Last year I filed with the storage area as its own Sched E.
So what I'm imagining you did was to give that property an "in service" date as a rental, when it was never "available for rent" to anyone.
I would suggest you amend 2018 to remove that property from the SCH E, and prorate any expenses incurred for that property at a storage area, across any other rentals you have. You go 3 or more years reporting it on SCH E without that property generating it's own rental income, and there's a high probability that will raise eyebrows with the IRS, as well as with your state if your state taxes personal income.
meanwhile, can you give me some more details please? I'm wondering why, if you need equipment for rental property and stuff, just "exactly" what it is you do? Do you have only a few rental properties? Maybe you have tens of rental properties? Are they all residential properties? Business properties? Mix of both? What "do" you do?
I ask because I'm wondering if what you have would not be a SCH C business - which would be more beneficial in some aspects, and not so in other aspects.
