Storing Bicycle in Apartment - Landlord meltdown

Bananaleaf

Also, sorry - I don't know the correct term - but what about getting one of those body bag types for the bike. The weather proof zip up covers? Would he be willing to compromise on that? If you had the bike in the suit prior to bringing into the apartment, it won't mark anything and any mud or whatever (even though you probably clean it before bringing it through) will be contained within the bag.

lcwill

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

They chose to agree and sign the contract. Now they're breaking the terms of that contract. Simple as.

Plenty of legitimate reason to have a go at landlords. Being upset at a tenant for breaking the terms of their lease is not one of them.

Each to his own, you can see from other comments that most people agree the landlord is being unreasonable and the tenant should consider moving. From a landlord's perspective behaving in a way that encourages your tenants to move should be cause for a moments self-reflection. The landlord may own the apartment but it is the tenant's home.

Any tenant would pay a premium to rent from a laidback but professional landlord over one who makes a fuss over stuff like this (which I would also take as an indication that he would be a pain in the **s in other situations too).

faceman

I don't think the landlord's desire to not have bikes in apartments is unreasonable however the spates of recent thefts that seem more deliberate than opportunist highlights a need for the landlord or management company to review the matter.

I'd suggest talking with other tenants who are also concerned or have had bikes stolen and send a group communication or signed letter to the landlord or management committee highlighting the concerns. The important part being doing it and following up with it in writing.

Neither just ignoring the landlord or following his instruction is a solution as it's not addressing the root issue here.

CollyFlower

Why not get a tracking device for the bike, some are so small they can be easily installed inside the handlebars, which makes it completely invisible from the outside, they can also be connected to your smartphone that will alart you if your bike is being intrefed with.

gizmo555

CollyFlower wrote: »

they can also be connected to your smartphone that will alart you if your bike is being intrefed with.

And what then? Get up in the middle of the night to go and fight some gurrier for your bike in your pyjamas? Not me!

JaMarcusHustle

lcwill wrote: »

Each to his own, you can see from other comments that most people agree the landlord is being unreasonable and the tenant should consider moving.

I understand this, and I fully agree that it is excessive to prohibit a bicycle being stored in the apartment. I'm not arguing otherwise.

My family rents out a few properties - I literally drew up a lease for our latest tenants yesterday and it would never occur to me to prohibit bicycles indoors. Sure enough, they unloaded bicycles from their moving van yesterday - I have no issue with it whatsoever.

But maybe this landlord allowed bicycles in the past, and the apartment suffered damage as a result? Maybe they were given assurances before that bikes wouldn't cause damage, and maybe damage did occur despite those assurances?

We don't know what the landlord's reasons are. I've seen various downloadable lease templates and they rarely (if ever) have a clause prohibiting bicycles so it's likely something that was specifically added in to the lease, so I'm sure the landlord has his reasons. Even if he doesn't have a good reason, he's entitled to include it in the lease at his discretion and if the OP doesn't like it, he shouldn't have agreed to it.

lcwill wrote: »

From a landlord's perspective behaving in a way that encourages your tenants to move should be cause for a moments self-reflection. The landlord may own the apartment but it is the tenant's home.

It is the tenant's home subject to the terms of the lease they signed and agreed to abide by. They do not have free reign to break the terms of the lease once they move in.

lcwill wrote: »

Any tenant would pay a premium to rent from a laidback but professional landlord over one who makes a fuss over stuff like this (which I would also take as an indication that he would be a pain in the **s in other situations too).

Likewise, many landlords would offer a discount to tenants who abide by the terms of their lease and are respectful of a landlord's property.

Renting/letting is nothing more than a business transaction between two parties. If a landlord doesn't personally know a tenant, all they have to judge them by is how respectful they are of the terms of a lease (rent being paid on time, covenants being respected etc).

I know breaking a "no bicycles" agreement seems pretty inconsequential and doesn't necessarily mean that the tenant is a lawless gurrier wrecking and destroying the apartment, but from a landlord's perspective, how do they know where the tenant draws the line between what parts of the lease they'll respect and what parts they wont?

Don't make any modfications to the apartment? Ah sure we'll just repaint the walls a different colour, no big deal. And we'll drill some holes for some new shelving.

No pets allowed? Ah sure it's just a little kitten, it won't do any damage. Scrapes to furnite and flooring are just wear and tear.

Return the apartment to the landlord as you got it? Ah sure we broke the €200 microwave, but we replaced it with this €50 that's no different.

If the landlord is of the opinion that having a bike indoors increases the risk of damage to the property, he's well within his rights to outlaw it in the terms of the lease. Any prospective tenant who doesn't like it does not have to sign the lease and can look elsewhere.

