Tenant blames me for having his car towed. (Chicago: apartment complex, rent)

[nartush]

Hey guys,

So here is a short story – my mother left me for few weeks to receive a rent payment from her tenants and to help them out if needed, but I know nothing about the details of the rent and the apartment rules, I was there only to receive a payment. But now, tenant blames me for having his new car towed because I did not give him a parking sticker on time. On a top of that, he was rude and yelled even though I have never raised a voice over him. He also came 200$ short on his next month rent, because of a towing cost. He indeed 3 weeks in advance told me that he is going to buy a car the following weekend and asked me about getting a second sticker. I called him back next day when I found out from my mother that we already have a sticker. 3 weeks later he came to my house at 9pm demanding sticker ASAP, and I was only able to give him a sticker next day. In a meanwhile, his car was towed because he parked it at the wrong spot but he still used guest-parking sticker. There are few details that I included in the full story because I do point few important moments.

Here is a full story. My mother has an apartment that she rent currently to a young family. (she is not an agency and she always ran the rent and other issues on the one-on-one basis) The apartment is locates in suburban Chicago area and there is a private parking that is only for tenants with some limited spots for their guests and a guest pass requirement. Those tenants have been living in the apartment I think around two years and used both guest and one-car parking stickers. Unfortunately, on some sad occasion (a death of my grandfather) my mom had to go for few weeks away and she left me to meet up with tenants and receive a monthly payment from them. Which I did, they paid full amount. However, during our meeting, I was asked by a tenant, if they could have a second sticker because they are thinking on buying a car the following weekend. Since, I did not know anything about the apartment and the rest, I told him that I need to speak with my mother to find out either I could take it myself or they will need to wait until she comes back. However, I mentioned that if that would be a case, they could overnight park a car in our drive-way in a meanwhile (we live 5 minutes walking from the apartment). Soon enough, I found from my mother that she has a second sticker at home, and so called to confirm to a tenant that we have a sticker. About three weeks later tenant called me to ask for a help for a credit to buy a new car, and again since I knew nothing about him, I told him that I need to speak to my mother first. However, I have not heard from him afterwards (it seems like he needed an answer right away or not at all). Two days later, he showed up at my door steps at 9pm and told me that they bought a car and that he need a sticker ASAP. He told me that he is going to get a checkbook and be back in 15 minutes. Seriously, he caught me off guard, but I was trying to be understandable and set my things aside to look for a sticker. However, in 15 minutes I was not ready to give him a sticker, especially since he did not warn me about him coming, and most importantly I was tired and ready to go to bed. Since the night was coming short, and I wanted to find an alternative way for him to park a car, I advised him to park a car overnight on a guest pass. He called me few times paranoic, asking what if his car will be towed. He was worried that car will be towed because it’s registered on his wife’s name and that she lives there. I told him that there is no reason for a car to be towed based on the residency as long as there is a guest pass, and all I could advise for him was to write his cell phone number just in case. (which I assume he never did). He told me that he used guest passes before and that he knows how to fill it out.
However, his car was in fact towed next morning based on a fact that it was not parked in a guest parking spot. Only next morning he told me that the guest parking was full and that he has parked the car at the same stop on a regular parking before. He still needed a sticker, which I provided him in less than 24 hours, but he did not give me a deposit. He explained that he does not have money and we offered him to give us a check but that we won’t deposit in until they say they have money in their account. They agreed, but later we found out that they canceled the check. Next rent they came 200$ short, blaming me for their car being towed. That’s on a top of canceled check. My mother managed to receive sticker deposit from them later, but they are still 200$ short. Also, the parking rules are hanging in front of the apartment complex entrance, and also he knew about existence of the guest parking spots.
We send him a 5 days notice to pay the remaining rent in full, and explained to him that he is obliged to follow a parking rules that are posted on the wall on the apartment complex and also that I cannot be responsible for his physical actions, s.a. him parking a car in non-guest parking. He came next time to pay a rent, and pretty much yelled at me that “we both have different truth” and that I had to provide him a sticker when he requested.
I lived places, lots of them in fact, few places in western Europe where it really takes time to set things straight and also some places in US, where I needed either a place a night before my rent kicks-in or to find a place to park a car, etc.. And I learned one thing – you need to thing in advance, you need to worring about your problems and not put them on strangers, you need to ask questions about rules, and you need to be considerable to other people. I seriously barely can expect my landlord to drop everything and do something for me unless it’s an emergency. And if I know I will need a sticker or any other document, I confirm the date and time I come, if I want to have it on time. Am I right? I had situation when I was hired, my work had parking permit but I had to wait few days before parking permit could be issued to me. And seriously, I had to find a way to park my car, I asked people, etc… I really tried to be understandable, I mean they just bought a new car, and that they don’t have much money, but its really no one else fault than theirs. There should be a common sense that if you need some document or sticker from you landlord, or anything, you at least either leave a message with a time you come or you make a contact and agree when is it alright to pick it up. Besides, he came at almost bedtime during a working week. And on a top of it, he seems like not sure about parking rules after 2 years living in the apartment, but he used guest passes before and even when he called me worying about car being towed, he never told me that guest parking is full. Nada. Not even to mention, that he could pick up a sticker pretty much any time before, but it seems useless to explain it to him.

Am I right or am I wrong? What do I do next? What kind of laws protects him or me (or my mother)? Please write me all the thought you can share based on your experience or knowledge. Seriously, thank you so much for reading my long ) letter and answering to me!!!!

[TheWayISeeThings]

There is a landlord/tennant forum on city data. That would be the best place to post this question. You may want to shorten it a bit. People are less likely to respond to a very long post as they may not have the time to read it thoroughly.