Aibu to leave shoes on a rack outside my apartment

[Shoeracklady]

I'll include lots of details so as not to drop feed.
New build property in a tourist resort. DP and I are the only year round residents, all the other owners use their apartments as second homes (so have fewer possessions here.)
We have been here for 6 months and have met most of the lovely neighbours so we are very happy here. DPs parents have decided to buy the flat opposite us too which will be full on when they are here but nice.
A new neighbour arrived yesterday and as they were standing in their doorway as I walked past I introduced myself and said nice to meet you etc. New neighbour's first words to me (after his name) were "So you're the one with the shoes, they're not going to be there permanently are they?"

I was quite taken aback by his rudeness and abruptness and mumbled that we might put a cupboard there at some point.

So AIBU to keep my shoes on a nice bamboo rack outside my apartment? They don't affect the new neighbour in anyway other than the fact he can see them when he walks into his flat. They don't smell. Can the sight of shoes really be so offensive?

Other apartments in the building also have shoe racks outside as well as things like umbrella holders.

Photo included as well as a diagram to show that shoe rack is neither a fire hazard (it is in an alcove) nor in anyway in the neighbours way.

I could possibly find space to store the shoes inside but it would be a much bigger inconvenience to me than that caused to the neighbour for having to see our shoes.

Another vote for YAB totally U to keep your shoes in a rack in the corridor rather than in your flat!!

i think I would also worry that what he said wasn't charming, but it does suggest that other people have passed comment on it, but are just too nice to make an issue out of it..

I don't see a problem with it at all OP. Wouldn't even occur to me that it is 'unsightly'

I don't have an objection to the rack per se, just the implementation of it which does look a bit messy.

Is there enough room to have a nice [fake] pot plant to the right of your door - as you face it - with the shoe rack (or perhaps neater cupboard as pp suggest) turned 90deg and tucked/hidden longways behind it?

Your PIL could get a matching plant so it looks nice and symmetrical?

A front door sectioning of this bit of hallway which is only used by us and our in laws. Obviously I'm aware that this will cost but it has been discussed with the building developer and is a realistic option. We have also discussed with the developer about putting a cupboard in shoe rack area which he supports. I certainly don't think we own that bit of corridor but there are some very blurry lines. The residents who own the upstairs floor have an exercise bike in the corridor outside their apartment!

Aside from the shoes (it's not unreasonable to expect a person to store their shoes inside their apartment, if they don't fit anywhere, have less shoes) I can't believe anyone would let you build a door and a wall to the two flats you and your PIL will have, simply for the reason that you aren't going to live there forever and it will affect the next owners of the two flats which will presumably not be sold together.

It looks scruffy, it is a communal area.

What purpose will a door there serve! It will be a tiny poky little windowless box!

Full of old shoes!

Head and Wall thread 🙄

It could work for that whole end area to be turned into built in, lockable cupboards with shelving - 1 per flat. You could leave yours unlocked if you wanted to.

When you say a realistic option do you mean the building developer said "yes you can totally do that?" If so that's quite odd to me but perhaps is more normal wherever you are.

My mum has a very keen sense of smell and her neighbours do this. They clearly don't realise how much their shoes stink and how gross it is for someone entering their own home to have to smell it everytime they go in and out.

Why would you go to all the expense and trouble of walling your entrance off just to keep your shoes out there?

Is there some reason you want to have your shoes outside your flat so badly? Have I missed something?

So you and your PIL are going to take over half of the communal hallway and build a door, so the whole end section is yours? Do you plan to pay your neighbours for encroaching on their hallway?

It's irrelevant whether they're in the way -it makes the area look messy and also suggests a tendency to overspill into communal areas which is likely to be a concern to other residents. Get a hanging shoe storage thing and stick them in your wardrobe. It looks pretty bad and would definitely annoy me.

Yabu. Blurred lines or not it is unsightly and needs to be in your actual flat.
A pair of snowy boots left outside for a couple of hours isn't the same.
As for it being soulless it needs to be soleless boom boom

YABU. Soul-less corridors are better than scruffy corridors. If you want to make it less soul-less, I think suggesting at a residents’ meeting that you all choose some decent artwork would go down better than suggesting everyone leaves out their random size fives.

What about underbed storage for your shoes?

Yes the door would be with a view to having the two flats joined together. There is also a large mezzanine space above this area so it does make sense, hard to explain though. The developer suggested this.

Is the building developer the right person to give 'permission' for that kind of thing? Because, though I know we're not talking UK here, but I just don't see that you'd be allowed to section off an area of communal hallway in a permanent way for personal use. Especially given the two flats whose entrances would be enclosed in that space are likely not not remain in the same family indefinitely.

YABU. Whilst it might not be affecting the other residents per se, I do think it looks messy. Not quite the same as I live in a house, but there's a few residents in the estate that leave their bins, bikes, and general stuff all over the communal areas of the estate. Yes it doesn't directly effect me, but it makes the whole estate look untidy. It's the same with the shoes outside your flat.

I'd at least get a nice shoe cupboard. Ikea have one that the shoes are hidden

It does look bloody awful, but it is outside your door, not really in a shared space. If they were in a cupboard, with a plant on top I think it would look fine.

Why make it into a shanty town by creating a random wall to make a smelly shoe cave? The original fire and rescue plans will have been done by an architect not assuming cowboy walls put in.

In reality though I don't understand why you can't just move your shoes in to your flat? Building walls? For old shoes? Baffled.