Management Company Removed Bikes

Hi,

The management company of my apartment complex removed my bikes that locked in bicycle storage. The storage is at the back of the building, and so I don't walk past it daily and with working from home haven't needed the bikes for a few months. I just discovered today the management company put tags on bikes saying they would be removed unless otherwise instructed, at this point I assume they also cut through the locks on the bikes. Upon further inspection, I saw a letter on a notice board instructing bikes to be removed, again notice board out of the way. I own the apartment and the company generally send letters or emails on other topics.

The bikes have been removed in the last few days, but I am not actually sure yet was happened to the bikes? I assuming the worst case, do I have any recourse?

I am assuming they will say notices were posted, but today I walked past the storage and roughly 50 bikes (50%) are set to be removed showing most people are not aware. I would be surprised if the bikes were simply thrown away given they had a value +2k.

(this has just happened so clearly a bit peeved!)

It isn't clear to me whether you mean the OMC or the managing agent at this point. Could you clarify please?

Is "bicycle storage" a common area in the development or someone's private area?

mathepac said:

It isn't clear to me whether you mean the OMC or the managing agent at this point. Could you clarify please?

Is "bicycle storage" a common area in the development or someone's private area?

Click to expand...

I don't know the difference, but it was organized by the agent / property manager that I pay the fees to. I would say it is a private area as it can only be accessed by a key given to residents. I can understand removing bikes that have been there for years with little value or not even locked.

Was this storage area specifically for parking bicycles, or an area that morphed into locking bicycles?

I do agree that owners/tenants should receive warning emails regarding such changes, or at least have the notice displayed prominently in the Apt entrance ect.

We had an issue a few years back where the designated bicycle area was full of abandoned bikes that gathered over the years in that there was no room left for the current tenants to secure their bike, and so there was a clear out having displayed notices by the lift and stairs. This was handled quite well with warning stickers applied to all the bikes with a code attached. The code was relayed to the caretaker who would then be aware not to remove that bike.

This is a facility supplied by the complex, unlike car spaces, where you can hog that space to your hearts content assuming you pay your bills.
.

Well first things first, have you contacted the agent to see if your bike can be saved ? You mention a notice board. They do tend to be at front hallways and at bottom of lifts. They will state, as you say, that they gave adequate notice.but you need to act fast if they are only half way through the clearout. My advice would be to explain your circumstances asap and see if they will somehow accept that they may have acted better. Whatever you do don't go in all guns blazing.

elcato said:

Well first things first, have you contacted the agent to see if your bike can be saved ? You mention a notice board. They do tend to be at front hallways and at bottom of lifts. They will state, as you say, that they gave adequate notice.but you need to act fast if they are only half way through the clearout. My advice would be to explain your circumstances asap and see if they will somehow accept that they may have acted better. Whatever you do don't go in all guns blazing.

Click to expand...

My post last evening was made when I was quite annoyed! The noticeboard is not in a convenient place that you would notice a piece of A4 whitepaper with size 10 font as something you need to pay attention to.

Alas, the company has got back to me and they have my bikes locked away somewhere else which is a relief. The whole incident is a bit bizarre, and hopefully my complaint will halt their action and let them take a different approach. Like a note put on entrance doors.

I can understand their reasons for doing it, bike racks tend to accumulate abandoned bikes, particularly in an apartment block where there might be a lot of tenants coming and going.

Having said that, they presumably have contact details for all apartment owners, they should have sent an email or letter before removing people's property.

shweeney said:

Having said that, they presumably have contact details for all apartment owners, they should have sent an email or letter before removing people's property.

Click to expand...

Then you run the risk of landlords not informing tenants which is a likely scenario. Letters under the door would be my preferred option but then if a landlord is letting out the apartment and also using the bike rack ........ It's hard to please everyone unfortunately.

We did this in our development in Northwood. Warning emails were sent, notices put up in hallways, bikes tagged, notices put up in bike shed. We went beyond the deadline before bikes were removed (this delayed the work on the bike shed, which meant that people who had removed their bikes were unhappy) There is only so much OMCs and their agents can do. BTW we have a lot more space in the bike shed now!

Dublinbay12 said:

My post last evening was made when I was quite annoyed! The noticeboard is not in a convenient place that you would notice a piece of A4 whitepaper with size 10 font as something you need to pay attention to.

Alas, the company has got back to me and they have my bikes locked away somewhere else which is a relief. The whole incident is a bit bizarre, and hopefully my complaint will halt their action and let them take a different approach. Like a note put on entrance doors.

Click to expand...

Its not really bizarre and is a regular occurrence for tidying up bike sheds. However communication should be very clear with notices in common areas, bike area, notification to landlords for onward transmission to tenants and notices to individual letterboxes. Its not difficult but once that is done and a suitable time has elapsed the management cannot do much more