Bicycles on Common Property

Dear Flat Chat

We own a unit in a block of twelve that we rent out and recently, a fellow unit owner complained to our strata manager that our tenants were parking bicycles on common property (chained to a balustrade to the rear of the property, not in a parking spot, close to the clothes line), and thereby breaching by-law #3 “An owner or occupier of a lot must not obstruct lawful use of common property by any person”. The request was for the manager to “address the issue” and so a letter was sent to our tenants threatening a fine and indicating breach of tenancy agreement.

My question is this – what defines obstruction, and is it not reasonable to park bicycles to the rear of the property? Would they rather our tenants drag the bikes up 3 flights of carpeted internal stairs to their unit instead?

Yours,