O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 22-70—sHB 5148
General Law Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING SE LF-SERVICE STORAGE F ACILITIES AND
REVISIONS TO CERTAIN STATUTES CONCERNING CONSUMER
PROTECTION
SUMMARY: By law, a self-service storage facility owner has a lien on any
personal property left in the facility by an occupant (i.e., renter) who defaults on a
rental agreement. Before selling or disposing of the property, the facility owner
must follow certain procedures for, among other things, notifying the defaulting
renter and advertising the sale.
This act makes several changes to the self-storage facility lien process,
including adjusting notice requirements and allowing facility owners to (1) have
motor vehicles, vessels, or trailers towed from their facilities under certain
circumstances; (2) advertise the sale or disposition of a defaulting renter's personal
property in additional publications and on certain auction websites; and (3) sell this
property online.
The act also makes various minor, technical, and conforming changes in the
consumer protection statutes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2022, except the storage lien provisions and a
home improvement contractor technical change (§ 6) are effective July 1, 2022.
TOWING OF MOTOR VEHICLES, VESSELS, OR TRAILERS
The act allows self-storage facility owners to have motor vehicles, vessels, or
trailers towed from the facility by an insured towing service if rent, labor, or other
valid charges related to the property are unpaid or unsatisfied for at least 60 days.
If the facility owner complies with this provision, then he or she does not need
to comply with existing law’s lien notice requirements that apply specifically to
motor vehicles and vessels (e.g., providing notice to the Department of Motor
Vehicles or Secretary of the State (SOTS), as applicable, and following other
specified procedures).
LIEN NOTICE REQUIREMENT S
Existing law, unchanged by the act, requires a facility owner to give a defaulting
renter written notice of his or her intention to satisfy a lien (i.e., sell the renter's
property). Prior law required owners to also notify anyone who filed a valid security
interest in the property with SOTS. The act limits this notice requirement to
individuals who filed a valid security interest in the renter’s name.
By law, this required notice must be (1) delivered in person or (2) sent by e-
mail or registered or certified mail to the renter’s last-known address. The act O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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eliminates prior law’s requirement that a notice sent by registered or certified mail
have a return receipt request and instead requires it to have a unique U.S. Postal
Service tracking number.
Under existing law, the notice must contain the following information:
1. an itemized statement of the owner’s claim showing the amount due at the
time of the notice and when it became due;
2. a description of the personal property subject to the lien sufficient to identify
it (except the description of certain containers that cannot immediately be
accessed need not include their contents);
3. a notice denying the renter access to the personal property (including the
owner’s contact information), if the denial is allowed under the rental
agreement terms;
4. a payment deadline that cannot be sooner than 14 days after notice delivery;
5. a conspicuous statement that unless the debt is paid within 60 days after
default, the owner will advertise the property and sell or dispose of it; and
6. the time and place of the sale or disposition.
The act additionally requires that (1) this notice is written in plain language and
formatted simply, (2) the payment deadline is clearly visible, and (3) the sale or
disposition information include the date when it will take place.
ONLINE SALES OF DEFAULTING RENTERS' PROPERTY
The act allows the sale or other disposition of an occupant’s personal property
to be held online. Prior law required sales to be held at the self-storage facility or
the nearest suitable place convenient to where the property is stored.
ADVERTISING OF SALES
The act expands the ways a facility owner may advertise the sale or disposition
of a defaulting renter's personal property and reduces how often the advertisement
must be published, from twice to once. Prior law allowed an owner to advertise in
a newspaper of substantial circulation in the municipality where his or her facility
is located. The act instead allows these advertisements to be either in print or online
newspapers and decreases the required readership threshold to “general
circulation.” Additionally, the act allows owners to advertise on any publicly
accessible, independent website that regularly conducts online personal property
auctions.
The act also eliminates a requirement under prior law that an advertisement be
posted at least 10 days before the sale or disposition in at least six conspicuous
places in the neighborhood where the facility is located if there is no newspaper of
substantial circulation where the facility is located.