Self-Storage Contract Guide

Hey, all! I’m Customer Service Becky, your friendly Inland Empire self-storage professional here to guide you through the ins and outs of storing your stuff. I’ve got experience behind the desk and in front of it. Together, we can make your storage needs a little less stressful. In today’s installment, we’ll be covering the finer points of a self-storage contract. This includes making sure you read and understand the rules that cover your relationship with the company.

Liability For Property and Behavior

Because of the fact that literally, anything can happen inside your unit, managers do not have a key to your unit (which helps them avoid the liability of unscrupulous tenants who claim they are stealing items out of units—can’t take anything you don’t have access to) and the liability waivers are strong. Read your contract very carefully. It is common for storage facility contracts to contain clauses stating the company is not responsible for damages to your items in any way, shape, or form, and that statements made by company personnel are not grounds for a guarantee in any way from the company.

They will also encourage you to take all reasonable precautions to store your items safely. You saw this in our previous posts about pests and protecting your stuff, not storing food or hazardous/flammable materials, and so on. I’ll encourage you to protect your items, as well. The more you protect your items in storage, the more likely you are to get accommodation if your items are damaged in storage from the company you’re storing with.

Self-Storage Contracts: Your Contact Info

Look, I get it. The storage industry gets it. People change residences all the time. However, because a self-storage contract is a legal document, a verbal notice of changing addresses won’t cut it. We need your address to contact you for rate changes, preliminary lien, lien sale information, and other important communications. So, when you change your address, change it with your storage facility IN WRITING.

The majority of storage facilities have a form, and also accept a mailed notice including your name, unit number, and new address via snail mail or email. (Don’t expect them to pull it off the yellow post office stickers; we don’t know if YOU changed it or some fraudster). If you don’t do the change when you move, and you, unfortunately, go into auction? Well, tough cookies for you, you won’t get the lien sale notice—which in California has an “Opposition to Lien Form” inside that you can use to stop the auction sale.

Speaking of Auctions…

Most self-storage contracts include a clause whereby if your unit goes to auction, the company can come after you in small claims court for the balance of charges owed. This can happen if the unit either doesn’t sell or sells for less than what’s owed. So having your unit sold may well not be the end of it. Depending on how much is still owed, you may wind up in court for the back rent you didn’t pay. This is not a common practice, but that clause is in there to give them the option.

Termination of Self-Storage Contracts

This bit isn’t about you terminating the contract. It’s about the spot that says THEY can terminate self-storage contracts. This is the section where it says if you screw up on anything in the contract they can evict you. Busted breaking into other people’s units? They can evict you (and also give your personal information to the cops). Busted using your unit as a residence? You will be kicked out. Damage their property? BYE NOW. This is the part that gives them the legal right to do it. In conjunction with a clause that states that they can terminate the contract at will, if you mess up there’s not much you can do to stop them from getting rid of you.

Discrimination or Behavior?

Now yes, unfortunately, this can provide a loophole for a bigot to discriminate against people based on skin color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, etc. In general, chain storage facilities (think multi-regional or national, not single-location one-offs) have policies in place to prevent this. Many managers must usually provide evidence of wrongdoing or nuisance to higher-ups in order to proceed with the eviction.

If you think you have been discriminated against because you’re a member of a federally-protected class, by all means, seek a lawyer’s assistance in fighting that eviction. Discrimination is not okay, or acceptable.

But neither is sitting naked in your unit washing socks in a bucket…or having domestic violence disputes on property that you physically drag other tenants into while damaging the unit door…or shooting drugs intravenously in the bathroom while having fun with yourself below the belt…or bringing sex workers on the property to engage in a happy ending in your car while on camera, then leaving a bag full of human feces for the manager to clean up.

Does all that sound awfully specific? That’s because Becky here has evicted people for that crap. Trust me, if you’re being evicted it’s not going to be for anything harmless, benign, or minor. It’s because you caused a major problem, rapidly broke a ton of rules, or made the facility manager’s life a living nightmare. We don’t kick folks out without cause (unless it’s discrimination, in which case fight that crap from here to forever). But we can and will get rid of you while warning our friends in other local storage companies to deny you service. You don’t want that reputation, so just…read the contract.

Abandonment of Property

This one goes along with the section you just read. Should you happen to get evicted, most self-storage contracts have a clause that if any property is left in the unit after the termination of the contract (i.e. we kick you out and you don’t get all your stuff before the deadline), that property is considered abandoned. We will either sell it at auction or throw it away. Yes, managers are allowed to keep anything that we would like to in case of the latter option. I’ve gotten holiday and birthday presents for people this way. I’ve also donated a TON of still-wearable clothes and sturdy toys to local church missions serving the homeless and low-income folks, just to keep stuff out of landfills. Also yes, it’s absolutely legal for us to do this.

If you receive your eviction notice and you aren’t out by the time and date listed? Well, that’s kind of it—legally that unit isn’t yours anymore, and neither are the contents. You can contact the manager, let them know you’re having difficulty, and ask for a deadline extension. But they’re not legally required to give you extra time if you’ve had proper written notice mailed to an on-file address with proof of mailing. Especially if you’ve been a royal jerk about being evicted for stuff you’ve done wrong in the first place.

Right to Enter Your Unit

Long story short here, storage unit managers are basically landlords. That means that a self-storage contract usually reserves the right for them to go into your unit for inspections and emergencies. They also have the right to relocate you into a different unit when needed. Most will give you a warning, but if a pipe bursts and they have to access it through your unit? Sorry, we gotta do what we gotta do. There’s not much you can do in this instance unless you find something missing from your items afterward, in which case you would need to file a police report, or find something damaged, in which case you would contact them and ask for their insurance information.

That covers the major issues you are likely to encounter with a self-storage contract. As with any other legal contract, please make sure to read it before signing. Also, ask if you have any questions regarding company policies or rules. Go forth and store with confidence!