Help w/ Tresspassers

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by pghquest

First, your police officer in your area can issue tickets, if they wont take action, go to the police captain and keep going higher until someone takes you seriously.

If that does not work, then enlist the help of your local city council representative - if you have a decent one they can work wonders in getting through government log jams or getting the paid government officials to take you serious. I've used that option before and it was very effective.

[zednemtheadventurer]

Put up signs that "Parking in this area is restricted to the tenants of this building. All other vehicles will be towed at owners expense."

Hire a security guard or a company for a few short months and tow every car that does not do what you want them to do. Or set up a paid parking system! Then you can make money off of some of those idiots!

[zednemtheadventurer]

I did security for a company like that... the security officer will just verify who works where. He/she will also be the one to call a tow truck in the event that people are trying to abuse the situation.

[jimj]

I managed a private property tow company in San Francisco in my younger days. Property owners would sign a contract with us and we'd put up the signs and patrol the property removing any vehicles that were not supposed to be there (usually after hours) and during business hours we were usually called by someone in the company to remove cars. If the parking problem was from an adjoining company the offenders would stop after the first couple of cars were towed and they were handed a $80 tow bill.
Naturally the people were pissed to say the least but we never understood why people didn't get that they can't just park wherever they want.
I've towed Secret Service agents,under cover police officers,paper trucks,telephone co. trucks and an ambulance, buses,semi trucks and my boss towed an armored car once.
We had one account across the street from the San Fran Examiner/Chronicle newspaper which was a paid parking lot. The employees used to park in it and refused to pay and after the owner left many a notice hired us. We towed well over 200 cars the first day, talk about ticked off people.
My point is your lot is your lot, you are responsible for it, pay for the upkeep and insure it.
My personal favorite was the excuse "we didn't see the signs" so we tried an experiment. We made a sign on a whole sheet of plywood and put it in a place where we had a real parking problem. People parked right in front of it so we took a picture and towed them.
Inevitably one or two would take us to court demanding a refund and tell the judge "there was no sign there" to which we'd provide a picture of their car in front of this huge sign...
Just remember one thing, if one of these fools parked in your lot and then something happened to them like a slip and fall they'd most likely sue YOU since you let them park there by doing nothing! They most likely would win (we've seen it) unless you actively do your best to dissuade them from being there.
Posting the lot is the first step, follow the suggestions of the tow company since they tend to know the law and don't want to go to jail or get sued for breaking it.
Good luck, it's a tough position to be in and many property owners fold after the first angry phone call from a "towee"... Don't cave!

[aaauger]

Posters were on target with: 1) towing signs/service and 2) physical barriers. Posters were also on target with: 1) not letting trespassers create a liability, 2) not letting trespassers threaten alleged easements, etc.

As a follow-up: We hired a reputable towing service which put trespassers on notice. We still had some trespassers. So we put out temporary barriers. The trespassers called the Fire Marshall and the Zoning Department to no avail. We experienced vandalism. We're almost done with a permanent gated perimeter fence. The trespassers are apparently moving.

Thank you for the excellent advice.

[peacewood]

Did you ever find someone in the City to help you with your easement problems, I have the same deal, where the burden of proof is on the person using the land with a "supposed easement" , but the cops don't reasd legalese and people have been driving this route for years now.
Is there any way to get your rights without going to court over this?

[aaauger]

I found an excellent article on TX A&M's Real Estate Center website that described exactly what is required to obtain an adverse easement in Texas. Fortunately we were OK and we built a fence.

So find out whether you've got an easement even if you have to pay a real estate lawyer a few dollars. It's better than finding out you've forfeited rights to your land which affect its use, sale and value. If there's no easement, it's easiest to build a fence.