sumguy

Who knew. Went to pick up a package at the office and they questioned me about a bike I had stored under/next to the stairwell. Apparently its a fire hazard and a big no-no even though it was out of the way. Told them it was only there a few days while I built some cages and they said they have an entire apartment just for bike storage and I could get keys if I wanted Wonder if someone will tell them about the two bikes on the top floor propped up on the guard rail and the inflatable pool things propped up next to them. Anyway, for all you apartment dwellers, it may pay to ask management if they could have a locked community bike storage area if vacancy is high.

shmily_dana

The policy at my old apartment made no sense. I could not have it on the balcony with the wheels down leaning on the rail or wall. But I could hang it upside down on the balcony. I mentioned that would be more visible. I did not see how that was less of an eyesore. I did not see how installing large hooks was consistent with my lease. I suggested that their matainence guys should be the ones to install the hooks for everyone. I'm glad I bought a house. Fortunately, the HOA does not have any weird anti-bicycle rules.

arej00dazed

I was fortunate that my first, tiny apartment had exposed 12x4 rafters. So I screwed some hooks in and hung my bike from that. Since it was right next to the stairwell, it didnt cause any room issues. I originally had it looked up outside until the neighbor came over and told me ppl were ripping bikes off.

perryw

I store mine behind my dining area table.. and the table has become my parts storage area

Going through the bicycle storage space purchase now. Has a couple bedrooms attached!

bluegoatwoods

What you've described is not unheard of. It even kind of makes sense; those stairwells should be completely clear. (I believe you when you say that it was out of the way. But someone else will store something else there. Then someone else.....etc.)

What is surprising to me is that they've devoted a unit to storage for bikes. That's actually fairly generous. Others would have said, "It's your problem".

JonathanGennick 

It's way cool that your apartment complex has a dedicated unit for bike storage. I'm actually very favorably impressed at that. That's a unit's rent per month that they are losing out on. Give them credit for setting that up.

BTW, fire codes are generally quite strict when it comes to stairways and such. Anything at all other than just the stairs in generally forbidden. Something out of the way can easily get knocked into the way in a panic, so I can see why the fire code is the way that it is.

Take the key. Use that spare apartment. Meet the other bikers.

Riverside_Guy

I had a guy who worked for me live in a HOA development in NJ. He had a 10 foot skiff on a trailer he used to go fishing with... kept it inside his garage. HOA saw him taking it out and bingo, he had to get rid of it! Was one a business trip in CA years ago, one of the people I was seeing had just been fined by her HOA because... her grass was 1/4 iunch past the "allowed" height of grass.

My co-op turned some excessive space in the laundry room into bike racks (we had wire walls and doors put in so the area is locked). We charge a very reasonable fee for them. However, they are a pain because they are way too close AND one has to really wrestle with the bike because you have to lift the front wheel straight up and hook it into a single hanger.

Get this... I rode a lot in the early nineties, but kinda stopped due to some medical issue. Finally got those sorted this past spring and went back to riding. When I had stopped riding, I knew I had a tear in the rear tube, so all I needed to do was replace it. There's my bike, not in my rack but in a neighbors (who had a rack, but no bike). Huh... my bike was sporting 2 brand new tires, looking like they weren't ridden on all that much!!

I have NO IDEA what went down... can only think someone saw it wasn't being used for several years and finally simply started using it... but probably had the tires put on first (not necessary, the tires were in fine shape, all that it needed was a rear tube). After a few weeks, it was simply easier for me to keep it in my apartment, at least until the 2-3 months where I couldn't use iit all that much. BUT, nobody has said boo about it to the mg. agent. How odd is that story??

MadMabel

Your stories are far from unique.

This sort of pettiness is precisely why I have never owned and will never own a house in a community with a Home Owner's Association.

sumguy

Even so, it can still happen. My mom doesn't live in the best part of town and is on a fixed income. House has been in the family 60+ years. A group was created to improve neighborhoods and backed by the city. It is not uncommon to get citations for unkempt yards, bad paint, etc. Our city is really getting into these type of citations. Some home owners received parking tickets for vehicles parked on gravel driveways on their own property - apparently all parking spaces must be paved. They just started charging for garbage pickup and now are thinking of trying an automated pickup with homeowners buying the special cans from the city in addition to raising rates.