Source: https://village-blog-and-chat.blogspot.com/2016/09/private-sector-towing-fs-71507.html
Timestamp: 2018-01-20 19:03:14
Document Index: 140295859

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 715', '§ 715', '§ 715', '§ 715', '§ 715', '§ 715', '§ 715']

OUR VILLAGE in West Palm Beach : PRIVATE SECTOR TOWING - FS-715.07
PRIVATE SECTOR TOWING - FS-715.07
A question arose at Delegate Assembly regarding towing of vehicles from Association property. Following is the Florida Statute addressing this issue. Following the FS-715 extract, also please read the attorneys article, "To tow or not to tow" This should answer most questions on this matter.
715.07 - FS
Vehicles or vessels parked on private property; towing.—
July 3, 2013 by Hans C. Wahl, Esq.
Are you a business owner experiencing parking issues on your commercial property? How about a condominium association with parking issues on residential property? In Florida, private property owners, along with their agents, have authority under the Florida Statutes to tow unauthorized vehicles off their property. Fla. Stat. § 715.07 (2012). In doing so, you want to make sure you follow Florida law or else you may be liable for certain expenses and damages.
The vehicle must be towed by a person who is regularly engaged in the business of towing vehicles. Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2). (This means you cannot have your best friend who owns a F350 remove the vehicle.)
Once towed, the vehicle “must be stored at a site within a 10-mile radius of the point of removal in any county of 500,000 population or more, and within a 15-mile radius of the point of removal in any county of less than 500,000 population.” Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)(1.a). However, if no towing business is located within the area set forth above, the towed vehicle “must be stored at a site within a 20-mile radius of the point of removal in any county of 500,000 population or more, and within a 30-mile radius of the point of removal in any county of less than 500,000 population.” Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)(1.b). (In other words, you can’t have it towed 50 miles into the next county to teach the person a lesson.)
The site where the vehicle is towed must be available for retrieving the vehicle from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on “any day that the [site] . . . is open for towing purposes.” Id.
The entity authorizing the towing must notify the municipal police department or the sheriff within 30 minutes after completion of the towing. This notification must include the “storage site, the time [of towing], and the make, model, color, and license plate number of the vehicle or description and registration number of the [vehicle]” and the entity authorizing the towing “shall obtain the name of the person at that department to whom such information was reported and note that name on the trip record.” Fla. Stat. § 715.07(2)(a)(2).
In nearly all circumstances, there must be a posted notice that warns of towing on the premises. The notice must meet the requirements listed in Section 715.07(2)(a)(5)(a)-(g), Florida Statutes.
The penalties for unauthorized towing are severe: “When a person improperly causes a vehicle . . . to be removed, such person shall be liable to the owner . . . of the vehicle . . . for the cost of removal, transportation, and storage; any damages resulting from the removal, transportation, or storage of the vehicle; attorneys’ fees; and court costs.” Fla. Stat. § 715.07(4). Additionally, in certain circumstances, a person can be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree and/or a felony of the third degree for improper towing. See Fla. Stat. § 715.07(5)(a)-(b).
Lanny Howe September 5, 2016 at 11:36 AM
Thank you, Dave, for clarifying the towing issue for those of us who live in the Village. I don't know what more you could do than quote the law as it is written on the subject AND give us an attorney's explanation. Yet you are criticized for this on Gary Olman's blog because your "answer answered no questions at all." After referring to you sarcastically as "the great one," he says: "What is it about this man? Can he not answer a simple question with a simple answer?"
If you had tried to give your own "simple answer" as Gary expects, of course we know what would have happened. It would have been wrong in some respect or not covered a certain situation, and Gary would have been criticizing you for THAT.
I'd like to see him try to explain a legal issue such as towing of vehicles. He stumbles all over himself enough in ordinary conversation as it is on his blog. Come on, Gary. Criticism is cheap, and I thought you might have been doing better.
Plcruise September 5, 2016 at 1:01 PM
It is very clear, except to a few birdbrains--as you already noted.