Are Online Storage Auctions Legal in Minnesota?

Are Online Storage Auctions Legal in Minnesota? Just wanted to get everyone's opinion on this.

In Minnesota, a new self-storage lien law went into effect on August 1st, 2014. Senate Bill 2398 outlines the lien-sale timeline and publication requirements. This law now requires operators to publish information about the lien sale once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation or on a website that advertises self-storage lien sales or public notices.

Do you think that this allows Minnesota storage operators to hold their lien sales online, or is it merely allowing them to publish their legal notice legal notices on online storage auction websites? Let me know your thoughts.

Do you think that this allows Minnesota storage operators to hold their lien sales online,

Seems quite clear since what you posted addresses notification, not location. 

(d)
Online sales are permitted. Owners shall require all bidders, including online bidders, to
register and agree to the rules of the sale.

Subd. 4. Sale of property. (a) A sale of personal property may take place no sooner than 45 days after default or, if the personal property is a motor vehicle or watercraft, no sooner than 60 days after default.

After the expiration of the time given in the notice, the sale must be published once a week for two weeks consecutively in a newspaper of general circulation where the sale is to be held. The sale may take place no sooner than 15 days after the first publication. If the lien is satisfied before the second publication occurs, the second publication is waived. If there is no qualified newspaper under chapter 331A where the sale is to be held, the advertisement may be posted on an independent, publicly accessible Web site that advertises self storage lien sales or public notices. The advertisement must include a description of the goods, the name of the person on whose account the goods are being held, and the time and place of the sale.

A sale of the personal property must conform to the terms of the notification.
A sale of the personal property must be public and must be held at the storage facility, or at the nearest suitable place at which the personal property is held or stored.
Online sales are permitted. Owners shall require all bidders, including online bidders, to
register and agree to the rules of the sale.

The sale must be conducted in a commercially reasonable manner. A sale is commercially reasonable if the property is sold in conformity with the practices among dealers in the property sold or sellers of similar distressed property sales.

According to the language above, the storage facility is still required to publish their legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation whenever one is available. If there isn't a newspaper of general circulation in their area, only then may they publish their legal notice online.

   

According to the language above, the storage facility is still required to publish their legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation whenever one is available.

I don't understand what the difficulty is you're having here? Your initial question was if online storage auctions are legal, and the very text you pasted (Online sales are permitted) says they are. Yes you have to run the legal notice listing for two weeks in the local newspaper before the auction can take place, whether it's a local or an online auction. Presumably the state wants to make sure the tenant has the chance to see the notice in order to satisfy the lien rather than have it auctioned off.

Sorry, I accidentally replied in eBid's post and deleted part of his comment. Pete, if you can remember what you wrote, I'll be glad to re-post it above.

Here is my reply:

"Quote from eBid"
"Online sales are permitted. Owners shall require all bidders, including online bidders, to
register and agree to the rules of the sale."

Yeah, it doesn't get any more clear than that.   

I was reading an article about the Minnesota lien law changes on ISS. I can't believe they left that part out. It's kind of a big deal.

Anyway, the original question has been answered. I was just commenting about the fact that storage facilities still have to publish their legal notice in a newspaper whenever one is available. Some storage facilities are in rural areas which don't have a newspaper. These facilities are now allowed to post their legal notices on self storage lien sale websites, instead of using the former method which required them to post their notice in several conspicuous places like grocery store bulletin boards, convenience store windows, etc. 

I was just commenting about the fact that storage facilities still have to publish their legal notice in a newspaper whenever one is available.

I think you're going to find this is the case in just about every state. The legal notice has to be published regardless if the auction is held live on the property or online. Otherwise how would the local tenant have the chance to read that their unit is up for auction if all other methods of trying to reach them has failed!

I think you're going to find this is the case in just about every state. The legal notice has to be published regardless if the auction is held live on the property or online.

There are some states which now give operators the choice of either publishing their legal notice in a newspaper or on a public website.

Otherwise how would the local tenant have the chance to read that their unit is up for auction if all other methods of trying to reach them has failed!

I'm fairly certain that only a small percentage of delinquent tenants actually look for the legal notice. Most are notified by phone, mail and email. If those methods fail and they want to know if their unit is up for auction, it's probably easier to pick up the phone and call the facility than it is to scour legal notices every day for weeks/months.

Even with newspapers, there are still problems. For example, most major metropolitan areas have dozens of newspapers. How does the tenant find out which newspaper the notice was published in? Subscribe to them all and look for a needle in a haystack? No. They call the storage facility and ask.

Truth is, it's easier for a tenant to search for and locate a legal notice online than in a newspaper.