Most storage facilities reserve the right to dispose of the property in the storage unit any way they see fit. Our company in
Houston calls about 1400 storage facilities twice a month, so I can give you some inside information on this subject. Believe it or not, about 15% of all storage facilities in the greater Houston and surrounding areas don't even have auctions. Most of these facilities claim to almost never have a delinquent tenant. There are laws which the storage facilities must follow; However, no one is really enforcing what the storage facilities do. Especially, the smaller facilities in rural areas.
I have spoken with other facility owners that don't have auctions but personally invited me to come by and make them an offer on delinquent units.Some of these facilities have garage sales and sell the items individually. Others claim to just take the contents to the dump. Some facilities will hold an auction but if the storage unit doesn't sell at an appropriate amount, they will refuse the bid. I even know of one facility that files a public notice, but when you arrive, they start the bidding at what is owed in delinquent rent and moving costs (Usually $1200-2500). At this facility, they don't let you view the contents, they just hand you a itemized list of the contents. Since nobody in their right mind is going to pay that kind of money without inspecting the condition of the merchandise, the contents almost always revert back to the storage facility. This facility conveniently has a resale shop next door which happens to be operated by the facility owners wife.