Archive - 2014

Self-storage lien laws across the country have begun to change to keep up with modern technology.

These changes are occurring in response to lobbying by the national Self Storage Association, which works with its affiliates to protect the interests of the storage business.

One of the newest states to undergo such potential changes is Missouri, where House Bill 1225 was introduced.

This bill would allow storage facility owners to notify their defaulted tenants via email instead of or in addition to other types of contact attempts prior to an impending lien auction.

The default period would also been lengthened to 45 days rather than 30 to allow more time for delinquent tenants to recover their belongings. Vehicles could be towed after 60 days of delinquency.

Additionally, if the bill passes, Missouri storage owners can use public media other than newspapers for advertising their lien auctions, including websites. Most significantly for auction hunters, the law also allows Missouri storage facilities to hold lien sales online.

In addition to these changes to the way lien auctions are handled, the new law also provides storage facility owners with new tools for streamlining storage agreements and lien proceedings. Under the new bill, facility owners can work with renters to determine the value of the belongings stored at the facility.

This limits the liability of storage facility owners in the event of property loss or damage.

Whether this appraisal will have any effect on the value of auctions remains to be seen, but it is possible that it could affect the price of lockers auctioned in the state.

On the whole, however, these changes should be positive for everyone involved on the self-storage business, including auction hunters. The bill has passed through its initial stages in Missouri courts, and if passed it should go into effect this August.

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While other states are developing laws to streamline the lien auction process, New York Senator Tony Avella is working to create laws that could be very unfavorable to storage facility owners and auction hunters.

The bill was introduced on January 8. It proposes several new changes to the way storage auctions are handled in the state:

— Two lien notifications, rather than one, must be sent to the delinquent tenant.

— If the primary tenant cannot be notified, a secondary contact must be notified in his place.

— Tenants would have 30 days to satisfy their lien rather than 10 days as is currently allowed.

The purpose of these changes would be to give tenants better odds of recovering delinquent units. Senator Avella admits that his inspiration for introducing these laws came from witnessing the ever-growing popularity of storage auctions and wondering why any tenant would walk away from expensive belongings.

While the law could protect the interests of some storage tenants, it also introduces additional hassles to storage facility owners. Meanwhile, the proposed law would give no benefits to storage facilities themselves such as those seen in other states: The ability to contact renters through email, the ability to post lien advertisements online or the ability to hold an auction over the Internet.

Because of this, both the New York Self Storage Association and the national Self Storage Association are lobbying to oppose the bill. Given the SSA’s success in favorably changing storage laws elsewhere in the country, it’s possible that the bill might be modified to include terms more attractive to people in the storage business while still providing some additional protections to renters.

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