Of course, all of this unpleasantness could have easily been pre-empted by approaching the landlord first. Maybe the landlord would have seen how courteous the OP was, but instead all he has to go by now is catching the OP "red handed" trying to get away with breaking the lease without making any attempt to discuss it with the landlord first. Their relationship is immediately soured, and rightfully so. It's all well and good trying to explain after you've been caught :rolleyes:

groovyg

This is a pic of the bike storage where the 5K bike was stolen from, they just unscrewed the rail from the floor

woppi

groovyg wrote: »

This is a pic of the bike storage where the 5K bike was stolen from, they just unscrewed the rail from the floor

That's a very poor installation of a bike rack that's in a common area where anyone and their dog can have plenty of time to take stuff apart. In fact, someone with a hi-viz jacket will be given the benefit of the doubt and could spend all day doing whatever they wanted.

Individual bike boxes where the bikes can't be seen are a better choice because a thief has no idea if the contents are worth the effort to break into.

Pittman supply very expensive bike storage which is more secure. I suspect, can't say for sure, these might be the similar to ones near the Lucan woodies bus stop.

There may be other, more cost effective, options out there. However, your main challenge is trying to get the landlord to install something that is truly secure. These sort of individual bike storage may be a feature worth considering when looking for a new place to rent.

.......

This post has been deleted.

DaveyDave

If you got a bike cover/bag that would prevent markings inside there's absolutely no reason the landlord should say no. He's just being a dick. Yes, you signed it etc but the fact that he prohibits them in the first place is ridiculous, provided you take adequate care. The RTB says "While a dwelling should be left clean and tidy on its vacation, a landlord cannot expect the dwelling to be returned in the same condition that it was presented in at the commencement of the tenancy." A few marks basically counts as general wear, as someone said previously it's called someone living in an apartment.

For all he knows your bringing it inside to do some maintenance? I don't know where you live, but a puncture for example is a pain to fix outside where there's noise. I'd hardly be indexing my gears outside in the pissing rain. It's also not uncommon in the rainy season for people to rinse off their bike after every wet ride.

I have a bike mat from Aldi under my bike, it's about a foot wide and a little longer than the bike. It's fairly thick so will absorb moisture and grime. The wall is marked a tiny bit that's because they're white which were also painted over a year before I moved in so they can get stuffed. My agreement says no bikes in common areas though, my apartment is direct access to doesn't apply, ask my arse if I'm leaving a carbon race bike outside.

CollyFlower

gizmo555 wrote: »

And what then? Get up in the middle of the night to go and fight some gurrier for your bike in your pyjamas? Not me!

You don't have to confront the thief, you can call the police and let them know the location of the bike.

Corca Baiscinn

groovyg wrote: »

This is a pic of the bike storage where the 5K bike was stolen from, they just unscrewed the rail from the floor

The Sticky Bottle commenters haven't read your pos re your neighbour's biket OP as they all say "How stupid not to bring such a valuable bike into your apartment", whereas you've made it clear that's not on as as far as landlord is concerned

gizmo555

CollyFlower wrote: »

You don't have to confront the thief, you can call the police and let them know the location of the bike.

Yes, I'm sure they would rush to the scene.

CollyFlower

gizmo555 wrote: »

Yes, I'm sure they would rush to the scene.

They wouldn't have to rush to the scene.

gizmo555

CollyFlower wrote: »

They wouldn't have to rush to the scene.

They wouldn't do anything.

the_syco

pinkypinky wrote: »

If the landlord has such low priority for security as to ignore several bike thefts, I'd want to move elsewhere.

It looks like the only solution for the OP.

jobr wrote: »

but he will greatly increase the rent in February when our two year increase freeze is up as we moved in 3.5 years ago and he has already told us we're paying less rent than his newer tenants

Are you in a RPZ? Because if so, the max he can increase it will be by 4%... :pac:

CollyFlower wrote: »

They wouldn't have to rush to the scene.

It'd be like the mobile phones. They know the location, but not what floor it'd be on; it could be on the 1st, 2nd, or 10th floor.

=-=

What's stopping the landlord from keeping the deposit for all the random scuffs in the builin

dr.fuzzenstein

gizmo555 wrote: »

They wouldn't do anything.

"I've cornered one of the thieves and hit him with a frying pan, he's down and not moving".
That'll be the only thing that will get the gards moving. Everything else will elicit nothing more than a stifled yawn.

DaveyDave

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

"I've cornered one of the thieves and hit him with a frying pan, he's down and not moving".
That'll be the only thing that will get the gards moving. Everything else will elicit nothing more than a stifled yawn.

