Several tenants of Three Rivers Mobile Home Park in Hastings are calling on property management to pump the brakes on towing vehicles.

Tenants say the reason for the rise in towing is due to expired tabs. Many are having to pay hundreds to get their cars back. 

Ashley Perry has lived at the trailer park for four years; she showed 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS security footage taken last Saturday when a car was towed around 4 a.m. from her driveway. That car is owned by a person who was watching Perry’s kids while she was out of town.

“They had woken up and their vehicle was gone out of my driveway. So, they thought it was stolen,” said Perry.

Instead, it was towed for having expired tabs. Just a few days later, Jessica Schmidt had the same thing happen to her.

“They were 18 days expired,” said Schmidt. “So, I drive the SUV and it has all three car seats for all three kids that we have at our house.”

With no means of getting to work and transporting her kids to daycare, Schmidt had to pay about $500 to get her car back and get new tabs.

“Multiple people have experienced the same, if not worse, situations with their car,” said Schmidt. 

“It’s taking money from kids’ mouths, along with their Christmas presents. And it’s just, it’s just very unsettling to me,” said Perry. 

Under state statutes, vehicles cannot be towed if their tabs have expired for less than 90 days. However, the law goes on to say that private property owners can authorize the towing of a vehicle unlawfully parked on their property. 

“I’m more upset with the park management because they should be protecting us,” Perry said. “I hope this doesn’t happen to anybody else. I just want it to stop.” 

“You’re supposed to come together as a community and talk about this and maybe have a meeting and discuss, like what needs to change or what the proper like rules and regulations should be for towing but instead, they have completely dismissed everyone that’s had complaints.”

Both Perry and Schmidt told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they plan on moving out of the property. 

The park management said in a statement: “Three Rivers’ management is committed to providing all of our residents with respectful and professional management, well-maintained communities, and attainable homeownership. We employ a towing company to ensure that shared roads and community spaces are clear of vehicles that are not properly registered or maintained, as we make clear in our leasing agreements. We provide advanced notice before taking action and our residents are aware of the steps we take to ensure their safety.”

The Attorney General’s office says residents can direct their concerns to the Tenant Report Form on their site.