I'm having issues telling a tenant to remove their bike from the laundry room

[David G.]

Hi all. How do I deal with this tenant? They live on the first floor of a small ten-unit building.  You have to walk up several steps from the ground floor to get there. The laundry room is on ground floor.  The laundry room is small and just has one wash one dryer and the hot water heater. This tenant parks their bicycle in the laundry room near the hot water heater.  It is not to be used for storage.  I am the new manager and the previous manager has allowed her to do this for I believe close to 20 years.

I asked her to remove her bike and that the laundry room is not to be used for storage and gave her some reasons.  When the bike is parked in the laundry room, it sometimes bangs up against the hot water heater and is generally in the way because the laundry room is so small. And told her she must keep her bike either in her unit or somewhere else.

She comes back telling me that she has been doing it for 20 years and she has a herniated disk so she can't carry the bike up the stairs.

I expressed that she still has to move it and it inconveniences the whole complex.  Once again she e-maild me back this... This was her latest response and I haven't responded back.

"Thank you for your email. I am unable to carry a bike due to multiple herniated discs in my back. I have a disability and can't lift. I feel your making a mountain from a molehill"

What should I say at this point? There are a slew of solutions if they are creative as to where to keep their bike and I feel like with them not complying and giving me random reasons, just makes it seem like a bigger deal than it is. I want to be sensitive to their needs but also want to tell them that she was lucky she got 20 years of parking her bike in the laundry room and that now this is being enforced.  It's frustrating because there is entitlement and they are making it seem as if I am targeting their physical problem when simply their solution of parking the bike in that laundry room is unacceptable.

I hope this made sense.  I want to respond something like this:

"I am sympathetic to your needs and this may have been overlooked by past management, but the laundry room is not a place for personal belongings.  Please comply."

But I also want to make sure I hit all the points.  In a previous e-mail I told them they can park their bike in their vehicles parking space or purchase a light weight fold-up bike to carry into their unit.   They can park the bike on the street too. They come back to me ignoring those suggestions.  I don't know if giving them suggestions works because they are hard set on the fact that they have been doing it for 20 years and that I am making a bike deal out of something they have been doing with no problem for so long.

I just want to be firm clear and not take their BS.

Thanks,

David

[Jeff Copeland]

Choose your battles wisely. The statement about a disability concerns me. One might argue that she is asking for a reasonable accommodation (and hard to argue that it's not reasonable if it has been happening for 20 years with no major problems). 

I'd suggesting taking a proactive step towards a compromise (such as installing a bike rack) that might solve the problem while still accommodating the tenant.