November 11 Webinar - Q&A

[teri_l]

Hey all! We've just unveiled the topics for the last three Legal Learning webinars of 2008. The November 11 event will be completely dedicated to attendee Q&A, and rather than wait for event day, we thought we would create a place where folks can submit their questions early! We can't guarantee that we'll have time to answer every question during the webinar, but Jeff will do his best to address as many inquiries as possible. And I know he will be using this forum to communicate with those who have legal issues.

For more information on upcoming webinars and to register, visit www.insideselfstorage.com/webinars or use the "Webinars" menu at the top of this page.

[Autodoc]

Let me be the first

Question:

If you have a tenant that has (through conversation) indicated that they will not be paying any longer, but you can not get them to sign a letter of abandonment do you still have to wait and go through the lien process?


My gut instinct is to wait and go through the process, but as they pissed me off I want to just dump the crap and re-rent the place.

[John Roser]

We get that from time to time at our sites. When they won't come in to sign the abandonment, we are obliged to continue with the lien process, as painful as it is...

[Autodoc]

Yeah, I know the "right" answer, but thought I would get this started.

[ColleenK]

This question should be under Legal Issues, but the thread re. a valid address for Opposition to Lien Sale is still fairly new, I don't want to disrupt it. And since we won't have one of Jeff's wonderful webinars until September 18, 2008, I hope it's OK to use his space for my legal question.

In California, what do most places do about allowing deliveries on behalf of your customer? Do you accept deliveries? If you do, do you hold the key and give it to the delivery person so he can leave the item in the unit, or do you retain the key, open the unit and stand by while the item is placed in the unit & then re-lock the unit, or do you accept the delivery and store it in the office or another unit under your control?

If you accept deliveries, do you have a form the customer must sign?

Jeff, would you like to participate in this discussion?

Remember to sign-up for the next webinar on September 18th. Go to www.insideselfstorage.com/webinars.html

[Autodoc]

We thought long and hard about this issue and decided against doing this as it opens you up to liabilities beyond normal storage operator/tenant relations.

To us the benefits do not out weigh the risk.

I would be interested to here what others think and the procedures they are using. Maybe if we can minimize the risk we will consider it again in the future.

[ColleenK]

I have been comfortable accepting deliveries that, actually, the customer did not intend to be delivered to us. But they have been packages. When we accept them, we do it in view of the office camera, and place them on the floor, keeping them in view of the camera until the customer retrieves them.

But keep this information coming. I so much appreciate both responses so far and hope others will respond. Thanks!

[gatorgal]

We also accept delivery's. As most of you know, this is a very sticky legal subject. We also ask our customer's to sign a form that gives us permission to allow delivery personnel to sign out their key, but there is no form in the world that can protect you from the bailment issue. If you have a key, you have care, custody and control. period. For us, the risk is worth the benefit, but I have been desperately trying to find a win/win situation.
The best idea I have come up with is a key lock box with a password. The extreme version of this are lock boxes that record time and date that the key was removed and replaced, you can only retrieve the key that goes with that particular code. Very expensive! The other extreme is the lock boxes that Realtors commonly use. You could also place them on the wall in the office and have the delivery personnel access them themselves. In theory, the customer would be responsible to give the delivery person the code to the box. We would never ask for it or keep a record of it. We could post a list of the customer's contact info and if a delivery person came in that did not know the code to the box, they could call the customer, we could verify that they are who they say they are, and the delivery person would get the key. It's not a perfect plan-but maybe better than just unlimited access to tenant keys. What do you guys think?

[Tall Terri]

We have a key form that the client's sign that allows the DELIVERY company to take their key, open the unit and put the item inside, then return the key. The delivery company, Usually UPS, signs in on our key sign out sheet so we know which unit, what time, and the UPS delivery person as well. Otherwise, we don't take deliveries and Fed Ex, won't take a key.

Anything that comes via Fed Ex is sent back.