British Columbia Private Parking Enforcement Laws: Private Tickets, Towing, and Signs

In British Columbia, a private parking notice is a contract claim. The province has no statute on private parking tickets, and the Civil Resolution Tribunal has held drivers to the terms on clearly posted signs. Towing has a statutory footing: section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act makes the property occupier the vehicle owner’s agent for towing and storage when a car is left on private property in a municipality without consent, with a lien for reasonable charges. Cities add the details. Richmond requires City approval, a tow-away notice on the car, and waiting periods, and tow rates follow a provincial regulation. Most disputes over notices and tows go to the tribunal, which hears small claims up to $5,000.

Summary

BC leaves private parking charges to contract law and gives property owners a statutory footing to tow. Municipal bylaws then regulate how towing happens. Signs carry most of the weight in both: they form the contract for notices, and in tribunal decisions, vague signs have weighed against the party relying on them.

Private parking notices and municipal tickets

We found no BC statute that lets a private company issue a fine. A notice on the windshield is a demand for payment under the lot’s posted terms, the contract theory we explain in can private companies issue parking tickets. Municipal tickets under city parking bylaws are a separate system, and we found no program in Vancouver or Victoria comparable to Ontario’s, where cities deputize private officers to write city tickets on private lots.

The tribunal has applied the contract theory directly. In Koc v. Wiggins Adjustments Limited, 2022 BCCRT 93, a driver parked in a marked courier zone patrolled by an enforcement company. The signs said non-couriers would be ticketed or towed and that a wheel immobilizer was in use. The tribunal found the signs clear and prominent and wrote that by parking next to them, the driver agreed to the terms printed on them. It dismissed his claim for a refund of $425 he had paid after driving off with the wheel lock still attached and damaging it. It found that the collection agency, acting as the parking company’s agent, owed nothing either.

Where there is no paid parking or other agreement, the tribunal has looked to trespass instead. In Cordero v. The Owners, Strata Plan BCS 1816, 2020 BCCRT 394, it said parking law in BC can involve bailment, contract, and trespass, and that unless the law says otherwise, a private owner may tow an unauthorized vehicle. Tribunal decisions do not set precedent the way court rulings do, but they show how notices and tows have been judged in practice.

What signs must say

BC has no provincial sign standard for private lots, so tribunal disputes have turned on whether the sign itself made the terms and the consequence clear. Cordero is an example. The strata’s signs said “visitors” and nothing about a pass. The tribunal found that wording would reasonably lead a visitor to think he could park there, called the lack of clear signage the root cause of the dispute, and ordered the strata to repay the $280.72 tow plus interest and fees.

Municipal rules can add requirements. Richmond’s private parking lot towing regulations require a tow-away sign next to a no parking area saying that vehicles will be towed, with the name and phone number of the towing company and where towed vehicles are taken. The City also publishes sample wording, such as “Parking for (customers) (patrons) only” and “Visitors must have a parking pass.” Operators that issue notices often add the charge and the payment method. Our guide to parking lot signage for enforcement covers placement.

Towing from private property

Section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act is the provincial rule. If a vehicle or trailer is left without the occupier’s consent on private property in a municipality, or for more than 72 hours on private property outside one, its owner is deemed to have made the occupier its agent to tow and store it. The occupier gets a lien for all reasonable charges, and the lien can be enforced under Part 6 of the Commercial Liens Act.

Richmond’s regulations show the municipal layer. They say:

• The property owner must get City approval before enforcing parking on the lot by towing, unless exempt.
• An authorized representative of the property, who cannot work for the tow company, completes Part A of a tow-away notice and places it on the car. The tow driver completes Part B at the time of the tow.
• On a time-limited lot, the tow truck cannot hook up until 30 minutes after the time limit expires. For a reserved tenant stall, 10 minutes must pass.
• The car must go directly to the tow company’s licensed impound lot, and must be released if the driver returns after hook-up, subject to a drop fee.

Vancouver and other cities set their own private property towing rules by bylaw, and those bylaws change, so the current version is the one held by the City where the lot is.

Booting

We found no BC statute that authorizes, licenses, or bans booting on private property, and section 192 speaks only to towing and storage. Wheel locks are used on some private lots. In the Koc decision, the tribunal upheld a parking company’s use of one where a posted sign warned that a wheel immobilizer was in use and a card on the windshield warned the driver not to move the car. That decision did not consider whether any local bylaw restricted booting, so it does not settle the question for any particular lot. For how boots and tows compare, see booting vs. towing.

Fees, caps, and driver remedies

Section 192 limits the occupier’s lien to reasonable charges. Richmond says tow rates are set by the Lien on Impounded Motor Vehicle Regulation under the Motor Vehicle Act, that the release fee is the base tow rate, and that a tow operator may not charge the vehicle owner for the property owner’s agent or any fee beyond the regulation. We found no cap on the amount of a private parking notice.

Drivers who dispute a notice or a tow usually go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, which has jurisdiction over most small claims up to $5,000. For third-party collection of unpaid notices, Consumer Protection BC licenses debt collection agencies and collectors and enforces limits on when and how they contact people.

Municipal bylaws to check

• Each city’s towing bylaw. Richmond requires approval, tow-away notices, and waiting periods; Vancouver and others have their own versions.
• Rules on booting or immobilization, if any.
• In Victoria, the City’s Community Safety and Bylaw Services does not attend to parking complaints; the City directs them to Parking Services, which is the office to ask about private lot rules.
• Strata bylaws, which bind owners and tenants but not visitors, as the Cordero decision noted.

Questions to raise with your attorney

BC disputes often turn on signs and records, so these are questions an operator may want to bring to a lawyer licensed in British Columbia:

• Do our signs tell a visitor exactly who may park, what pass or payment is required, and what happens otherwise, in light of the Cordero decision?
• How does section 192 of the Motor Vehicle Act apply to our lot, and what counts as reasonable charges for the occupier’s lien?
• Does our city require approval, tow-away notices, or waiting periods before towing, as Richmond does, and who on our side can complete Part A?
• Do our tow company’s rates follow the Lien on Impounded Motor Vehicle Regulation where the city applies it?
• Does any municipal bylaw restrict wheel locks at our lots, given that the Koc decision did not consider local bylaws?
• If we refer unpaid notices for collection, is the agency licensed by Consumer Protection BC, and what records would we present at the Civil Resolution Tribunal?

Lotably works with operators in British Columbia. Its enforcement tools attach photo evidence and let drivers pay or contest online. Booting and towing records start switched off in Lotably and are turned on when the operator asks. Lotably does not check whether booting or towing is allowed where an operator enforces; the operator is responsible for following the law and assumes all risk of using them. Canadian accounts are billed in CAD at the same plan prices, and online signup is not open in Quebec yet. For other provinces and states, see private parking enforcement laws by state.