Do you assign parking spaces at your multi?

Question

Do you?

I really never done it because my duplex has 4 spaces, and my triplex has 7 spaces, no never any issue.

But this winter, thanks to the recent snow and cold, most of the tenants have visitors from the north coming down for a week to dethaw.  Mom from NYC, uncle from Colombus, brother from Chicago, BF from Connecticut...so now I am running out of paring spaces because they are visiting at the same time and they are stepping on each other.

I am wondering if should assign spaces just on this rare one time occurrence?  They should be gone in a week.

I don't look forward to my water bill for this month ether.

May be I need a "snowbird" addendum.

James Wise · Answer

We have some 6 unit buildings & a 21. All of those have assigned parking.

All of the our duplexes do not.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

We have an 8-plex with an open gravel parking area in the center courtyard. Each household can have a maximum of one car in the courtyard and there is plenty of free street parking available. Two of our current households don't have cars.

We purchased the property 9 years ago and the tenants had already settled into their own spots...claimed and respected as such by the other tenants. So, when we have a turnover we tell the incoming tenant which spot is designated for their unit. It has worked. At the beginning of tenancy we take a photo of each tenant car and record the year, make, model, color in their tenant file. This registers it as an authorized vehicle, as is required by our rental agreement. We have a large sign which says "Absolutely No Guest Parking" and a sign from the tow company posted. We do not have automatic tow service, but we will call for a tow when necessary.

We created our own parking violation slips that we carry in our glove compartment. When we see an unauthorized vehicle or vehicle parked incorrectly, we put the parking violation slip under the windshield wiper. Usually it is a car that a tenant is using because theirs is in the shop being fixed or else they bought a new car and forgot to tell us. When they get the parking violation slip they have a chance to remedy the matter by calling us and letting us know. Much better than an angry tenant trying to get their car out of the tow yard. Also gives us a chance to go over the property rules again and keep the good will intact.

Occasionally the unauthorized car turns out to be owned by an unauthorized occupant, then it gets interesting!

Richard Villandry · Answer

I am currently a renter in a 10 unit in Massachusetts and we do not have assigned parking. This can get really annoying at times especially during the winter season. Every storm i shovel out my space and head to work. I come home in the afternoon to find someone in the space i shoveled and have to break out the shovel a dig out another space.

Also, the precious place i was renting (a 4-unit) there was also no assigned parking. My girlfriend and I moved in and parked in any spot the was open (as the PM said we were able to do). Next thing i know the neighbors are knocking on the door saying the have been parking in the same spot for years and we need to move our cars and pick our own spots.

In my opinion there should always be assigned parking with a tow company a hand and that's what i plan to do once i start to buy property.

Colleen F. · Answer

We bought a property that didn't have assigned spaces. The first new tenants there was a lot of noise so when we put a hard surface on the driveway we carved out a parking area and assigned one space each. Other then that there is a free for all but I did paint some lines since they were all taking a lot of space when it came to the parallel parking area.

Kimberly T. · Answer

For us, it depends on the property:

Triplex in Orange County: each unit has one garage space and the driveway in front of that garage space.  Street parking is tight because the big apartment complex across the street charges tenants for gate clickers, so lots of tenants park on the street instead (annoying).  We have a "private parking - tow" sign up, and we put up the unit numbers above each garage space because they need to be able to prove to the tow company that they have the right to that spot if someone ever parks there.  Hasn't happened so far.

Fourplexes in AZ: each fourplex has space for 6 cars in the back, and so far, there hasn't been an issue with not having enough space, so we haven't bothered assigning spots.  No one has complained so far.  We might assign spots later on when we have the parking areas asphalted.

Fourplex in CO: the parking is set up like our triplex, each unit has a garage space with driveway in front, and they each have the unit numbers on them.  Each garage also has direct access to one of the units, so they obviously have to be assigned accordingly.

Frank Fiore Jr · Answer

I have a 2 car wide 2 to 3 cars deep driveway / yard (1/2 of it is paved 1/2 is not)  for my 2 family; the longest sitting tenant gets the paved half; and new tenant gets the unpaved 1/2...... Its in the TAW agreement as to which side they are allowed to park on... I am lucky that we have a large amount of off street parking in front of and around the house as well.

I have an issue from time to time with the "bus stop people" parking in the driveway waiting for the bus..... and depending on who is renting next door they sometimes believe its not a problem to park in my driveway....

I inform my tenants if they see a vehicle parked in the driveway that is unknown to call a towing company and have it hauled away... to my knowledge that has never occurred...

Jennifer T. · Answer

A bit off topic, but one of my pet peeves is neighbors who actually think they own the street parking next to their homes.

I went to the showing for a house I was considering purchasing.  A neighbor came over and start screaming...yes, actually screaming...at the seller's agent because she had parked on the street next to his house.  Although it didn't deter me from purchasing the house...though I didn't for other reasons...a lunatic neighbor was definitely something else negative to ponder!

In my own neighborhood, I am two blocks from a huge, annual two weekend event called Jazz Fest.  Tens of thousands of people attend this event and there are literally ZERO parking spots available at the event itself.  The same few neighbors (some on my block, some the next block over) every year block off and "sell" the street parking that is available.  It's pretty ridiculous, IMO.  However, although it is very illegal, it is not enforced.  And there are a ton of police strolling around, so it is not like it is a big secret.

At least for the neighbors, like myself, who don't have off street parking they do "allow" me to park in one of their spots without charging me, lol.  Which is a good thing because I would hate to turn total b**ch, considering they are my neighbors and we are pleasant with each other.

And you'll see the same thing...selling street parking...in the neighborhoods around the French Quarter during the Mardi Gras season.

Jennifer T. · Answer

I used to live in a multi (didn't own it) and one of the units...fortunately it was mine!...had the coveted gated driveway of the house.  The rest of the units had a gated parking lot at the back of the property that they used.  Those spots were not assigned.  It seemed to have enough spots for all the residents...though just barely.

John Santero · Answer

I assign guest spaces and handicap space and the residence each has a space but not defined

Michael Noto · Answer

@Sam Leon  We assign all parking spots for the residents and mark any extra guests spots with "guest".

We also have a towing company on-call at no cost to us.  Parked where you shouldn't be?  If someone calls the towing company, they get towed and it is at their cost to get it back.  We post these towing signs in 3-4 locations around the properties.

Do you assign parking spaces at your multi?

Most Popular Reply