Pay the fees, get your motor cycle back and find another place to park it.
It is completely illegal to "change the rules" on storing your bike there after you have already stored it there, unless you agree to the change. They owe you an apology, speedy return of your property, and a gift card to a local restaurant for good measure.
Parking there all summer is irrelevant.
If the complex owns the parking lot, they *may* have been obligated to give tenants one rental term notice before changing the policy. But, they also may have had no obligation because the parking lot is an amenity, not a clause in your rental agreement. For example, if they change the pool hours, they do not need to post notice a month early.
As far as suing, only you can decide if an entire day in court is worth $180. And you would have to find case law for your state to provide decisions that confirm you were not given proper notice. Without case law or specific statutes, the fact that the sign was posted before you went out of town may be enough for the landlord to win.
But again, this is all super dependent on what case law and statutes state.
Good Luck
I totally agree with the previous answer from "Mike."
get a lawyer and sue--the extremely short time of notice is unreasonable, especially since you can prove you were away and that it was permitted to park bikes there before the sign was put up. In addition to the sign, they should have given WRITTEN NOTICE to all tenants (not just bike owners) with a rent bill and 30 days notice of the change.
This Tuesday my motorcycle was towed from my apartment complex where I am a tenant. This complex is in Wisconsin. All summer I have been parking my motorcycle in the same area of a large lot, along with 8 other motorcycles. This past Tuesday I went out to ride my motorcycle after being gone all of labor day weekend. When I go to ride it I find that my motorcycle is missing. I notice a new sign that I had previously not seen (and had not been there) that says no motorcycle parking allowed, with a towing companies number listed. So, I call the towing company. They report that my motorcycle had been towed that morning after being ticketed by the local police department first (my bike got a 50 dollar trespassing ticket, and a 130 towing fee) . The landlords of the complex had apparently called the police and then called the towing company.
Now like iI said I had been parking there all summer without issue and no signage against doing so. The next day I called the landlords to discuss these fees and find out when the now present sign had been placed against parking. They informed me that it had been placed the previous Thursday. So, it had been in place for 2 business days and one holiday weekend. I hadn't ridden my motorcycle since the previous Wednesday so, did not see the new sign. I have no issue not parking there but I received no notice after the sudden change and think that the sign was not posted long enough to warrant such action.
Any suggestions on what to do?
