Car dealership employee drives company cars, landlord complains that he is parking 'commercial inventory' on property: 'I do not own a personal vehicle'

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Sep 21, 2026 5:00 PM EDT

When does a landlord have any business with what car their tenant drives?

It is widely agreed that one of the worst things about renting is having to live by the rules of somebody else in your own home. This doesn't feel so bad when these rules are something that any reasonable person should be able to abide by, but they can easily get to a point where it feels like they are intruding on a tenant's right to live in the property in a respectful way that also fits their lifestyle. 

No matter whether they rent or own, the most important thing that most people want out of a place to live is somewhere that fits comfortably around their day-to-day routine. So long as they aren't doing any harm, it is a priority for a landlord to respect that about whoever pays rent to them. If there are any difficulties, it is vital to communicate clearly and get the issue solved as fast as possible. A tenancy issue that doesn't get properly addressed has the potential to grow into something much bigger and more annoying for everyone involved if one or both parties refuse to consider a solution.

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  • A man working on a laptop in the driver's seat of a car.
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A man working on a laptop in the driver's seat of a car. Recreated scenario included to enhance reader understanding.  
     

  • A tenant worked at a car dealership, which meant he didn't own a vehicle of his own and was usually driving different cars home as a kind of test run before they were sold. He faced an issue with one of the cars while it was at home, which he promptly fixed.

    After this, his landlords began to have an issue with him taking home vehicles from work, although they had been fine with it before. The contract stated that all vehicles on the property needed to be registered with the landlord, and the tenant wasn't sure where he stood.

  • Landlord is trying to control what cars I drive

    I rent from a private landlords and they decided to suddenly have a problem with my transportation situation. I work at a dealership, so I drive dealership vehicles home after work in order to verify that the funny sound or weird shake for example is gone. For this reason I do not own a personal vehicle.
    via LogOne9262
  • My job provides me with one. My landlords tried to tell me to remove "commercial inventory." This happened after there was one coolant leak from a car I drove that I promptly handled and cleaned. I responded to it so fast that they didn't even have time to confront me about it but they saw me scrubbing and later on realized it was a leak of some sort and then sent a message
    via LogOne9262
  • sharing commercial inventory is to be removed. They did not specify it was because of the leak. When asked about it, they said they don't like the assortment of vehicles I bring back. Is this allowed??? Here is the parking section of my lease-
    via LogOne9262

  • The lease claimed all vehicles needed to be registered with the landlord.

    "" Tenant may park any vehicles in the parking area located on the grounds of the Building during the Lease term. Landlord shall be entitled to require all vehicles parking in the Parking Area to be registered with Landlord including, without limitation, providing Landlord with any required information, such as the vehicle license plate number and
    via LogOne9262
  • the owner's name and contact information. Landlord shall be entitled to institute parking controls and other measures including, without limitation, requiring vehicle tags or decals and installing access gates with security cards or access codes. Landlord may impose reasonable and customary charges on Tenant and other Occupants for security cards and lor vehicle tags or decals.
    via LogOne9262
  • No vehicles other than Registered Vehicles may be parked in the parking area by Tenant, any other Occupant, or any of their guests. If Tenant replaces any of the Registered Vehicles, Tenant must notify Landlord of that replacement and provide Landlord with the new identification information (as set forth above) for the replacement vehicle prior to parking that vehicle in the parking area.
    via LogOne9262

  • The issue of registry had never been raised before.

    NATURE OF PARKING RIGHTS Tenant may park in any open parking space available in the parking area, and neither Tenant nor any other tenant..." II II They never asked to register any cars with them. This is a quiet neighborhood and I park in the driveway. They knew I worked at a dealership and saw that I
    via LogOne9262
  • drove dealership cars and even complimented one of the cars I was on when we first met. Never had any issues with them until now
    via LogOne9262
  • A man looking at his phone while sitting in the driver's seat of a car.
    via Vitaly Gariev

    A man looking at his phone while sitting in the driver's seat of a car. Picture does not depict real parties.

  • The car dealership needed to be involved.

    bassmnt Register the dealer plate and dealer as owner.
    via bassmnt
  • snowHound208 They're probably going to be a massive nossle and exercise that clause about "registering" each single vehicle you bring with the landlord.
    via snowHound208
  • But there is nothing there that says there is a limit to how many times you can do that. It just says you have to with all "replacement" vehicles.
    via snowHound208

  • They shouldn't have an issue if it's work-related.

    tyjo2112 Nice thing is the dealer plate number stays the same. Register it and tell them its work provided transportation.
    via tyjo2112
  • froction What kind of lease agreement contains verbiage like "Tenant may park any vehicles..." That whole thing is worthless.
    via froction

  • Another conversation needed to be had.

    GroovyGmalvy I think you need to talk to your landlord and see if you can meet somewhere in the middle. Maybe before you leave the dealership every night, send them a quick email saying what vehicle you're bringing home — year, - make/model, color, plate number,
    via GroovyGmalvy
  • whatever they need. That way they know exactly what vehicle is going to be parked there that night and they have the information before you even bring it onto the property. I don't know if they'll agree to it, but it seems like a pretty reasonable compromise instead of everybody turning this into a huge fight.
    via GroovyGmalvy
  • Aromatic_Recipe1749 The cars have to be legally registered to be on the road. The dealer plate is legal. I would send them a text every day when leaving work to notify them of the vehicle you are driving that day. They can't control your vehicles.
    via Aromatic_Recipe1749
  • You're not bringing buyers to the house. You're not working on the cars in their driveway. They have nothing to complain about. Give them a B+ for effort and imagine and move on.
    via Aromatic_Recipe1749

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parking space tenant cars bad landlord
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