. About 6 weeks ago a northern Irish registered car parked in my underground spot and is still there. Initially I did get it clamped, but the private clamping company we employ gave up on it after a few weeks and removed the clamps.

I contacted the management agent and they were aware of this car. Seemingly it belongs to the daughter of one of the apartment owners (the owner lives in England). The management agent has contacted the apartment owner a few times – each time the agent was informed that the apartment owner has passed on this information to her daughter. After leaving the car there for 6 weeks now, I doubt the owner will move it – the car has no tax or insurance disks displayed and never seems to be moved. The management agent keeps telling me “I’ll arrange to get it towed away etc etc”, but he has known about this now for about three of these six weeks and nothing seems to be happening. Any ideas on what I can do? The Gardai will not move it as it is a private complex.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

You have to force your management agent to act here. You may need to contact the directors to get the agent to take action. You could suggest they issue a letter to the owner saying that if the car is not moved by the end of the week, they will be forced to have it towed. They may want to take legal advice on the correct wording and add something like "if you do not respond to this letter by removing the vehicle, we understand you are happy for us to have it towed". At the same time, get the clampers to put one of those hard to remove stickers on the window saying it will be towed if not moved by the end of the week. Also, make sure that the apartment owner responsible has to pay the towing fees by adding them on to the account for his apartment.

On a side note, be completely sure you are using the right space. Someone in my building complained about a similar issue and then discovered she'd been parking in the wrong space all along - hadn't read her lease properly.