Towing Issues: vehicle abandonment, haliburton ontario canada, storage lien


Question
I have a storage facility in Haliburton Ontario Canada K0M 1S0. In 2005 I entered a verbal arrangement with a friend who owned a towing company. He would have the use of my 160 foot by 60 foot storage building and property for impounding and storage of vehicles. In exchange he handled all the towing needed for my taxi company. He closed his business and the development corporation in the area took possession of his large wrecker and told me I should charge them for storage of the wrecker. Shortly afterwards they sold my friends equipment including the wrecker in question to another local business man. He removed one of the tow trucks but still to date two years later has not removed the larger wrecker which will take a major effort to move as it has sat dormant for so long. I have mentioned in person that I would like this vehicle removed from my property several times to which he has assured me that he will get it moved off the property. To date it still sits on the premises. What are my recourses. Can I have it towed off as scrap? Can I apply what ever monies I receive towards the several years of storage it has incurred? What are my options?
Thank you for your time in this matter
Martin

Answer
Canadian laws are a bit harder for me to follow, but I do not believe that you can have it towed off for scrap yourself as you do not own the vehicle, or have a title or towing and storage lien on it.

So as I understand the laws up there you would be charged with stealing the vehicle.
But as the property owner you can contact one of the local tow companies who should remove it from your property for no charge (in most cases) and they will do the paperwork to receive legal rights to dispose of it.

Now you might be able to go into the "ABANDONED PROPERTY" laws where you file a lien on it and go though all the hoops to do this legally.
But like I said the laws up in Canada are very different from ours.

There also is a towing association up there who you might be able to contact and get more information and legal information.

http://www.ptao.org

Sorry for not having more information