Self Storage Laws
Self Storage Law News
A little nugget that California has added to the "Hiring" section of the California Civil Code:
California
SB-1186 has added to:
CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE 5. HIRING
CHAPTER 1. HIRING IN GENERAL ................................. 1925-1938
1938. A commercial property owner or lessor shall state on every
lease form or rental agreement executed on or after July 1, 2013,
whether the property being leased or rented has undergone inspection
by a Certified Access Specialist (CASp), and, if so, whether the
property has or has not been determined to meet all applicable
construction-related accessibility standards pursuant to Section
55.53.
Class Action Lawsuit against Extra Space Storage USA
for improper lock out procedure and excessive fees.
http://selfstorageclassaction.com/
California has introduced a new bill
MEASURE: A.B. No. 983
AUTHOR(S): Melendez.
TOPIC: Self-service storage facilities.
HOUSE LOCATION: SEN
+LAST AMENDED DATE : 04/11/2013
TYPE OF BILL :
Active
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
Non-State-Mandated Local Program
Non-Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy
LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 05/09/2013
LAST HIST. ACTION : In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for
assignment.
COMM. LOCATION: ASM BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER PROTECTION
COMM. ACTION DATE : 05/07/2013
COMM. ACTION: Do pass.
COMM. VOTE SUMMARY : Ayes: 11Noes: 01PASS
TITLE: An act to amend Sections 21702.5, 21705, 21706, 21710,
and 21713 of the Business and Professions Code, relating
to self-service storage facilities.
On October 2 2012, the Self Storage industry lost one of it's champions when Tom Litton passed away suddenly.
Tom was always the person who was able to find the balance between protecting the business and the customer. His seminars were always very informative and fun. He was the main supporter of this web site.
He was also a very good friend.
I'll miss you friend.
Positive Votes in Several States for Industry Legislation
The SSA continues to work with 20 state associations on 24 active legislative bills during the 2013 session. Over the past two weeks many of these bills have been acted upon.
Passed:
- Arkansas lien improvement bill passed both houses of the legislature and awaits governor's signature (SB377). A tenant insurance bill has been introduced (HB1933).
- Florida lien improvement bill passed House Civil Justice Committee with 10-2 vote, will next be considered in House Judiciary Committee before Senate takes up measure (HB727).
- Georgia lien improvement bill has passed House, after already passing Senate. Must go back to the Senate for concurrence due to small changes (SB61).
- Indiana tenant insurance bill has passed the legislature and is headed to governor's desk for signature (S432).
- North Carolina lien improvement bill passed House Judiciary Committee (only 1 no vote) and will be voted upon by full House this week, then expected to move to Senate (HB243).
- Oregon bills, both for lien law updates and tenant insurance, passed full House (HB2706/HB2845). They now will be considered in the Senate.
- South Carolina lien improvement bill passed Judiciary subcommittee last week, will be considered by full committee this week (H3563).
- Tennessee tenant insurance bill made it through full Senate, now working in House (HB980).
- Utah lien improvement bill has passed both houses of the legislature and awaits governor's signature (SB182).
- Virginia tenant insurance bill has been signed by governor (HB1731).
Introduced:
- Michigan lien improvement bill (H4484).
- Michigan tenant insurance bill (H4485).
Florida Introduces SB 646 - HB 715
Florida Self Storage Lien Improvement Law Passes Legislature Florida Senate unanimously voted to approve the SSA/FL-SSA-backed lien law modernization bill (SB0646 / HB0715). \
It had passed the House February 23rd and is expected to be signed by Gov. Rick Scott in coming weeks.
Barring any unforeseen delays, the law will be effective July 1st, 2012. Primarily it allows operators to utilize cheaper and more effective notification options, as opposed to certified mail, which has been required by law since 1979. Now operators can turn to email (if the tenant provides an email address) or verified mail (certificate of mailing or certified mail). The email will require a proof of delivery either by reply from the sender- or through an e-verification service such as "rpost"... (rpost.com). Certificate of mailing demonstrates a first class letter was deposited with the USPS to the last known address of the tenant.
The bill also requires operators to ask if the occupant is active duty military, a stipulation the industry conceded protects both the business and solder.
GENERAL BILL by Wise
Self-service Storage Facilities:
Revising notice requirements relating to enforcing an owner’s lien; authorizing notice by e-mail or first-class mail, along with a certificate of mailing; providing requirements for e-mail notice; revising provisions relating to when notice given is presumed delivered; requiring rental agreements and applications for rental agreements to contain a provision for the disclosure of the applicant’s membership in the uniformed services, etc.
