Concord HOA admits residents' cars shouldn't have been towed

CONCORD, N.C. — Residents at Moss Creek Townhomes in Concord couldn't believe it when they walked outside Friday and saw their vehicles had been removed. At least eight cars were towed after the homeowners association began enforcing parking rules put in place earlier this year.

No one was given any warning about vehicles being towed in front of their homes. HOA rules require that type of notice must be given to residents.

Tracy Amica ran outside panicked after her husband called for her.

"He was going out to, actually, get a haircut and noticed that his car was gone," she said.

Monica Smith had just gotten home and saw the tow trucks in the neighborhood.  She parked and went inside her home.

"Not even five minutes later, I come outside to go get dinner with my 7-year-old and my truck is gone," she said.

According to the HOA, the cars were towed because they didn't have a neighborhood hanging tag. Parking at moss creek is at a premium. Vehicles are only allowed in the driveway and must have a hanging tag to park on the street.

Karen McDonald with Fort Mill-based property management company Kuester said it is not a new issue.

"Parking has really been a problem at Moss Creek for years. It's brought up and discussed in every meeting there," she said.

The Moss Creek HOA's bylaws require a written notice of the violation attached to the windshield of the vehicle, giving 24 hours to fix the violation

No one Channel 9 spoke with had received that notice on their vehicles. There was no 24 hours warning. The cars were simply towed. Some were told the fee was $130 to get them back.

That's what led Kuester to release a statement to Channel 9 Monday.

"Our team has been working alongside the board of directors to gather the information surrounding the towings that occurred on Friday evening," Kuester said in the statement. "Based on our review, it does appear that several homeowners were towed by the towing company without proper notice. The board and Kuester apologize for the error of the towing company but have been working to correct this issue all day. This afternoon, the board unanimously voted to reimburse the homeowners for the towing expense incurred from the improper tows. Unfortunately, we have not been able to obtain a list of owners impacted by this situation, but if you have contact information for any of the owners, please have them send their information to our team by email at support@kuester.com and we will work to get them properly reimbursed."

McDonald said they would be looking for a different towing company to do business with in the future.

Cox Media Group