Avoiding Liability for Parking Lot Disputes

Q: Tenants in my strip mall have assigned parking spots. Unfortunately, parking is very limited and, fairly often, those assigned spots are used by people who are not entitled to park there. My property has fielded numerous complaints about parking, including a threat from one tenant that it will sue us if we don’t start enforcing the parking restrictions in the center rules and its lease. There will be some tenant turnover soon and I’d like to phase out the assigned parking at the center. If I have to give in, what can I include in future tenants’ leases that will help me avoid liability for parking lot disputes over misuse of assigned spots?

A: Tenants take parking problems very seriously. It’s not surprising that when someone else parks in a tenant’s assigned spot, your manager has heard about it. One way to avoid liability for disputes is to include a clause in your lease that says you’re not liable for these violations.

Generally, it’s best not to give tenants assigned parking spaces, so you’re on the right track. But in some situations, you may have to if you want to entice more desirable tenants. To protect yourself, say in the lease that you’re not responsible for enforcing any parking space reservations in either the lease or your center rules. While you might have a center rule prohibiting tenants from using other tenants’ parking spaces, language in the lease saying a violation wasn’t the owner’s responsibility could relieve you. Ask your attorney about using this language:

Model Lease Language

Tenant acknowledges and agrees that Landlord shall not be responsible for the enforcement of any parking rules or regulations in connection with reserved parking spaces contained in this Lease and/or in the Building Rules.

Should you still respond to a parking complaint? Even with this clause in your lease, you may still want to respond to a tenant’s complaint when someone else parks in its space. It’s tough to ignore a tenant without damaging your relationship with it. Plus, you want to enforce your leases and building rules even-handedly without seeming to favor one tenant over another. So if you’ve stepped in and settled another tenant’s complaint, you should do so uniformly. If your efforts to clear up a parking problem fail, a tenant may still claim that you violated the lease or center rules because you didn’t do enough. But a clause like this may help shield you from liability, whether or not you choose to police the parking lot.