The current economic times have been both a boon and a thorn to the self storage industry. On one hand they have helped the industry grow and become even more profitable than before with so many people looking/needing to downsize their living arrangements.
However, since many are doing so out of economic necessity they sometimes have trouble paying their bills, and often have their belongings put up for auction after a lien is place on the contents, in order to cover the bill.
Self storage owners and operators around the country have been diligently working with their local self storage association to get the state government to update existing lien laws and make them more facility-friendly. Illinois is the latest state to experience some success in getting their lien laws updated.
On Friday, August 26th, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed SB 1394 into law and effectively updating the Illinois Self Service Storage Facility Act and making it much more facility-friendly.
Updating the individual lien laws in states across the country has been a priority for the Self Storage Association as well as many of the individual state associations. The process in Illinois ended upo being fairly straight-forward with both the Senate and House passing the bill with unanimous votes.
Essentially, what SB 1394 did was update and modernized the existing law in regards to self storage facilities and their responsibilities when it comes to liens. Notices will no longer have to be sent via certified mail, but can now be sent by first class mail.
The sale notice will no longer have to include a description of the personal property up for sale. All that has to be printed in the newspaper advertisement now is the name and location of the facility where the lien auction will be taking place at, a phone number for the facility, the manner of the sale, the number of the unit up for auction, and the name of the unit’s owner.
Among some of the other changes was a minimum requirement of bidders to make a lien sale commercially reasonable, a limitation of value on the property in the unit, and clarification as to what constitutes a reasonable late fee.
The Illinois Self Storage Association will be holding a webinar to go over the new changes with self storage facility owners, but has yet to set a date for it.
Sources used:
“Governor Quinn Signs SB 1394!” Mini-Storage Messenger; August 2011.
“Modernized Self-Storage Lien Law Passes Both Houses in Illinois, Awaits Governor’s Signature.” Inside Self Storage; 01 June 2011.