Cluttered landings, annexed corners: taking back the common areas

It starts with a pram and ends with a partition. In between, nobody said anything — and that silence sets precedent in the building.

A bike against the lobby wall. A pram at the foot of the stairs. Three boxes “just while we move in”, that see out the winter. Then a rug, a shoe cabinet, and one day a door closing off a landing recess that has become, without anyone deciding, the neighbour’s cellar.

Each step looks harmless. It is the accumulation that causes trouble, and the difficulty of going back once the habit is set.

Two very different problems

Obstruction is a passing use that gets in the way: a word settles it, and it ends when the object leaves. Annexation is a settled use that turns a common area into a private annex: it is far harder to undo, because time favours whoever occupies.

The useful reflex is therefore to address anything resembling annexation early, even when it feels disproportionate at the time. See exclusive use rights, the proper — and voted — form of what some grant themselves.

What is actually forbidden

The test is neither aesthetics nor perceived nuisance: it is the purpose of the common areas and what the by-laws provide. A use contrary to that purpose is abusive, even where it bothers nobody day to day.

• Lasting storage of personal belongings in circulation areas.
• Fitting fixed equipment: a door, a partition, a fixed shelf, a key box.
• Anything hindering free movement or escape.
• Anything interfering with a safety device.

The last two change the nature of the subject: this is no longer neighbourliness but safety, and tolerance has no place. See fire safety in common areas.

The right sequence, in order

• A general reminder to the whole building, naming nobody: it settles half the cases.
• An individual reminder from the manager, written and dated, citing the by-laws.
• A formal notice by recorded delivery, with a deadline and what follows.
• Action by the association, properly decided, if the occupation persists.

The first step is the one boards skip most, though it is the only one that offends nobody. See communicating with owners and who decides on legal action.

What a building tolerates for ten years becomes very hard to contest in the eleventh.

The board’s exact role

It observes, documents and alerts. It does not serve formal notice, does not remove objects itself, and does not post a named message in the lobby — that last, very common reflex exposes its author personally.

See board members’ liability and data protection on the board. A dated photo sent to the manager beats ten messages in the building group.

Often the problem is not the neighbour

A lobby full of bikes says first of all that there is no bike store. Boxes in the stairwell, that there is no route for bulky waste. Prams on landings, that no space was ever provided.

Treating the cause works better than punishing the effect, and it can be voted. See the bike store and bulky waste and sorting.

The special case of long-standing occupation

A door fitted fifteen years ago, a cupboard built in a corridor: these fall under a different regime from simple obstruction, and regularising them usually goes through a vote at the general meeting — exclusive use, or sale of the common area concerned.

See selling a common area: regularising sometimes costs less than contesting.

Document it with CoproHarmony

CoproHarmony lets you report, date and photograph a situation, track the reminders sent and keep the history: the evidence exists before the file becomes a dispute. Create your free space.