Should I Give Up Storage Shed Access

Question

I own a rental that has a storage shed. It isn’t very big, doesn’t have power, it leaks and isn’t insulated. I rent to college kids that don’t need to store much. They use the front half.

When it comes time to rent to someone else, should I move my things out and allow next tenant full access?

I would expect that as a tenant.

I want to know how common it is to either include full shed access to new tenant when new tenant arrives, to charge tenant extra for storage shed or to move everything out except my things and not allow access to tenant in order to store my things for my business.

Thanks!

James Wise · Answer

I would never store my items in a space that is accessible by the tenants.

Jim S. · Answer

What she said..... My shed. My rules.

Anna M. · Answer

My properties always come with attached one car garage per unit as I prefer to have that.  Tenants' rents gives them their immediate living space, the one car garage, immediate porches and driveways, all included in their rents.  Tenants are to maintain all these areas and I include maintenance of these areas in my inspections.  All areas outside of these are termed, "common" areas and open for use by all.  I do have raised garden beds which I do assign tenants should they feel the need to grow veggies (no Marijuana growing, Colorado folks, lol).  I do have a backyard shed.  This is used to store gardening tools used for yard maintenance and other miscellaneous items; hoses that I remove from faucets and store away during the winter, my left over bag of concrete for those quick DIY jobs, ladders, etc.  These tools take precedence over tenant's stuff as they already have their garages which they are required to properly maintain to avoid attracting pests.  Even without garages, I would not feel obligated to provide additional storage unless they were going to be paying for it, as that means, I (not them) have now to go out and look for storage to store my items, nope.  Their rents cover their immediate areas, common areas in my opinion are maintained by you as property owner and it is up to you to decide what you want to do.  Cheers!

Michaela G. · Answer

A lot depends on the size of your rental.

In California I was going to rent this really cute 1/1, that had one of those bigger shed buildings in the back, which was going to be my office and they had another smaller storage shed.

When I looked at it, the owners were still living there and the wife showed me around. I made it very clear that I loved the big shed as an office. And then she showed me the smaller shed and I said 'Oh, I'm so glad there's more storage space, because I really need it, since that over there is going to be my office.

The day I was getting the key, the husband was there and the small storage shed was locked and I asked for the key. He told me that they needed to keep it for their own stuff. I told him that I wouldn't have rented the space without it. He pointed to the bigger shed and said that I can store things there and if I didn't like it, they can cancel the lease.

I cancelled the lease and walked. Created problems for me, but that storage space was a big deal for me, as I wasn't willing to rent a storage unit somewhere else. First of all would it have been inconvenient, plus it would have brought up my cost and I could have just rented another 2 or 3 bedroom for the difference.

Should I Give Up Storage Shed Access

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