I have a tenant that is in default. It is a 5x5 space. She never paid - had given me a debit card which is now closed. We cut the lock and found only a table saw - hardly worth the effort of a lien sale. I called her and said just come get your stuff so we can move on. Of course, she hasn't responded.

What do you do when the value of the stored items is not worth the effort of a lien sale?

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DonnaT

I think everyone will agree that you need to follow the lien laws for your state. If you don't they will claim they had the Mona Lisa stored in there!!!

Remember -- sales are not intended to replace lost income, they are designed to legally vacate the space for future use.

I can't tell you how many I sold for $5.00 when they owed several hundred -- and I was happy to get it!!! I didn't have to clean out the crap!

This is a bit tricky, I have been known to just call a unit like this abandoned and clean it out. But not before I take pictures of the unit and document it as much as I can. Autodoc is right though, you can't get sued if you follow the law to the letter. I have been known to go 56mph on the freeway though, so I'm the type that likes to live on the edge.

I don't think I'd have much problem with a 5x5 with one item in it. Pretty easy to document that there wasn't a Mona Lisa in there. I would think that the renter would have the burden to prove that there were items of value in there if it ever came to that.

Do you have demand for that space?

We had a similar situation. The tenant's ex had cleaned out most of their stuff. He left a table, a couple chairs, a broken tv, and a few garbage cans full of garbage. She didn't care about it anymore so we went through the auction process. We didn't think it'd go for more than $5, if it did $10 at most. One bidder really wanted it, primarily the space itself, and bid $45 for it. You never know how high someone is willing to go for something you would initially deem worthless.

Thanks for the advice. There is demand for the unit. My husband wants to just get rid of the item, like Storman suggests, declare it abandoned. I may do that. But I also agree that if you follow the law, you don't have to worry.

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DonnaT

When in California, always, always follow the lien laws.

We may want the space, we may not like the tenant, etc., but, most important, we must always protect the owner. If you do not follow the lien laws, you expose the owner to major loss. Keep your life simple and free of problems, too, by following the tools the legislature has given us.

I was going to mention what Colleen pointed out, I can take risks since I'm the owner and I'm responsible for the decisions I make. I don't think I would be very happy if I had an employee taking risks without my consent. In the end, it's the owner that would have a mess to clean up and the liability.

If you are an employee, then you've been hired to follow the rules, end of story.

So far, all of the advice has been good. Please do not just throw it out. What you might be able to do, after having carefully photographed or video taped the whole process, is to move the item/items to another space that you might have an abundance of, or to an unrentable space until the time of the sale.

Bob

You might want to check your state laws. In Washington state the law says that if the value of the items in the unit is less than $300 you can skip the sale and dispose of it in "any reasonable manner". I have always been just a little leery about putting a value on the contents of a unit. However, if you have only one item it should be fairly easy to check what the cost of that item is new and depreciate it.

Kim

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Kim Howard
Manager
FCI Self Storage & Custom Police Vehicles