Hi,
I live in a ground floor flat with shared freehold with upstairs owner occupiers. I have lived here for a year; they have lived here for at least five, I think. When we moved in, the communal hallway from the front door, leading to our flat door and then a staircase up to their flat door had a longish table in it, with some pot plants, and other nick nacks. They sometimes switch up the plants.
We have a very uninvolved relationship with upstairs overall -- not friendly by any means but also not stormy or anything like that.
I have decided I would like to store my bike in the hallway. It's a massive hassle hauling it in and out of the flat when I want to use it, especially as we have a steep internal staircase (and i am puny) but there's nowhere outside I can store it (no Sheffield stands in the front yard or anywhere nearby -- plus I don't want it nicked in any case!).
It takes up approx the same dimensions/floorspace as the hall table does. We all share the hallway equally. So my reasoning is: why should they get priority/first dibs? Why not us? (They also have a much bigger flat... ours is tiny).
And there isn't really space for a bike and a hall table. I don't really know what to do. In principle I know whats right but...???