There are enough hoops to jump through in order to get into business, be it a self storage facility or something else. Once you do succeed in getting something up and going though, your legal issues do not stop there. In fact, they tend to grow exponentially. In the self storage industry there are a number of potential legal issues that owners and managers may be faced with on a near daily basis.

Whenever tenants refuse, fail, or forget to pay their bills it is within a self storage owner’s rights to place a lien on the property and eventually put the contents up for public sale. Lien issues are likely one of them more common things and knowing how to face them is important. Those waters get a little bit murkier when a tenant goes through bankruptcy.

These daily issues are not the only legal issues which self storage owners and operators are faced with. Sometimes state legislatures get in the way and cause them to revise how they do business. Often times depending on how a law is interpreted (and if a distinction is not made between self storage facilities and warehouses) a self storage facility can be treated as a warehouse, which has different legal issues and requirements.

Then there is the possibility of a law suit. What if someone slips while working inside a storage unit? What if there property gets damaged because some rain came through a hole in the roof and ruined their stuff? What if an employee decides to fire you for wrongful termination?

The legal complexities can be challenging to deal with within the self storage industry to say the least. While insurance can help you pay for expenses once legal issues arise, a better understanding of the basic ones that commonly pop up can save you a lot of time, money, and frustration in the long run.

At the Inside Self Storage World Expo in Las Vegas in mid-March there will be a number of educational seminars and a four hour work shop geared towards helping self storage facilities and owners understand and navigate the legal waters rather than just tread water.

Among many of the topics to be reviewed include the process of going from putting a lien on a property to selling the contents, ideas for how to handle personal information the best, how to handle abandoned property, vehicle storage, and more.

Sources Used:

“Industry’s Top Legal Threats Explored at Inside Self-Storage World Expo in Las Vegas.” Inside Self Storage; 13 January 2011.

“Self Storage Facilities and the Importance of Insurance.” Self Storage Industry News; 12 January 2011.

“Education the Focus of the 2011 Self Storage Expo.” Self Storage Industry News; 26 November 2010.