How to inform tenants to remove belongings from Laundry room?

[David G.]

Hi all,

I just took over managing a ten-unit apartment that my family.  There was a manager in the past but she let a lot of things slide and I don't think was very effective.  Now I want to figure out how and best to enforce things especially since people have gotten used to things.  The laundry room has a bike and a wheelchair and other things that are being stored.  How do I best tell the tenant/tenants to remove the belongings? Do I need to give a reason? ie safety reasons, aesthetics, and simply that it isn't a storage area for personal belongings? And do I ask that it be removed and give some deadline of when I will remove and dispose of their belongings if they don't? I know the individual with the bike has gotten used to keeping their bike there so I want to figure out how to best tell them because the old manager may have just let them or even given them verbal permission.