Help w/ Tresspassers (court, license, pay, requirements)

[aaauger]

We own a small warehouse with tenants in Austin. The parking lot adjoins that of another warehouse. We are willing to let the tenants of this other warehouse use our parking lot for access (although it's not the only way). But the most recent tenants in the other warehouse are parking in our lot. And it's not even in the parking spaces. They are parking their trucks in the middle of our parking lot, parking in front of the overhead doors. They're very belligerent and refuse to leave. Our tenants are complaining. The Austin Police doesn't want to get involved.

What recourse do we have? Any help is appreciated.

[Tek_Freek]

Post very prominent signs at the entrance drives and along parking slots:

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

Start having them towed.

Can you build a fence or other obstruction to prohibit them from accessing the other building?

I'm not surprised the police don't want to get involved. It's on private property. They want to wait for a little bloodshed before they show up.

[aaauger]

Well, it's not quite bloodshed but one of the offending tenants did back into my husband (intentionally, on our property) with his truck over the weekend. The police are asking if we want to press charges. We do.

I'm not sure if we can build a fence, place concrete barriers or park storage containers because apparently some states will establish what's called a "necessary easement". In our case, these offending tenants don't need to access our property to reach theirs but it certainly helps them.

Based on your suggestion, I'll call APD to find out what the sign requirements are for the towing. Thanks.

[dynimagelv]

Turn it over to a local towing company and they'll handle the entire thing including signage and you pay nothing.....they collect from the offending party.

[evilnewbie]

If they can access their area without your parking lot than there is no easement. I would start handing out parking stickers and require parking registration with your tenants. Anyone else will be ticketed and towed.

[aaauger]

The advice about towing and stickers is turning out to be spot on. Thank you.

Here's the situation on access: The tresspassing tenants can access their property without accessing ours but would have a hard time parking perpendicular to their building, like they like to do, without going onto our pavement. The building is grossly overbuilt for its lot and use (12 rental spaces). On the other hand, the tenants on the back side don't have the luxury of overflowing onto someone else's property (due to a wall) but they've found a way to deal with it.

So does an easement exist between our property and the other? Can we build a barrier without risking a court ordered removal? Again, any help is seriously appreciated.

[sean98125]

If there is an easement, it will be on the deed to your property. If you don't have a deed, you can get a copy at your county clerk's office.

Don't talk to the tenants of the other building - talk to the property owners. Tell them about the situation and let them know that they are likely to be getting some unhappy tenants if you start having their cars towed, but they are affecting your business on your property. Maybe they will have a solution.

If that doesn't work and if there is no easement, put up a fence along your property line.

[aaauger]

There's currently no easement on the deed. However, we're concerned that the owner of the other building (who is uncooperative) will try to get an easement (necessity, prescriptive) through legal action if we erect any kind of barrier. Any ideas on how easy / hard it is to get an easement on someone else's property?

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by aaauger

There's currently no easement on the deed. However, we're concerned that the owner of the other building (who is uncooperative) will try to get an easement (necessity, prescriptive) through legal action if we erect any kind of barrier. Any ideas on how easy / hard it is to get an easement on someone else's property?

There must be someone that works for the city/county you are in that can help with these questions. I think the the laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction so advice about easements given here might not pertain to you.

I like the parking stickers solution. Makes it readily apparent who has permission, and who doesn't. Of course if your neighbors are real jerks they might try to copy them.... but if the sticker includes registration (license plate number) that shouldn't work out for them.

[dynimagelv]

If the parking lot is that desireable to them....and IF you can spare the room.....$30 per month per vehicle is pretty cheap parking.....I pay 35 for a monthly parking sticker......