10/24/2011Senate• Filed
11/16/2011Senate• Referred to Regulated Industries; Judiciary -SJ 55
01/10/2012Senate• Introduced -SJ 55
01/13/2012Senate• On Committee agenda-- Regulated Industries,
01/19/12, 8:15 am, 110 Senate Office Building
01/19/2012Senate• CS by Regulated Industries; YEAS 10 NAYS 0 -SJ 253
01/20/2012Senate• Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute) • CS by Regulated Industries read 1st time -SJ 256
01/23/2012Senate• Now in Judiciary -SJ 253 02/15/2012Senate• On Committee agenda-- Judiciary,
02/20/12, 10:30 am, 110 Senate Office Building
02/20/2012Senate• Favorable by- Judiciary; YEAS 7 NAYS 0 -SJ 523 • Placed on Calendar, on 2nd reading -SJ 523
03/06/2012Senate• Placed on Special Order Calendar, 03/08/12
03/08/2012Senate• Read 2nd time -SJ 975 • Substituted CS/HB 715 -SJ 975 • Laid on Table, refer to CS/HB 715 -SJ 975
Nevada's SB150 is now law as of October 1 2011.
Now there are some issues that are brought forward through this legislation like with emails.
According to the law. For an email to be valid, the sender must receive a receipt. If the receiver of the email does not acknowledge the receipt, (as many email programs allow the email recipient to not send a receipt even though requested), the email is not a valid form of communication of the lien. SB150 “Electronic mail” means an electronic message, executable program or computer file which contains an image of a message that is transmitted between two or more computers or electronic terminals, or within or between computer networks and from which a confirmation of receipt is received
See Image at http://storagelienlaws.com/images/images/email1.jpg and you can see where the email receiver can chose to not send the receipt therefore any email sent does not count as authorized communication.
Most facilities would be better off not asking for an email address.
Nevada facilities need to update their Rental Agreements for the provision:
(c) A provision requiring the occupant to:
(1) Disclose to the owner any items of protected property in the storage space.
(2) If the occupant is subject to mandatory licensing, registration, permitting or other professional or occupational regulation by a governmental agency, board or commission and the protected property to be stored is related to the practice of that profession or occupation by the occupant, provide written notice to that agency, board or commission stating that the occupant is storing protected property at the facility, identifying the general type of protected property being stored at the facility and providing complete contact information for the facility. The occupant shall give the owner a copy of any written notice provided to such an agency, board or commission.
Death of a Storage Tenant
We have added a new article section for probate and property distributions for each state. I will be adding each state as soon as possible.
Some of the changes to lien laws are removing the lien sale advertising in the newspaper requirement.
I was little unsure these changes but after talking with the Stockton Record and seeing the article in the Wall Street Journal, it makes sense to move the lien sale advertising requirement from the printed version.
Nobody from the Stockton Record could explain why it would be important to keep the newspaper legal advertisement requirements.
It seems newspaper industry is heading in the same direction as the post office.
From the WSJ.com Sector :
Newspaper Publishing Revenue 2010 (in millions):$40,726 Decline 2000-2010: -35.9% Forecast Decline 2010-2016:-18.8%
Establishments 2010: 6,128 Decline 2000-2010 Forecast: -28.6% Decline 2010-2016: -17.6%
The newspaper industry was able to fake their importance with a senator from southern California by claiming the storage facilities potential for mischief is limitless and the newspaper in the judicial district deputizes the entire community. Our city of almost 300,000 there is a subscription rate of under 5%, I do not see how that can deputize the entire community.
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Kansas, Rhode Island Governors Sign Improved Self Storage Lien Laws
The SSA's legislative program chalked up two more victories last week when the Governors of both Kansas and Rhode Island signed new lien statutes into law. The efforts were driven primarily by the respective state self storage associations, with financial and consulting support from the national SSA. In addition to Kansas and Rhode Island, a new lien law was signed in Florida in April. Legislation aimed at improving lien statutes in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio are still active. Since 2008, SSA sponsored lien updates have been passed in 16 states with various provisions, most of them including updated and more effective notification procedures that eliminate costly certified mail requirements, allow for email, eliminate or reduce newspaper legal advertisement requirements, provide liability protections and expedite vehicle lien procedures.
Self Storage Industry on Television:
Shows like Storage Wars on A&E , and Auction Hunters on Spike have brought a lot of attention to the lien process of the storage industry. People need to remember it is television with editing and staging of some events. Just because a vehicle was shown to be sold as parts in California, does not mean it really happened that way.