Should you profit from guest parking passes?
By: Shamontiel L. Vaughn
Tags: Parking, Parking Management, Condo Board Association, Towing, Landlords

Should you profit from guest parking passes?

A cheap way to make a profit from the parking lot

Photo credit: William Krause/Unsplash

When I got my first car, I cried tears of joy. It had occasional engine rumbling, a miniscule dent in one door, and the outside was painted maroon although the car was clearly blue before from looking at the inside. Still though, I was ecstatic to have it. It was a gift from my godfather, who builds cars, and held up for several years with me going back and forth from Illinois to Missouri for undergrad. But a used car can become exhausting when it comes to upkeep, so I eventually sold it. Even though I got a little cash out of the deal, my bigger issue was a parking spot was included in my lease. So now I was paying for a parking spot rental and had no car to put there — and the property managers weren’t budging on the rate. Although I didn’t have ownership of the parking spot or my apartment, if I were a condo owner, this may have worked to my advantage.

For a variety of reasons, people give up on their cars — car accidents, high upkeep rates, more interest in ride-sharing, being environmentally friendly and preferring bicycles, health conditions disabling you from driving or just flat-out disinterest in driving anymore. And if your mortgage includes parking lot property, the last thing you want to do is be paying for an empty spot. So one of the easiest ways to resolve this as a condo owner is to let the condo board know that you’re interested in renting out your spot. (More often than not, attentive condo boards already know who badly needs a second parking spot for a second car or interested neighbors.)

And if you live in a neighborhood like the North Side of Chicago, which notoriously has a problem with parking and usually ends up requiring you to block two to three blocks away, there will always be someone who is interested in paying for your parking lot property percentage. But before you rent your parking spot out, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Photo credit: Dex Ezekiel/Unsplash

Be aware of any changes in towing companies. It’s fairly easy to ignore new parking lot rules when you’re not parking in your condo lot. This means you may miss out on board decisions to change towing companies. And if that happens, and the board does not notify you (or vice versa), you could be at risk of having to pay any towing costs for a renter who does not live on the property. The parking lot renter is counting on you to make sure they have availability and any needed guest passes or stickers.

Clarify that you are renting the parking spot, not allowing the renter to loiter. This is problematic for neighbors who may not have a parking lot already. If you rent out to someone nearby, they can too often misunderstand that that spot is solely for parking, not for the renter and a few friends to park in the back, hang out, disrupt other owners and use your spot as the block party zone.

The parking spot rental is only for the people specified. Just as neighbors without parking lots will too often linger, there may also come a time when they’ll want to pass on their guest parking pass to a friend to park “just for a minute.” Towing companies are notified of authorized cars that should be in the lot. They will often just look for the sticker or pass and leave. But when other condo owners get ready to park in their spots and find someone else already there — and with a pass — this can lead to a Domino effect of all owners parking in other people’s parking spots. Insist that the person who has the pass must be the only one using the pass.

Charge a consistent rate for guest passes. Clearly the board would be taking advantage of contractors like plumbers or painters by making them pay for a spot. But if the board has condo owners who have long ago left and don’t feel like policing their spots, maybe the owner will be willing to allow the board to use that spot for daily parking rates. If agreed upon, funds can be deposited into the board association’s checking or savings accounts. It’s an easy way to make extra money for all owners’ needs. Or, maybe the parking lot funds can be deducted from that owner’s monthly assessments.

Other owners should be made aware of new parking lot renters. Why? Because if guests parking next to one of the owners becomes problematic — crooked parking, damaging other cars, etc. — other owners should have a right to speak up about it to the board. Either way it goes, the rate for the parking spot should be consistent for everyone who uses the spot. Maybe charge the cost of a parking pass for one day, one week, one month or beyond. Just don’t get greedy and charge some guests one rate and other guests a higher rate.

Get the parking agreement in writing. Just because you don’t have a car right now does not mean you won’t have a car in the future. There should be some kind of written agreement allowing the guest spot attendee to know at least 30 days ahead of time (if the parking option is a monthly charge). Avoid potential small claims concerns by abruptly cancelling a guest parking pass agreement mid-month without allowing the guest parker to find other alternatives. (If this person is violating condo board rules, you will have more grounds for immediate termination. But that should be spelled out as well.) If this person has paid you for that full day, full week or full month, then that driver is entitled to that day, that week or that month. By having a parking agreement in writing, that also makes it much easier for the condo board to enforce towing restrictions should a guest car continue to park in your spot long after the allowed timeframe has expired.