An Apartment Complex Is About To Tow This Guy’s Car Over A Dent

When signing any sort of contract, you may come across some clauses you don’t think apply to you. Until they do.

This Dallas apartment complex’s “fix your car or get towed” policy, no matter how minor the damage is an example of that. Local Dallas-Fort Worth new station CBS 11 covered a story where Sontlux Sukhavachana, owner of a Chevrolet Traverse with a dent in it, said he got a notice on his car saying the company that owns the apartment complex he lives in, Fath Properties, planned to tow it.

From what we can tell the dent is average size, not small, not massive but hey, it’s not our car so why should it matter anyway?

Apparently, though, the question isn’t how big is the dent, it’s is there any damage at all, according to the complex. The language from Fath Properties website states:

One of our unique policies is the Vehicle Condition Agreement that is part of our Rental Criteria and an Addendum to the Lease Agreement. Amazingly it came from our applicants consistently telling us the first thing they looked at were the cars in the parking lot. If the cars were disabled, heavily dented, rusted, unsightly, they assumed the property was poorly operated and their neighbors would be unacceptable. We understand that your automobile is a personal item and as such is your right to drive whatever you want, however from our research, this is something most good customers requested and we do have the right to provide. If you truly want a clean, quiet, well-maintained place to live and will abide by the rules, I believe we are your best option. If you do not care and do not wish to follow the rules, then you will not be happy living with us.

However, for Sukhavachana and his family there’s more to it than fixing the dent. It could actually cost his family next month’s rent having to put the money toward the car instead. Jalopnik reports that other tenants in the complex have similar complaints. One renter said he got his car towed over chipped paint. Another resident said his car was towed because his car was painted two different colors.

Sukhavachana got an extension on the tow in December, and that he now has until Friday to get the dent fixed. What do you think, is this a clause just trying to keep the complex nice or is it reaching too far?