This week the Arizona Self Storage Association (AZSSA) opened its new self-storage auctions website. The website allows Arizona self-storage facilities to post notices related to upcoming auction sales. Interested buyers can go to the website and see a comprehensive list of auctions that are coming up all over the state. They can search the listing by date, city, zip code, or facility name.
From February 1 to April 1, Arizona self-storage facilities will be able to post auction listings free. After April 1, Arizona Self Storage Association members can continue to post free notices and information about auctions, but nonmembers will be charged a small fee for their postings. More than 500 self-storage facilities and self-storage vendors are members of the Arizona Self Storage Association.
The auctions website is just the most recent in a series of steps the Arizona Self Storage Association has taken to try to automate the process of holding auctions and lien sales. Last August, the AZSSA began offering its members a series of automated mailing forms to use in sending lien-sale notices with a Certificate of Mailing. (Because of changes to Arizona's lien laws, members do not have to send their lien notices by certified mail any more--instead, they can use First Class Mail.) The forms offered by the AZSSA were approved by the Postal Service and can be downloaded from the AZSSA website. They are also available on disks and in print, in the AZSSA's Resource Book.
Arizona's lien laws were changed last summer, when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed House Bill 2435. The AZSSA had lobbied for the changes to the law, but even at the last minute, feared that the law would not be passed. "We were on a death watch. We were sure we were going to go down in flames," AZSSA attorney Richard Marmor commented at the time. He attributed eventual passage of the bill to its chief sponsor, freshman Arizona representative Laurin Hendrix (R) and senior senator Barbara Leff (R). "Both stepped to the fore, working to advance the bill," he said. "Without the support of these two people, this never could have happened." Like many laws, HB 2435 was finally passed in the middle of the night (at about 2 a.m.) by a group of very tired legislators.
The new law went into effect on September 30, 2009. It not only allows self-storage facilities to send lien notices via ordinary First Class mail, it also removes the requirement that lien sale notices be published in the newspaper. In addition, while the old law required tenants to sign a different lease for each unit rented, the new law allows tenants to rent multiple units in one lease, simplifying the rental process for both owners and tenants. The AZSSA developed its new auctions website to dovetail with the changes in Arizona's lien laws.
The AZSSA has prepared a lien seminar, to be presented by Marmor, explaining the new law to self-storage owners and operators. The seminar is three hours long and has been titled, "Arizona Lien Sales, the new A to Z." The seminar will walk operators through the lien sale process step by step and review the changes to the law. It will also cover solutions for handling complex and unusual auctions and how to avoid making legal mistakes. The seminar will be held February 24, from 6 to 9 p.m., at the Black Canyon Conference center in Phoenix. Members can register for the seminar at the AZSSA website. The seminar will cost $49.95 for members, and $74.95 for nonmembers.