ParkingPass sends a number of automated emails (and in some cases SMS) on behalf of your property. Knowing what gets sent automatically — and when — helps you avoid duplicating messages, answer "did you tell my resident?" questions confidently, and troubleshoot when a recipient says they didn't receive something.
This article documents the five categories of automated notifications, what they're for, who receives them, and how to verify they were sent.
Why Knowing This Matters
A few patterns this article helps you handle:
Avoid sending redundant messages. If you know the system already sends a renewal notice 14 days out, you don't need to email residents about renewals every two weeks.
Answer "did anyone notify me?" When a resident says they were surprised by something, you can check whether (and when) the system sent the notification.
Troubleshoot delivery. If a resident says they aren't getting emails, the Email Log on their profile shows what the system actually sent and the delivery status.
Plan your own communications around the automated ones. The automated emails handle the routine; your manual emails can focus on the situational.
The Five Categories of Automated Notifications
1. Lease Expiration Notifications
When a resident's lease is approaching its end date, the system sends notification reminders. These give the resident (and the property) a heads-up that the lease — and therefore the resident's parking authorization — is about to lapse.
Typical handling:
Resident receives a notice that their lease is expiring.
The PM-side dashboard widget for Lease Status (Expired and Expiring Soon counts) reflects the same data.
If the lease is renewed before expiration, the renewal flows through your normal lease workflow and the notification cycle stops.
See Reading Your Dashboard for the Lease Status widget.
2. Resident Permit Expiration Reminders
Separate from lease expiration, parking permits themselves have expiration dates and trigger their own reminder series. Residents receive notifications as their permit approaches expiration so they can renew before parking authorization lapses.
Typical handling:
Resident gets a series of reminders ahead of the permit's end date.
The Parking e-Permit Expiration column in the resident's My Vehicles view shows the date.
If the resident renews before expiration, the renewal extends the permit and stops the reminder cycle.
See Parking Permits for permit basics.
3. Guest Pass Reminders
For every active guest pass, the system sends three reminders as expiration approaches, plus a final expiration notice when the pass actually expires. All four notifications are sent by both email and SMS.
Important: these go to the resident host, not the guest. The host is the one with the authority to extend or renew, so they're the one notified.
The full guest-pass notification flow is documented in How Guest Pass Registration Works.
4. Receipts (Payment Confirmations)
When a resident pays for anything — a permit, an add-on, a paid guest pass — the system sends a receipt automatically.
Typical handling:
The resident receives a receipt at the email on file.
The same receipt is also available in the resident's portal under Payment System → Payment History.
If a payment is refunded, a separate refund receipt is sent.
If a resident says "I didn't get my receipt," check the Email Log on their profile to confirm delivery before assuming there's a problem. Most receipt issues are spam-folder or address-on-file issues, not platform issues.
5. Notification of Violation
When a violation is recorded against a vehicle associated with a resident or guest pass, the system sends a notification.
Typical handling:
The resident receives a notice describing the violation, the vehicle, and any associated action (warning, citation, boot, tow).
For guest-pass-related violations, the host resident receives the notification because that's where the host-relationship is anchored.
Unregistered vehicles can't be notified because there's no account associated with them.
See Tow Operations: A Complete Workflow Guide for what the resident does after receiving a violation notification, and Citation Disputes: A Complete Workflow Guide for the dispute path.
How to Verify What Was Sent
Every automated email is logged on the recipient's profile. To confirm what the system sent (and whether it was delivered):
Open the resident's profile.
Use Quick Actions → View Email Log to see all sent emails for the relevant period.
For SMS, use Quick Actions → View SMS Log.
Each row shows the status (delivered, bounced, etc.), the recipient, the subject, and a button to view the full message body as it was sent.
See Activity History and Logs for the full guide to the log types and their retention windows.
Channels: Email, SMS, Voice, Push
Most automated notifications go by email. Some categories — most notably guest pass reminders — also go by SMS. A few may also use voice or push notifications depending on the resident's notification preferences and your property's configuration.
Residents control their own notification channels through the Update My Info area in their portal. If a resident has SMS notifications disabled, the SMS half of any notification won't fire even if the email half does. The notification pills on the resident's profile (Email Notifications, SMS Notifications, Voice Notifications, Push Notifications) show which channels are active.
What's NOT Automated
A useful counter-list — things you should send yourself, because the system doesn't:
Property-specific announcements (parking lot resurfacing, new rule rollouts, holiday operations).
Welcome / orientation messages beyond the initial invitation. Once residents are active, the platform doesn't send them ongoing "here's how things work" reminders.
Dispute outcome communications beyond the platform-side approval/denial event. Following up personally with the resident is on property management.
Board or leadership updates at HOAs. The automated notifications go to residents, not the board.
Patrol vendor coordination — vendor communications happen directly with you, not through automated platform emails.
Common Scenarios
"My resident says they had no idea their permit was expiring."
Check the Email Log and SMS Log on their profile. The expiration reminder series should have been sent. If it was, the issue is on the resident's end (spam folder, outdated email, ignored). If it wasn't, escalate to ParkingPass Support.
"I'm getting bounce notifications for a resident."
Their email on file is wrong, full, or disabled. Update the email in their profile and confirm with the resident on another channel.
"My resident wants to opt out of all automated emails."
They can disable notification channels through their Update My Info area. Note that disabling notifications doesn't change underlying behavior — their permit still expires on schedule; they just won't be reminded of it.
"Did my guest get an email about the violation issued to their car?"
Guest-pass violations notify the host resident, not the guest directly. Check the host resident's Email Log.
"Are PMs notified when residents do things?"
PMs receive dashboard-side queue updates (New Resident Applications, Vehicle Change Requests, Citation Disputes counts). Whether email/SMS notifications go to PMs depends on each PM user's notification preferences, set under their own user profile.
"I sent a manual email about something the system was about to send. Now my resident got two messages."
It happens. Going forward, lean on the automated notifications for routine reminders (permit expiration, payment receipts, guest pass expiration, violations) and use manual emails for what's not covered.
Important Notes
Exact timing (how many days before expiration, how many reminders) is configured at the platform level and may vary by category. The Email and SMS logs on each resident's profile are the source of truth for what was actually sent.
Automated notifications go to the email and phone number on the resident's profile. Keeping resident contact info current is essential — outdated info silently breaks every category in this article.
Notification preferences set by the resident govern which channels fire. A resident with SMS disabled will still receive emails; a resident with email and SMS both disabled will receive almost nothing.
For board accountability or audit needs, capture relevant notifications from the Email Log before the 2-year retention window closes. SMS retention is shorter (~400 days). See Activity History and Logs.
If a notification you expect to see in the log isn't there, contact [email protected] with the resident's name, the action you expected to trigger the notification, and the timestamp.