Can a landlord take away parking space? A landlord generally needs a just cause reason to take away or sever a tenant’s parking space. If your landlord takes away your parking space, you are entitled to a corresponding rent reduction. Thus, either you as a tenant or the landlord can file a petition with the rent board to determine your rent reduction amount.

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Can a landlord take away parking space?

If you previously agreed to pay a certain amount for the parking but the landlord takes it away, you are entitled to the agreed amount, plus “allowable annual increases since the amount was set”.

However, if you had no agreed amount for the parking space, the rent reduction amount depends on the facts of the case. You may need the following:

• Evidence of parking rates in the same neighborhood at the time you first rented the parking space.
• The replacement value of the parking space.
• What the landlord charges other tenants for their parking space.

In some cases, if you were given the parking space after tenancy started, and you do not pay any additional rent for the parking space, no rent reduction is granted after the landlord takes away the parking space.

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Suppose a tenant rents a parking space in a building but does not live there. If the parking space is rented outside the use or occupancy of the rental unit of the tenant, it is a commercial transaction not covered by the rent control.

Any additional amount paid for the parking space is part of the base rent of a tenant. This is the case whether or not the parking space rent is paid separately from the rent for the unit.

The additional amount paid for the parking space is typically added to the base rent of a tenant even if the parking space was rented after the inception of the tenancy.

The annual rent increase anniversary date remains the same even if the parking space rent has not been an additional service for a full year.

A temporary parking space sever

A landlord may be allowed to temporarily sever a parking space without just cause. In such cases, typically, the tenant is not entitled to a rent reduction for temporarily losing their parking space.

However, the landlord must compensate for the severed or substituted parking space.

If the written agreement or rental lease shows a rate for the severed housing service, the amount of compensation will be evaluated with that rate.

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If there is no rate stated in the written agreement or rental lease, the compensation rate due for the severed parking space will be equal to the current replacement value of the parking space. In San Francisco, for example, this rate will not exceed 15% of the monthly base rent for each severed parking space pro-rated daily.

The replacement value of the severed parking space depends on the facts of each case.

Serving a tenant with a written notice

In most states, a landlord is legally mandated to provide a written notice to temporarily sever or take away a parking space. The written notice should also indicate how long the parking space will be severed.

A landlord may also require all the necessary permits from the local rental board. However, as a landlord, it’s risky to use this in a bid to annoy a tenant to move out. A landlord can get in trouble over forced eviction.

Finally, a tenant or the landlord can file a petition to determine the compensation amount or sufficiency of the substitute parking space.

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