Neighbour using communal hall area for storage, please help!

[murphydog]

I was wondering if there was a basic set out rule regarding people storing their belongings in a communal hall area of two leasehold flats inside one house.

The property that I live in is a run of the mill Victorian terrace with a small area inside the external front door, then with two internal front doors for the ground and first floor flats.
My neighbour when he first moved in started to store his shoes and other bits and bobs in this front area, which makes it look really untidy and a bit embarrassing when I have guests, he now intends to install some sort of permanent storage, and while it doesn’t block my access to my door, it is a bit of a cheek that he can’t stick to within his own flat.

Both of the flats are leasehold, with him owning his flat and myself owning mine, both of us having to pay ground rent to the company that owns the freehold.

I know this may sound petty, but I don’t see why I should have to share an area with his junk, when previously it's always been empty.

Is there a usual rule, beside being a decent neighbour that says you can't use this area for your own storage, or would it be down to the freehold company?

Any advice would be really appreciated, as he's just ignoring what I've said, and I don;t want it to escalate to me moving the items and then things going off the deep end.

Thank in advance.

[Kaz]

Hi

I don't know whether there are any rules as such regarding this but, as he's ignoring your requests to remove his stuff from the communal hallway, I would personally speak to the freehold company to see if they can do anything about it.

Like you, I see no reason why you should have to put up with that.

Thinking about worst case scenario, what would happen if, say, you or one of your visitors, fell over his stuff and broke a leg/arm/whatever .... would he/you/freeholder be liable to compensate for the injury?

As you can probably tell, I'm a bit pessimistic but you never know .............

Kaz

[bradleyt]

There could be some rules with your local fire marshal so check with them! If they are clogging up the area to an exit then they are creating A. a fire hazard and B. blockage of an escape route in case of fire.

[kims88]

yeah, could be a fire hazzard. but it's probably best to try to talk to him again, explain how you feel, try to reason with him

but if he's not for budging, contact the freehold company and see what they have to say about it

but i know how you feel, neighbours can be a right pain in the behind. it's sometimes enough to make you want to live in the middle of nowhere

[SeekER]

Have you tried posting this question on a legal forum within a property section? You might have more joy there.

[Debra Ball]

I would be interested to see if this problem has been resolved? And are you both still speaking?
There is a matter of health and safety to take into consideration, and as mentioned a matter of responsibility if anyone gets hurt.

[propertydiamond]

How did you resolve the issue, sounded like a bit of a tricky one, but I hope it worked out.