Towing

Towing is self-help, not a court order

Towing is one of the few enforcement tools an association can carry out without asking a judge first: the vehicle is gone as soon as the authorization is signed, before the owner has any chance to respond. That speed is exactly why towing statutes exist, to stop an association from removing a car casually or without warning.

Whether your association can tow at all, and under what conditions, depends on authority spelled out in your recorded declaration, not on a rule the board adopts on its own. Authority to enter or act for one purpose does not automatically extend to another, so check what your declaration actually says about towing specifically before relying on a general enforcement clause. See Self-help for how that principle works across self-help remedies generally.

What a towing statute can require: California as a worked example

There is no single national towing rule. California's private property towing law is unusually detailed, and it is useful here as an illustration of how exacting a statute can get, not as a stand-in for your own state's rule.

"post signs of regulation size and content at all entrances to the development warning that public parking is prohibited and that unauthorized vehicles are subject to tow at their owners' expense"

Source: How to Tow, Berding & Weil LLP

Without that signage in place, California instead lets the association issue a parking violation notice at least 96 hours before towing. Either path also requires specific written authorization naming the vehicle, the grounds for the tow, and when the violation was first observed.

"the association (through its board of directors) can be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and/or imprisonment... for up to three months"

Source: How to Tow, Berding & Weil LLP

On top of that, the association can owe the vehicle owner four times the towing and storage charges. Treat those numbers as a preview of what a state can attach to a defective tow, not the figure your own statute uses.

What to confirm before you authorize a tow

• Your state's private property towing statute: what signage, notice, or advance warning it requires before a tow is lawful.
• Any local ordinance your city or county layers on top of state law.
• Whether your declaration actually authorizes towing, and for what circumstances specifically.
• Written, specific authorization naming that one vehicle, never a standing blanket approval to tow on sight.

Without a court order behind it, a self-help remedy like towing is also weaker in practice than it looks: police generally will not enforce a declaration's self-help clause on your behalf, and an owner who disagrees can call the police themselves. Confirm the paperwork before the tow truck arrives, not after.