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Topic
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Our strata agent insists that we are unable to do anything about a car abandoned in our car park. We may not have it towed-away/removed as we are obliged to await the car owner’s eventual return to retrieve the trespassing vehicle.
I am wondering if the strata agent is correct or do we have rights in this situation?
I welcome your information if possible. Thanks in advance.
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Replies
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MalmoSweden,
I suggest a quick call to the Police Assistance line 131444 with the details of the abandoned vehicle would assist in this matter. There are some issues with having an abandoned car towed but your local Police should be able to guide the OC through this process.Though it is important to clarify where in the car park is the abandoned car parked?
If the car is within an owner’s lot than there is little that the OC can do about this. The owner (if the car is not their’s) should be also able to contact the Police with respect to having the car removed as this is a matter of trespass.
I suggest a quick call to the Police Assistance line 131444 with the details of the abandoned vehicle would assist in this matter.
This sounds like eminently sensible advice although, historically, police have been reluctant to enter 'private property' which in one case I know of included roads within a multi-unit development. It's worth a try and I'd be interested to hear how it pans out.
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We have dealt with a few apparently abandoned cars. The process differed depending on various factors.
1) the car was on common property. One phone call to the police fixed it because it was listed as stolen.
2) the car was not stolen but on the bit of 'our' road that is actually a public road. A phone call to 'Canberra connect' (general local govt. enquiries line) fixed it. They attached a warning notice and took the car away some time later.
3) the car was on common property, the police said it was not reported as stolen but it looked abandoned, had not moved for a years or so. Local govt. advised that we would have to follow a process outlined in the 'uncollected goods act'-fairly complex. We put a notice in the newsletter and it turned out to belong to a tenant who bought it for a relative just before the relative got ill etc. He still had plans for it and was quite entitled to park it in the general parking area. Eventually the car was fixed up and left.