Q: Can an apartment community charge parking tickets, without it being stated in the lease?
I seek advice on a new parking policy in my Florida apartment community. Recently, a parking management company was hired, and they are issuing fines and towing vehicles for various reasons: residents parking in visitor spots, parking on the white line, not paying an online parking fee from 7 pm to 8 am, and visitors not being registered online. We were given one month's notice, but our lease does not mention any of these rules. And the notice was through an email sent to residents. All parking used to be free and open to any spot. Additionally, there are no assigned spots, but they recently marked some spots as visitors. Note this isn't a city parking enforcement, but a private company.
My questions are:
-Is it legal for the apartment management to enforce such policies and fines without these terms in the lease?
-Can they impose fines and towing without residents' explicit consent to the new terms?
-Are there specific Florida regulations that govern apartment parking policies?
A: Your lease likely states that management can change some of terms without your consent. Basically, a lease agreement is your agreement to rent for an apartment and you agree to their rules when imposed. What they cannot do is raise the rent without notice of change the term of your lease; but pretty much else is wide open. Read your lease - its in there. There are no statutes that govern apartment complex parking rules.
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