U-Haul's Active Duty Military Policy

I spoke with a U-Haul district manager today who was telling me about the procedures she goes through to sell storage units at her facilities. I'm sure some of you know Killeen/Fort Hood is the country's largest army base and over half of the population are military families. That being said, they have to do a lot of research before selling their delinquent storage units to make sure it doesn't belong to someone who is active duty. If they determine that the tenant is active duty, they cannot sell their storage unit. She told me that she does a lot of research while trying to locate her delinquent tenants including contacting family members. She also mentioned that it is sometimes very difficult due to the privacy act.

She told me that U-Hauls policy is: if they cannot verify whether the person was active duty or if the person is active duty, the unit will sit there indefinitely. They will never sell it regardless of how much time goes by.

I think it's honorable for them to do this but at the same time, it's bad business. There should be some sort of statute of limitations set. For example, after 2 years, the facility should be able to sell the storage unit if the soldier hasn't made contact with them.

There should be a place on the application for active military personnel to indicate such.

I believe there is in most rental agreements. There are federal laws which restrict the sale of active duty personnel's belongings. I don't know a lot about it but I believe it covers their residence, vehicles, storage units and some other personal property.