Apartment Parking

[Temporary_User]

Over the summer months my roommate put up a note in our lobby asking if anyone had a spare parking stall. When I came back to live at my place in September there was a note from "sue" stating that I could use "johns" stall and that I would have to pay him $20 a month for it.
-no contact information was given on this note and I had no idea who sue or john were.

I started parking there (September) with a note on my windshield asking John to get in touch with me.
-I received no contact and after a month or so decided that having the note on my windshield was useless and continued parking there.

Come up to present day and I received a note from the mgmt company stating that i have to move my car or it will be towed and i owe $160 for use of the stall.
-I immediately move my car
-They are obviously trying to charge me for summer months as well.

I spoke to the live-in landlord who has no part in any of this and she said that "sue" was a person who lived in my building and just simply knew john.
"john" was a guy who lived in my building who happens to be in a wheelchair so he does not use the stall and would not head to the parking lot to find my car/note
Also found out that "sue" put that note there without johns knowledge/permission.

Ok, I get john didn't know about the stall being used so IMO no harm no foul. I am a student so any money saved is great.
I would have no problem paying the $100 (because I did use it for 5 months), although since the owner of the stall didn't seem to care/know I don't see this as exactly neccessary.
Why is the mgmt company coming after me? not john?

Who should i talk to about this "john" or the mgmt company? both? what order?
tips on what to say or do?
Do you feel i should pay for my use

[TSXCman]

hah. reminds me of my house at school. we lived near a busy hospital that had limited parking. so the previous tenants suggested that we offer any extra stalls up for rent @ $xx.xx / month, which was 1/4 of the hospital employees parking passes. so i put up the notes on a message board in the hospital only to continuously be offered the same amount of money for the entire year as that is the only "fair deal". after a couple weeks of the cheap offers, i went back to double check if i had a typo but the amount was clear, and i asked someone how much their pass was and that info was also accurate. so i just tore the note down and did not let anyone park. later we used btoh stalls up, but there was a 5 month period that could've profited towards a keg or somethin.

goodluck with your more serious, legal complications

[SportsJunky]

The last time I lived in an apartment the cost of a parking spot was worked into the rent payment. If John is paying for his parking every month then yeah, you owe someone some dough. If they have already charged John then you owe him and they shouldn't be charging you too.

[ken0042]

My guess is seeing as John didn't know about this- he probably had friends come over from time to time and told them to go ahead and use his spot. Seeing as it was always in use, John likely asked the management company to charge whoever was using it without his permission.

Keep in mind you didn't have the owner's permission, so I would say you owe the dough.

[Temporary_User]

A little more information...

Everyone gets one free stall with each apartment.

There is plenty of guest parking available. Mgmt is very strict against residents using guest parking. If you park overnight, you will get a note on your car about it being towed and such.
Also one time I simply parked in guest while I was unloading stuff, the landlord saw and immediately asked me to move my car to my spot.

There is also plenty of street parking, which I am using now. There are at times that there isnt a spot available or there is one but it is an extremely tight parallel.

Since leaving the stall I was parked in, someone has been using it full-time just like I was. What I assume happened is this new person went through the channel of mgmt to get the parking stall.

[Temporary_User]

I know this didn't get the most replies first time around, but I want to update this with a second question, looking for advice...

I talked to the guy about his stall. He told me not to worry about paying him, but if I to pay for any time I use the stall from now on. I told him great and I would do that.
I went to park in the stall and found out someone else was using it. Got a hold of the landlord and she told me that she had rented it out to someone else already (doesn't seem like "john" even knows about this).
She was extremely upset that I just didn't pay and told me that she was going to talk to "John" about this.
Now apparently she talked to "John" and wants us to pay $60 (which works out to $10 a month).
She is threatening to evict. Can she do this?

[Aeneas]

I do not know if she can evict you, but I do know 4x4's parking stories are way funnier. Very disappointing temp.