The Terminator Strikes down Higher Costs for Storage Facilities and Streamlines California Storage Lien Law.

California storage owners can now work more efficiently and save money with Governor Schwarzenegger’s signing of an amendment to the existing storage lien law.  This amendment will reduce expenses for the state's storage business owners.  The lien is supported by The California Self Storage Association (CSSA) and primarily funded by the Self Storage Association (SSA). The amendment signals that changes to lien laws could soon appear in other states.

The law went into effect the last week in September and put forth a more cost-effective process. One provision in the law offers more of a cost-effective process and eliminates the number of baseless “declaration” situations. The pricing of the lien notification method is now more reasonably priced. The law’s Jan. 1, 2011, effective date requires all California storage facility owners to have revised their old lien procedures.

The new law empowers self storage operators to resolve lien and auction disputes in small claims court rather than superior court, which is lengthy and expensive. The savings gained through the new law could be in the thousands of dollars each year for facilities and millions each year for the state. Another area of savings wipes out a verification of delivery of lien notices by certified mail and replaces it with a more inexpensive certificate of mailing.

"We believe that the updates to the law will create a more efficient and cost effective process for operators and their tenants to communicate when customers have fallen behind in their rent,” said Shelley Geiler, president of the CSSA, board member of the SSA and a partner of SoCal Self Storage and SSA board member on the SSA website. "We could not have been successful in this endeavor without the joint effort of the national self storage association and the incredible support we received from our membership.”

According to the CSSA, change in lien laws could begin flowing from state to state soon. For a breakdown of current lien law rules for different states visit the website Selfstorages.com.

“We congratulate our partners of the California Self Storage Association for all of their hard work in streamlining that state’s lien law,” said Michael T. Scanlon, Jr., president and CEO of the SSA, in an article posted on the California Self Storage Association website. “The national SSA is working from state-to-state- to modernize many of the lien laws so that they are fair to storage operators and take advantage of today’s more efficient technologies.”

Sources Used:

“California Governor Signs Bill Amending State’s Self Storage Lien Law.” California Self Storage Association. Oct.3, 2010.

“Self Storage Lien Laws By State.” Selfstorages.com. 2010.

“California Governor Signs Bill Amending State’s Self Storage Lien Law.” Self Storage Association Foundation. Sept. 30, 2010.