Property Management Failed To Repair Door Locks, Property Was Unsecured And Theft Occurred - Can They Be Held Accountable?

location: Cleveland, OH

My friend rents a nice apartment in downtown Cleveland and in addition to her monthly rent, she also pays an extra $10 each month to keep her bicycle locked up in this bicycle storage room. She told me that when she signed up for this extra storage she was told that the only tenants who have access to the room are ones who have bikes there, the room is typically locked up and there is an actual security guard at a podium right outside the entrance to the room.

Last week she discovered her bike was missing and went straight to the property manager. The prop manager was unaware of the theft but looked at security camera footage and saw the theft taking place the night before. They basically told her sorry nothing we can do file a police report (which she did). When she asked how these people were able to get into the building and the storage room, they told her to take this up with the security guard.

Then she went to the security podium to talk to the guard about how the thieves got into the secure building, made it past the guard and then entered the secured bike area To steal bikes. The security guard told her that the locks on the main doors to the entrance to the building have been broken for some time so the thieves are just able to jiggle the doors and get in without a key. The guard said the property management was made aware of this several times but has yet to fix the problem. Normally, the guard would stop and question anyone entering without a key fob. However the guard was not at the podium when the thieves entered the building. The door to the secured bike storage room was either left unlocked or was propped open and they walked right in, cut the locks and rode off. It is typically the responsibility of the security guards to make sure the storage area is secure but for some reason they’d failed to do this.

We are wondering if we should take the property management group to small claims court since they knew the doors were broken and failed to fix this in a timely manner making it so that the thieves could walk right in. My friend is paying this additional monthly fee to keep her bike in the secure room and had a lock on the bike that was cut off. The door to the secured room was left open meaning that anyone could walk in there when this is only supposed to be for tenants with bikes and the room is supposed to be locked. It seems to me that the bikes were able to be stolen because there were several blatant security failures taking place.

I looked over the lease and it recommends all tenants purchase adequate renters insurance. However this is not required in order to live there. It also says that by signing the lease, the tenant agrees to hold the management company harmless in the case of theft, fire, flood, etc. etc.

I feel that by paying the extra fee to keep the bike stored in this supposedLu secure room, that there’s the assumption of security there and an obligation by the property manager to keep the building safe and secured. They clearly failed to do this, so they should be held accountable and cover the cost to replace the stolen bike.

What I want to know is since it does say on the lease that they are not responsible for losses due to theft, do we have any recourse at all if we took this to small claims court?

I have tried calling the legal aid center here in Cleveland about this but they call back during my work hours when I don’t have my phone. Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!