Our duplex has one backyard shed, and both households were promised all of it

I rent one side of a duplex with a small shared backyard. At the back is a weathered shed, roughly large enough for two bicycles, a lawn mower and the optimism of one person who has never measured anything.

When I toured the place, the leasing agent opened the shed and said, “You can store your bike and patio stuff in here.” I moved in with a bicycle, two folding chairs and three plastic bins. Everything fit with room left over.

A month later, tenants moved into the other side. They arrived with two bikes, a stroller, a push mower and several yard tools. Their agent had apparently told them the shed came with their unit. The first conversation was friendly. We both assumed management would clear it up.

Management did not. The manager said the backyard and shed are shared amenities and suggested that we “work out a neighborly arrangement.” The lease mentions the yard but says nothing specific about storage. I am not asking the internet to interpret it. I am asking how four adults divide a six-foot wooden box without making every rake a political statement.

My neighbors proposed that I keep one narrow wall because I have fewer items. I objected because I moved in first and was explicitly shown the space. They pointed out that the mower maintains the yard everyone uses and that a stroller cannot stay outside in the rain. Both points are reasonable, which is irritating.

Last weekend I bought wall hooks, thinking vertical storage might solve the problem. My neighbor was offended that I made changes to a shared structure without asking. He is right about that. I returned the hooks, and now the unopened package sits inside my apartment taking up exactly the space I hoped to save.

I think the next step is to empty the shed together, measure it, list the genuinely weather-sensitive items and mark two zones. My partner thinks management should solve the promise it created instead of outsourcing the discomfort to us.

Would you keep pressing the landlord for a written allocation, or design a practical split with the other household and move on? How do we account for bulky shared-benefit items without letting “useful” become a claim to the whole shed?