Too Many Tenant Cars

I am having parking problems and need some advice on how to handle it without upsetting the majority.
We allow 2 vehicles per apartment. The entire community has only 2 parking spaces for each apartment and they are not all convenient spaces to the apartment entrance.

In one particular area, we have 12 apartments and only 17 spaces directly in front of the apartments. Three apartments in this area have increased to 3 vehicles!!!

I sent a note asking everyone to tell visitors to park in a different area near the apartments and park their 3rd car there also.

I dont' want to assign spaces or give out permits because everyone will realize we don't have enough spaces for their 2 per household, if they don't already. There are 7 out of 12 that only have 1 car and it is still overcrowded.

Any suggestions?

Hi Sandy,

As rents increase, residents are forced to live more densely, so we have a similar problem at my building.

We have about 150 residents but only 103 parking spaces in our lot. About 90 of the spaces are assigned. We are in a business area, so there is no residential street parking nearby. We require applicants to provide vehicle information before an application is accepted, and if someone has three cars, we have to tell them they can't park them all here.

I've spent 5 years trying to market to prospects who work within walking distance or use public transportation, and telling every prospect that we have only ONE parking space per apartment. It takes time, but with consistency, the number of residents you have with vehicles will decline.

You might have to consider assigned or permit parking. You could also designate a specific guest parking area and prohibit residents from using it. A little work up front will pay big dividends later.

Good Luck!

The best way to reduce people's dependency on cars is to promote sustainable alternatives. TransitScreen is one way to show all the non-auto options around a given location. It can be a physical flatscreen in the lobby and/or mobile accessible on smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers.

I think we could promote sustainability without obtaining expensive equipment that would cost money to operate and maintain, only to end up stolen or vandalized. I just make sure our residents know that they can have ONE parking space and no more. This space is FREE and assigned to them, but additional parking is simply not available (there is no on-street parking within walking distance.) I also let them know that we are on six bus routes and within walking distance to all the grocery stores, restaurants, and shopping they need.

My only two cents to this is that it also has an impact as to what part of the country people are living in as weather for sure has an impact on whether one uses public transportation. Children school age/day care; two wprking adults, and possibly a college student. All of these factors will dictate how many cars a family will bring in. If you are the only game in town for sure you have an easier time mandating what you want as far as vehicles are concerned. The more communities you have within your area that can handle the car situations, then the harder it will be to maintain tenants and obtain new tenants and of those that you gain how long will you have them before they are gone, so now we have a turnover that has increased your maintenance and repair costs.

The many ways are depending on the property location, but here is a link which may be of assistance with some ideas: www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm72.htm

Thanks Nate! That's great information.

I think we have an Easier time maintaining tenants than one would expect, because we are honest with prospects from the start, so we don't attract many multiple car families.

In fact, we don't attract many families at all. This is not intentional, but there is simply not much for children to do in my community, and no ability to expand in that area. We also are not within walking distance of any schools, and we are completely surrounded by two VERY busy streets, a highway, and a large shopping mall.

I have about 130 people living in my building. We have only five children between 7-10, and five high schoolers.

We have an issue with 5 units (out of 72) have recently acquired 2nd vehicles which they don't use. They park the unused car in their spot and take an "open" spot with the one their using. If the 2nd vehicle is registered (although not used), do we have legal rights (in California) to tell them to park it on the street. It is SO inconsiderate!

I know this is an old post, but I recently started charging everyone who had more than 1 car $10 per month. It's cut back a ton on the amount of cars parked on the property.

yes there r too many cars parked in our apt spot a neihbor has parked right behind me and not letting me out what do i do??