AB 707

Current law regulates the operation of self-storage facilities, including

requiring written rental agreements, creating liens on personal property stored in

the facility, limiting late rental fees, and establishing the procedures when a person

fails to pay the rental fee. One of those procedures requires the operator of a

self-storage facility to send two notices to the person who has failed to pay the rental

fee at the facility before the operator may sell the personal property left in the facility.

The notices describe the methods that will be used to sell the personal property if the

person does not pay the rental fee. Currently, the facility operator must send the first

notice by regular mail and the second notice by certified mail to the person's

last-known address. In addition, the facility operator must advertise the sale of the

personal property once a week for two consecutive weeks by publication in a

newspaper of general circulation where the facility is located.

If the personal property is worth less than $100, the bill allows the facility

operator, after providing proper notice, to donate the property to a nonprofit

organization, dispose of the property in a solid waste facility, recycle the property, or

remove the property from the facility in another reasonable manner.

This bill requires the facility operator to send the second notice of the failure

to pay rent by certified mail or first class mail with a certificate of mailing to the

person's last-known address. The bill allows the facility operator to advertise the

sale of the personal property by publishing one notice in a newspaper of general

circulation where the facility is located in addition to a posting in two public places.

The Internet is included as a public place in the bill.

Currently, the notice of the sale must include a description of the personal

property to be sold and the address of the self-service storage facility, the number

of the space where the property is located, and the name of the lessee. This bill

removes the requirement that the notice include the number of the space where the

property is located.

Under current law, the sale of the personal property must be conducted in a

commercially reasonable manner. This bill replaces that language with a

requirement that the sale be a public sale with three or more bidders or that the

personal property be offered for sale to at least three persons who deal with the type

of property for sale, or that the sale be conducted in another manner that is

commercially reasonable.

The bill requires a rental agreement that includes a provision that limits the

value of property stored to print that provision in bold type or underlined type of the

same size as the rest of the agreement. If such a provision is in the rental agreement,

that limit is presumed to be the maximum value of the property stored.

Current law gives the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) authority to promulgate rules regarding self-storage facilities,

investigate violations of the statutory provisions, and refer the matter to the