(1) This Chapter applies to the towing of a motor vehicle from private property, or the immobilization of a motor vehicle on private property, without the consent of the vehicle owner.
(2) This Chapter does not apply to:
(A) towing initiated by the vehicle owner;
(B) towing approved or requested by a police officer, firefighter, or rescue squad member in the course of a criminal investigation or under State law regulating abandoned vehicles; or
(C) towing a vehicle while repossessing it.
(D) towing from the yard or driveway of a single-family dwelling; or
(E) towing from land immediately adjoining an electric or telephone utility building or structure that is not open to the general public.
(3) Section 30C-5 does not apply to towing from designated handicapped parking spaces.
(b) Purpose. The purpose of this Chapter is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of County residents and to regulate and authorize the County Executive to set maximum rates for the towing of vehicles from private property without the consent of the vehicle owner. This Chapter does not authorize the immobilization, towing or holding of any vehicle. To the extent that legal authority to immobilize, tow or hold a vehicle without the consent of its owner exists, that authority must be derived from other statutes or the common law. This Chapter restricts the exercise of any such legal authority. (1988 L.M.C., ch. 29, § 2; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 13, § 1; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 1; 1997 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1; , § 1; , § 1.)
Editor’s note—2005 L.M.C., ch. 26, §§ 2 and 3, state:
Sec. 2. Regulations. A regulation which implements a function transferred to the Office of Consumer Protection by this Act continues in effect until otherwise amended or repealed, but any reference to any predecessor department or office must be treated as referring to the Office of Consumer Protection.
Sec. 3. Transition. This act does not invalidate or affect any action taken by the Department of Housing and Community Affairs before this Act took effect. Any responsibility or right granted by law, regulation, contract, or other document, and which is associated with a function transferred by this Act from the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, is transferred to the Office of Consumer Protection.
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