Unless maybe you said they have a gun, then armed response would show up quickly. Otherwise they don't give a toss about bicycles. Ah sure there's nothing we can do. They won't even show up when you find a thief and arrange to rob it back. They just don't care. Too much paperwork I guess. But they could do it on overtime...

CollyFlower

gizmo555 wrote: »

They wouldn't do anything.

Don't know why they'd do nothing, they seem to be very active on cutting down on bike theft....
https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/garda%C3%AD-use-bait-bikes-to-tackle-bicycle-theft-in-dublin-1.2398092%3fmode=amp

Could be just a PR stunt.

CollyFlower

The-syco,

It'd be like the mobile phones. They know the location, but not what floor it'd be on; it could be on the 1st, 2nd, or 10th floor.

If it's organized theft they'd hardly bring the bikes into a apartment... If they're exporting them abroad they'd have a lock-up to store them before shipping... Easy enough to check out if you have a tracking device.

Citizen2011

That is a brilliant idea

gizmo555

CollyFlower wrote: »

Don't know why they'd do nothing ...

Speaking from my personal experience of reporting my bike stolen. The guard in the station looked at me as if I had two heads, irritably asked me for some details and scribbled them into the station ledger and that was the last I heard of it.

johnnyskeleton

awec wrote: »

Would such a provision in the lease actually be enforceable?

Yes. Its usually a requirement of the management company so a landlord has to ensure that the tenants dont violate the management company rules.

beauf

Ask would a folding bike in a cover be an option. Or if you have a car, you could leave it in the boot.

DaeryssaOne

Thank to you all for your responses, I haven't had a chance to look at this post for a couple of days. To all those who are saying 'nobody made us sign the lease', can I please point out that we never had any intentions of keeping our bikes in the apartment, cut to 2 weeks after we have moved in when I go downstairs to go to work and my bike has been taken (while no other ones have).

We went without bikes for quite a while as we were unwilling to risk it again, as we then knew that the cameras didn't even work and how easy it was for a bike to be taken.

My husband had to get one last year (a decent enough one) for a long commute and had been storing it on the balcony as described with absolutely no issues for anybody else and no marks anywhere from it (there are honestly more marks from the ironing board / hoover which are normal wear & tear). Of course all this kicked off then last week with the landlord and this was just after we had heard about a neighbour's €5k bike being robbed.

It is completely taken the shine off me getting a new weekend bike, I feel it'll just be a waste as it will only be a matter of time before it's robbed, and I'm not getting anything ridiculously expensive but still don't want to have to get a heap of junk either.

For the third time I am agreeing that I know we should never have stored a bike in the apartment when it is in our lease but come on, he should also be providing adequate security so you're not genuinely hoping every morning when you go downstairs that it will actually still be there so you can get to work on time!

gizmo555

jobr wrote: »

he should also be providing adequate security

Why? How is it your landlord's repsonsibility to secure your bikes?

DaeryssaOne

gizmo555 wrote: »

Why? How is it your landlord's repsonsibility to secure your bikes?

Seriously? How about this, when viewing the apartment for the first time you are shown the two secure gates, the multiple security cameras, the bike racks in the underground carpark and you're going to assume that thankfully, safety is important to him.

Instead, it only takes a bit of tape to keep the gates open, the cameras don't work and the racks can be very easily lifted straight out of the ground. It's essentially false advertising and he has done nothing to improve the security there over the last 3.5 years.

Michael D Not Higgins

jobr wrote: »

Seriously? How about this, when viewing the apartment for the first time you are shown the two secure gates, the multiple security cameras, the bike racks in the underground carpark and you're going to assume that thankfully, safety is important to him.

Instead, it only takes a bit of tape to keep the gates open, the cameras don't work and the racks can be very easily lifted straight out of the ground. It's essentially false advertising and he has done nothing to improve the security there over the last 3.5 years.

I know this is difficult and it's especially annoying that you can't feel your property is secure at home. Under section 12 (h) and 187 of the RTA, you do have a right to complain to the management company via your landlord about its performance of duties and they are obligated to respond "in writing as to the steps, if any, it has taken to deal with the matter or matters to which the complaint relates."

The problem with a lot of management companies is that security comes down the list of priorities for dealing with, especially when you have several owners not paying their fees. The list of priorities to deal with would start with cleaning, utility bills, insurance and essential maintenance. Nonetheless, make the complaint and see what response you get.

beauf

Still doesn't make it his obligation though...

Also if someone wants your bike no lock and gate will keep out someone with an angle grinder. Now they know there will be decent bikes there.

Someone in New York commented they just buy inexpensive bikes and budget for replacing them 3 times a year..... or buy a folding bike and never leave it outside.

angiogoir

Well the landlord is incorrect. He cannot terminate a lease for that. Politely tell him to get lost.