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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to store our pram in the communal hallway?

145 replies

elgachbo · 03/01/2012 15:51

This is the situation: We live in a rented 3rd floor flat. Our 2nd child is due in March.
With our 1st child, we used to store our pram in the communal hallway. That was no problem for about a year or so. Then our freeholder (she lives on the ground floor) got a bit "fuzzy" about it. Basically she didn't like to look at our (brand new, plain-coloured) Mamas&Papas-pram. She came up with all sorts of reasons for us to remove it: fire risk, health & safety. All of them nonsense because she herself has put some furniture in the hallway. Those tables and heaters make the pram look rather little. There is no way it'd be an onbstruction for anyone. In the end the management agency for the property warned us on behalf of the freeholder that the pram would be removed and that there'd be a fine. By that time our 1st child was big enough for a foldable push chair. So we removed the pram and everything went back to normal.
But now I really wonder what's going to happen next. Obviously we'll need the pram for our 2nd child. There is no way we can move a 10-kilo-pram and two children savely to a 3rd-floor-flat up and down on a daily basis.
Is there really no way to be able to store a pram in a communal hallway if you live on the 3rd floor? Wouldn't that be common sense?!
Our hallway is huge. One could easily park one of those tiny electric cars in there, let alone a pram.
I fear we'll have our freeholder and the property management at our throats again soon.
Any suggestions?
Many thanks!!
C&E

OP posts:
LemonDress · 03/01/2012 18:57

I had this problem with DS1 - we were living on the top (4th) floor of a Georgian conversion, we weren't allowed to leave anything in the hall so I had to carry him up in his buggy or bump it up the stairs. I looked into getting permission from the freeholder to leave the buggy downstairs but they made it clear that it was a fire hazard and unsafe, plus it had insurance implications. I didn't think it was really fair on the neighbours either to take up room in a communal space.

By the time we wanted to have a DC2, I realised it wouldn't work with 2 DC so we moved to a bigger flat in an ex-council 1950s block. We are on the 5th floor but there is a lift, plus there is much more space to leave the buggy inside the flat as rooms are larger. I think it would be a real struggle to live up so many stairs with more than one child, especially when you have to get shopping, things delivered etc (often delivery services would only deliver to the ground floor, including white goods). Personally I wouldn't consider living in flats in a conversion again - they are inconvenient in so many ways, including small garden space, bin collections and recycling.

LizzieChickens · 03/01/2012 19:11

We have upstairs neighbours who leave their buggy in the communal hallway. It's a major faff to get past it, and it's a fire hazard, but I haven't got the guts to confront them about it. Plus, I've heard them trying to wrangle their two kids up the stairs and don't think they need any more bother in their day...

suzikettles · 03/01/2012 19:16

I kept the pram in the boot of the car for this very reason. When ds was tiny I'd carry him up the stairs in the carrycot part and leave the chassis in the car, when he got older I used a sling.

Tbh, I found the sling much easier for most trips because of the whole faff of the stairs.

ddubsgirl · 03/01/2012 19:24

we had 1 double buggy stolen,1 damaged & 1 had pins stuck in the tyre,the flats we use to live in has now a ban on anything in the hallways even xmas decs arent allowed,reason is fire hazard,after we had 1 stolen which wasnt downstairs but outside the front door i never left a buggy out there again.

Serenitysutton · 03/01/2012 19:36

I really feel for you - and I know it's unlikely- but I have seen the results of q fire in a block with blocked exits. It really makes you think. I know it's annoying though

zest01 · 03/01/2012 19:44

Would you be able to get away with it for 3 months until baby can go in a lightweight buggy? Not ideal but fob them off, "yes, I am looking into alternatives, bear with me....etc"

I think yab a bit u but on the otherhand not sure what you are supposed to do really

LeBOF · 03/01/2012 19:45

Is it even legal to build flats on nine floors without lifts? Shock

blackeyedsanta · 03/01/2012 20:05

we live in a flat too. there are light weight prams on the market, we used a mams and papas aria pushchair(5kg) and a aria twin (7.5ishkg) you remember those things when you have to take them up and down stairs a lot.

I used the technique of strapping baby in the carseat and leaving dc in the flat whilst I took the pushchair down and unfolded it. also the reverse of taking baby up into the carseat then fetching the pushchair. we also kept it in the boot of the car a lot.

AbyCat · 03/01/2012 20:24

We've had the same problem too. I used to keep the large pram in the car & just carry the baby out in his car seat, but then got fed up of lugging that around too (particularly as it's rare to be able to park within half a mile of our block of flats) so now we've just got a cheapo Silver Cross buggy that lies flat, is easy to fold & very lightweight so I can actually manage to carry both of them up the stairs. We're lucky, we're only on the 1st floor, but the girl on the 5th floor does struggle to get her pushchair up there with her baby, poor thing (no lifts again, grrr).

