I (31F) share a two-bedroom apartment with a 27-year-old roommate.
Our building has reserved parking spaces for tenants. I pay an extra $180 per month for my assigned parking space because I work late shifts and don't want to spend half the night searching for street parking after getting home around 1:00 a.m.
When my roommate first moved in, I made one thing absolutely clear.
The parking space belongs to me.
I pay for it.
And our lease specifically states that unauthorized vehicles parked in reserved tenant spaces may be towed at the owner's expense.
She said she completely understood.
A few weeks later, her boyfriend started "borrowing" my parking space without asking.
The first time, I left a polite note on his windshield and sent my roommate a friendly text explaining that the space was reserved and asking them not to park there again.
The second time, I happened to run into him while I was coming back from the grocery store.
I politely explained that I paid extra for that space because I actually needed it.
He just laughed and said,
"It's only for a few hours."
As a result...
I had to park on the street.
The next morning I found a $75 parking ticket on my windshield.
Then came the third time.
I got home around midnight and, once again, his car was sitting in my reserved parking space.
I spent nearly thirty minutes driving around looking for somewhere legal to park.
Eventually I found a street space...
Only to receive another $75 parking ticket the following morning.
I texted my roommate again and told her this really needed to stop.
She apologized.
She promised it wouldn't happen again.
But she never offered to reimburse me for either parking ticket or acknowledge that I was paying extra every month for a parking space I couldn't reliably use.
After the second ticket, I actually reread our lease agreement and even spoke briefly with the apartment management office to make sure I understood the parking policy correctly. They confirmed that each reserved space is assigned to a specific tenant, that unauthorized vehicles parked there can be removed by the towing company listed in the building, and that residents are encouraged to document repeated violations if problems continue. Knowing that the policy was clearly written into the lease made me feel like I'd already done everything I reasonably could before considering a tow.
Then...
Last Thursday...
It happened again.
I got home around 1:00 a.m.
His car was sitting in my paid parking space.
I just sat there staring at it for a minute because I honestly couldn't believe we were back in exactly the same situation.
This time I didn't argue.
I simply took photographs of:
His license plate.
The reserved parking sign showing my apartment number.
Then I called the towing company whose number is posted in our apartment lobby.
About twenty minutes later they arrived.
They hooked up his car.
And towed it away.
I parked in my own parking space, went upstairs, and went to bed.
About an hour later my roommate burst into my bedroom in a panic.
Her boyfriend had gone downstairs, discovered his car was gone, and she immediately started yelling that I should have called them one last time before having it towed.
I reminded her that I had called them.
More than once.
Over several weeks.
Every single time I tried handling it politely.
Nothing changed.
Meanwhile, I was the one paying parking tickets because they kept ignoring my requests.
Her boyfriend ended up paying $275 to retrieve his car from the towing company.
The following day my roommate demanded that I reimburse him for the towing fee.
I told her I would happily discuss splitting that cost...
Right after she reimbursed me for:
My two $75 parking tickets.
The money I'd spent every month paying for a reserved parking space I repeatedly couldn't use because of them.
She accused me of blackmailing her.
She insisted towing the car was taking things way too far.
Now the apartment feels incredibly tense and awkward.
Part of me wonders if I should have made one final phone call.
But another part of me feels like I already gave them every opportunity to fix the situation themselves.
After repeatedly asking politely...
Paying for a parking space I couldn't use...
And receiving two parking tickets because they ignored me...
Was I really wrong for finally having the car towed?
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