CARRBORO - A policy that bans cars with scratched paint from a low-rent apartment complex might not stand up to a legal challenge, some experts said.

This week, management at Abbey Court apartments started towing vehicles that lack proper parking permits. Management is denying stickers for vehicles with "conspicuous body damage," which they say includes dents, scratches, faded paint, damaged stripping along seams or cracked glass.

Dozens of tenants have protested. Some have ordered employees from Chandler's Towing away from their vehicles. At least one has thrown a bottle at a tow truck.

The situation has community leaders' attention. Carrboro police have urged Tar Heel Cos., the property manager, to stop towing.

"These are not junk cars!" Alderwoman Jacquie Gist wrote in an e-mail message to other officials. "Several of the cars I saw that had been denied permits looked fine -- it took close inspection to find anything wrong. One had a few inches of side stripping loose and was denied a parking permit."

The Orange County Office of Human Rights and Relations is investigating the tenants' complaints, office director Shoshannah Smith said Friday.

Smith said her office is concerned about whether the policy is being applied equally, regardless of race or other factors. Smith also questions using "conspicuous damage" to exclude vehicles.

"We've never dealt with a policy like that, so I'm going to have to do some further research to see if the Fair Housing Act itself says anything about that," Smith said. "My car would get towed."

Chuck Szypszak, who teaches real estate law at the UNC School of Government, said a judge might find the conspicuous damage rule to be reasonable, but he would interpret it much more narrowly.

"They don't want heaps sitting," he said. "[They shouldn't] have people looking for scratches."

But Bart White, an attorney representing the Abbey Court condo owners association, said it's up to 60 or so owners to decide the community's rules.

"Anybody that disagrees with the community standard can and should live somewhere else," he said.

The parking policy requires tenants to document ownership of their vehicles, presenting a unique burden for illegal immigrants, many of whom register and insure their vehicles in other people's names. Tina Grabus, a vice president with Tar Heel Cos., said the enforcement has nothing to do with immigration status.

"I don't know if the people who live there are illegal," she said. "There is no targeting."

White said complaints about the strict body-damage standard will probably be worked out to the tenants' satisfaction.

"They may not have stickers right now, but I think that those issues will be resolved if you'll give it a few days," he said. "We don't want this to get out of hand."