MsEltoeNWhine · 03/01/2012 20:32

YABU

I don't live in a flat but have loads of stairs up to my house and nowhere to store a pram or pushchair. I tried keeping it in a shed for all of a week before it got damp. So I sold it and didn't use one again. If you don't have the space/layout, you just don't, choose something else.

pigletmania · 03/01/2012 20:36

Mabey buy a buggy that you can recline that you can use from birth. I used one with dd.

mummyosaurus · 03/01/2012 20:53

Do M + P still do the pramette?

anniedunne · 03/01/2012 20:53

LRD. 'Some people are massively anal about "their" space'.

No need for ironic speech marks. It IS the freeholder's space !

bobbledunk · 03/01/2012 21:17

YABU, why do you think people should have to trip over your clutter because your to lazy to carry it up the stairs? Buy a lightweight one if you aren't fond of a bit of exercise.

ChippingInLovesChristmasLights · 03/01/2012 21:20

I can't believe so many people are saying to tell the Freeholder not to leave stuff there either - she's the Freeholder, she's renting the flat out to the OP - it's none of the Op's business what the Freeholder does or doesn't leave in her hallway Hmm

As per my post earlier - I think you should ask her if you can leave it there for a fixed period, but if she say 'no' then a sling/lightweight buggy - & keep your fingers crossed for a lottery win!! :)

MsEltoeNWhine · 03/01/2012 21:22

Yes, you may as well ask to leave it in the middle of her living room, rights-wise.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 03/01/2012 21:22

Oh, sorry, the OP said it was communal, so I assumed she had some rights to use it.

lisaro · 03/01/2012 21:29

Yes, Lord, as a passage way through to her flat, but not as a storage unit. Also, as has been mentioned, the fire regs and insurance.

WibblyBibble · 03/01/2012 21:36

If it's about fire risk, then it definitely IS the OP's business what the freeholder leaves in the hall. Being a landlord doesn't yet entitle people to burn tenants to death, though I'm sure you could go and canvass the tories and they'd consider it. Being fortunate enough to own property should not entitle people to deliberately make others' lives difficult, although apparently (if the people on here claiming objective legal judgement are correct) it does in the UK at the moment.

OP, it is possible (though obviously a bad idea for your own health, esp just after birth when ligaments loose) to carry a buggy up lots of stairs- have done it, have the still-torn-up stomach muscles to show it. However, it's a lot easier and healthier for you in terms of balance/muscle stress with a sling or backpack- really look into these options if your landlord/freeholder doesn't start being reasonable. Then just to a foldable buggy when the baby is 6mo.

AnyoneforTurps · 03/01/2012 21:39

I suspect you hacked the freeholder off by leaving the pram in the hall for "a year or so" the first time round. If she didn't complain for a year, you can hardly accuse her of being difficult. If you hadn't taken the mick the first time, you wouldn't be in this position now so sorry, I think YABvU.

MsEltoeNWhine · 03/01/2012 21:40

why stop at 6mo? Why not just carry on with the sling until the baby can do the stairs itself, then no bouncing, lugging or storage is required.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 03/01/2012 21:42

lis - sorry, was that to me?

If so, the fire risk has been explained (freeholder leaves her own stuff there, so it obviously isn't that). I think the freeholder has perfect right to do what she likes with space she owns, I'm simply making the point that if she has chosen to rent out a property and allow access through a communal hallway, she may feel that the communal space is essentially to be treated as 'hers' and therefore only she can put stuff in it. I think this is a bit anal, yes, but it's well within her rights so long as that's what the tenancy agreement says (which I assume it does or the property manager wouldn't have backed her up).

It wasn't meant to be an anti-landlord comment, just trying to explain how people can sometimes feel.

scottishmummy · 03/01/2012 21:56

yabu,it's communal space for all not your pram store.get a light weight like micralite not a 10kg tank. I would also request you move it
aesthetics
trip hazard and obstruction
not in freehold agreement

have lived in tenements and didn't store my pram downstairs, my dp took down and brought we brought up at night.never stored it there long term.it's not fair, and your being selfish

lisaro · 03/01/2012 22:00

I know it wasn't Lord. Not that I am one. On the other side of the coin, my friend lives in a ground floor flat (purpose built, 6 flats all owned). A couple of years ago he bought a large snow shovel for everyone in the block to use and it was left under the stairs completely out of the way. They still all got a letter about things left in communal areas. It just seems daft in that case but apparently 'them's the rules'.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 03/01/2012 22:07

Well, it usually depends what your tenancy agreement says. They do vary quite a lot. I've had ones that say the communal hallway can have coats and shoes left in it (ie., it can be treated like the hallway in a house), and others where you wouldn't leave anything. There's not standard 'rules' that I've noticed and I've been renting a fair while now.

(Btw, not that I'm not flattered to get a title, but there's no 'o'! Smile)