Fairfax County officials are proposing a set of code changes that would govern the towing of vehicles from multi-family dwelling units because their registrations or inspection stickers have expired.
The Board of Supervisors has set a public hearing for Oct. 22 to discuss the changes.
The General Assembly this year passed, and Gov. Youngkin (R) signed, House Bill 925, which stipulates the local ordinances on removing trespassing vehicles must comply with certain conditions.
Towing operators are required to post written notice on such vehicle that includes the date of the posting and indicates the vehicle will be towed because of an expired registration or expired vehicle-inspection sticker.
The notice also will need to state that the vehicle will be removed after 48 hours from the date of the posting and not before then. Besides posting the notice on the vehicle, towing company also must transmit a copy of the notice to the landlord with which the firm contracts for parking enforcement of the multi-family dwelling unit’s parking lot.
If a towing operator fails to post such notice on the vehicle, or does not wait the required 48 hours before removing or requesting the towing of such vehicle, the firm will need to reimburse the resident whose vehicle was towed for the value of the towing charges, storage and vehicle safekeeping. The company also will be subject to a $100 civil penalty.
The Fairfax County Department of Cable and Consumer Services reviewed the proposed amendments with the county’s Trespass Towing Advisory Board at the department’s July 24 and Aug. 14 meetings and the towing board did offer any comments or objections to the proposals, officials said.
