Posting for a sanity check before I mark up this renewal. I'm in a rent-stabilized prewar elevator building uptown. I've been storing my everyday commuter in the basement for the last three years. There's a service door off the lobby, down half a flight, into a big unfinished room with the house meters, old piping, and maybe half a dozen bikes leaned against the wall. No racks. No assigned spots. No lock on the door. It occasionally gets wet when the boiler acts up. Never had an issue.

My renewal arrived yesterday with a new rider: a 'bicycle storage license fee' as a monthly line item, separate from the legal rent. The rider says I 'may use' the bicycle storage area on a 'non-exclusive, non-assigned basis,' and that the fee is 'for use of the permitted area, not for individual storage.' It also says the landlord can revoke the license with thirty days' notice. No separate license agreement, no house rules about where to park, no cleaning, no security. The super says 'if you use the bike room you pay the fee.' When I asked if I can just keep the bike in my apartment, he said the fee is for access, not the bike itself, but the door has never been keyed or monitored.

I'm trying to figure out if I should cross out the rider, sign the lease under objection, or ask for a written description of what the fee actually provides. My original lease doesn't mention a bike room or storage fee, just a general clause about using common areas at landlord's direction. I don't want to burn the relationship over a line item if this is now common.

Has anyone successfully pushed back on a new 'storage fee' for a common basement that was previously free? What questions should I put in writing to the managing agent?

oldyork_otis, first thing I'd do is pull your original lease and look for the words 'storage' or 'common area' or 'appurtenant.' If the basement was ever described as a building service, they've got an uphill fight trying to charge you extra for something that was already part of your tenancy.

Also the 'pay for access, not the bike' line is nonsense unless there's actually a fob or a key. You said no lock, so what access are they billing you for? Ask the management company for a copy of the certificate of occupancy use for that floor. Half the time it's a cellar and they're not supposed to be storing anything down there anyway. If they balk, that tells you a lot.

You could write 'strike rider, sign under protest' but that may not mean much if they just reject it and send back the same renewal. Up to you how much you want to fight. Keep us posted.

oldyork_otis, the 'non-exclusive, non-assigned basis' language is a huge tell! If they're not assigning you anything, what are you actually licensing? It's not a bike valet. It's not a rack. It's a common cellar with pipes and house meters!

I'd absolutely ask for the DOB certificate of occupancy and the current HPD registration. If that room is classified as a cellar/mechanical space and not a 'recreation room' or 'storage room,' then the landlord can't just invent a commercial use for it. Have you checked the HPD online building complaints for the basement? Sometimes there are open violations about storage in mechanical spaces or egress. That would make the fee even more absurd.

Also, does the building have a bike room for market tenants? My friend's building in Washington Heights tried to add a 'bike amenity program' after they bolted two wall hangers to the wall. At least there was a numbered slot. This is just air. If you do end up signing, ask them to add a line that the fee stops if the room is inaccessible for more than a few days. But really I'd fight the whole thing.

A few building-law and rent-regulation points, with the caveat that this is not legal advice and I don't know your building's regulatory status.

If you're rent-stabilized, the general rule is that a landlord cannot lawfully increase the legal regulated rent except through the renewal formula or a DHCR order for an improvement or service. A new monthly charge for something that was previously free, with no new service or equipment, often looks like an impermissible rent increase by another name. The fact that it's written as a 'license fee' rather than rent doesn't make it lawful. DHCR has looked at separate fees for air conditioners, washing machines, and storage areas. If you're stabilized, you can file a complaint and ask for a ruling, but that takes time and will likely affect the renewal relationship.

If you're market-rate, you have fewer administrative remedies, but the practical leverage is the same: the room existed before, you were invited to use it, the lease doesn't condition that use on payment, and no new service is being provided. I would send the managing agent a short certified letter and email stating that you object to the rider, request a copy of the certificate of occupancy and the house rule establishing the fee, and ask them to confirm in writing whether the fee is mandatory for anyone who accesses the room or only for use after a certain date. If they can't produce a C of O use classification for storage, I'd politely decline to sign the rider. You can also offer to remove the bike from the building as an alternative.

Practically, I would not just cross it out and sign anyway. Some management offices will treat a signed lease as a new agreement, then later claim you agreed to the rider by continuing to use the room. If you do end up signing under protest, keep proof that you wrote 'under protest, rider objected to by letter dated ___' and keep copies. Photos help too.

Astoria_arch basically said it. I'm in an East Harlem walk-up and had a similar storage rider show up after a new management company took over. It was for a shared 'tenant storage area' that was literally a chain-link cage next to the boiler.

I didn't get a lawyer. I wrote a one-page letter saying I was not accepting the new fee because the space used to be common and there was no new service, and I asked them to confirm in writing what the fee covered. The management company sent back an emailed 'clarification' but no real answers, then the rider disappeared from my renewal. I think it was a test to see who would just pay. Not saying that always happens, but the pushback matters.

If you don't mind the possibility of a non-renewal, tell them you'll remove the bike and you won't pay for access you don't need. If they still try to stick the fee on the lease, at least you've got your objection in writing before you decide.