Abandoned.. but not??

We have had an issue with abandoned bikes in our bike rooms. ( secured locked rooms for communal use )

About once every year we post our signs, have owners tag thier bikes and the bikes not tagged are removed and donated to charity.

This year we have an abundance of higher end bikes, one is an electric bike.. and a super nice mountain bike..

The residents in this complex were notified by communal posts throughout the building 2 weeks prior that bikes are to be tagged, and those not will be removed.

I had to buy bolt cutters for our HOA, there were so many unclaimed bikes.. 11 in fact!

Today an owner posts a note days after the dead line saying he didn't have a key and couldn't access his bike. Now he is asking for his bike back.

The bikes are current being housed in another secured area awaiting to be picked up by a local charity.

How legal is this? I can see the proper notification did happen. Beleive me, we have a surplus of bikes that I am positive are not abandoned,but for all intents and purposes our notices that were up and posted stated we'd remove by a certain date, etc. and we did.

I am puzzled why owners did not take the notices seriously... but is this legal??

I don't think flyers are sufficient. If the HOAs actions can result in the loss of ones personal property then the HOA should take greater actions to make sure the property is not separated from the owner. Letters should be mailed to each owner or personally delivered and I would consider a bike registration system so that errors don't occur in the future.

Another option to minimize this issue in the future is to have all bikes that will be stored in common area registered with the Association. This gives you another way to verify if the owner is still a resident or not.

Melissa,

I believe Fiona uses the bolt cutters to remove the locks that are securing the bikes, not to get into the locked storage.

Fiona, has anyone asked this bike owner to describe his bike, show a receipt for its purchase, show you a pic of him on his bike, etc.? When you let him into the room where the bikes are, you might have him open the lock. In other words, how do you know it's not just some guy who wants a free bike? If he can somehow prove it's his, sure give it back to him!

Our 4 locked Bike Rooms are in our underground parking levels. Several months ago, we posted elevator notices, sent out email blasts, placed the notice in our newsletter, followed by a notice in our PM's Message on our web site that residents must store their bikes in their condo units on Feb. 2, 3 & 4 while the Bike Rooms underwent some maintenance. The 10% of our residents who use our HOA as a vacay home were sent US mail notices.

The notice went on to say that any bikes left in the BR's would have their locks cut and the bikes would be stored in a secure area for two weeks. If unclaimed, they'd be donated to xxx charity.

Residents are supposed to register their bikes when they move in and a numbered sticker is placed on the bike with its match placed in the unit owner's file. But not all do.

15 bikes were abandoned and donated. No glitches. A couple of part-time owner/occupants contacted our PM to have their bikes kept until their next visit. The steps we took were on the advice of our attorney, so our procedure was legal. (The bikes are stored in common area Bike Rooms, so cutting their locks also is legal.)

I agree with others who've mentioned in this post and Fiona's others that their methods of contacting residents and absentee owners doesn't seem to be adequate.