Placing household items in Common Areas

Our building management has issued a notice about placing household items in common areas.


We have a double flat so our door has it's own entrance way. There are other flats on our floor, but to get to them you don't pass our section. In other words, the slim shoe cabinet that we place next to our door, which fits into an alcove, does not get in anybody's way! Nor is it untidy!


Building Management have issued a notice that they will throw everything out as garbage if it's not removed.


Do they have the authority to do that? It's not blocking a fire exit, so it would seem they have no "legal" authority to throw away other people's items.


Yet I do understand that I must subscribe to the building management "law" if I live here...


Thanks,

Stubborn Resident.

Whether putting stuff outside is allowed really depends on the building. Some allow it and some do not. Others put up notices saying it is forbidden, then don't enforce.


The best thing you can do is have a nice chat with management (be humble). If they don't budge, you have no choice but to move your stuff inside. They have the right to keep common areas clear regardless of whether the stuff is in the way or not. It might be a bit pigheaded on their part but the common areas are their purview.

Hhhmmm, I'll try the nice chat again.


We've left it there, even though one time they told us that the Fire Department was coming to throw away stuff in Tower 1 and they will come to Tower 3. At the time, I knew that was an empty threat because there's no way the Fire Department would dispose of our items as they're not breaking HK law. So we called their bluff and just left it there!


I suppose I can move it inside to meet their deadline and then just move it outside again...

It's not the Fire Department. They would never move anything because we are not breaking the law or blocking a fire exit. It's the building management.


Yes, we'll probably leave the shoe cabinet where it is, and mention to our helper just to keep an ear out in case they hear some moving going on outside! But I think we might be able to call Management's bluff on this and they won't throw it away.

In the apartment block we used to live in, most people had shoe racks and other things outside their front door. We used to have checks from the fire dept 2 or 3 times a year and were forewarned by our management office to remove any belongings, otherwise they would be disposed of. On one occassion, I didn't remove our shoe rack (it was not obstucting anything) and the fire dept rang my door bell and told me it was against fire regulations and they gave me 24 hours to remove it. I did remove it, but I don't know whether or not they would have disposed of it if I had left it there ......


I guess if you think about it, even if your belongings aren't actually obstructing anything, there is always the possibility that in the event of a fire, if your lobby became full of smoke and people were panicking, trying to find their way out, there is always the possibility that shoes, etc., may get knocked to the floor and obstruct/delay someone's exit to safety - just a thought .....