Legal Advice
Dealing With Disasters
Self-Service Procedures in the Wake of a Natural Disaster
By Connie Heyer, TSSA Legal Counsel
Related Forms
Hurricane Rita devastated many self-service storage facilities and other
businesses in the bay area. There have been many questions about the
proper procedures for cleaning up after a hurricane or other natural
disaster and dealing with the tenants. This article will try to answer
the most common questions.
How long should we wait before letting the tenants in to look for their
things? The answer to this question depends on the extent of damage at
the facility. If the facility has been so damaged that allowing tenants
onto the facility would potentially be unsafe, I would recommend that
you check with the police department or fire department for their
recommendations, and follow their recommendations. If the police
department or fire department have no recommendations, use your own
judgment, but if there is the potential for harm (any potential for
structural compromise), you should try and have all of the tenants sign
a release prior to entry. At the very minimum, you should have a sign at
the facility so when tenants who demand entry enter, they will see the
sign. The sign should be very conspicuous and should say something like:
“Danger, enter at your own risk. Due to Hurricane Rita, this facility
has sustained extensive damage, including extensive potential structural
damage. Hardhats are available in the office and you are encouraged to
wear one.” I would recommend you have a supply of hardhats on hand for
tenants to borrow. Also, photograph the sign in place and document the
date it was posted.
How do we get the tenants out of our facility so that we can bulldoze
the whole thing and rebuild? There are some units that are still usable
and some that aren’t, but we want to bulldoze the whole thing. If the
tenants in units that still exist will not leave voluntarily, you will
need to use your right to give 15 days notice of lease termination. You
have this right under Paragraph 9 of the TSSA Lease. You may use the
sample form on page 80 of the TSSA Goldbook entitled “15 Day Notice of
Termination of Storage Space Rental Agreement.” The TSSA Lease gives you
the right to terminate upon 15 days notice for any reason or no reason.
If the tenants do not vacate the premises at the end of this 15 day
period, you will need to go through the eviction process. Or, if the
tenant is delinquent in rent or other amounts due, you can go through
the foreclosure process.
How should a facility handle delinquent tenants now that we don’t have
any collateral due to the damage that Hurricane Rita caused? If tenants
were delinquent prior to the hurricane and if there are any of their
items left behind, you can go through the standard Chapter 59
foreclosure process. If there are no items left behind, or if what is
left behind has been destroyed to the point of having no value, you may
either sue the tenant in small claims court for the delinquent balance
or, if you are using a recent version of the TSSA lease, turn the tenant
over to a collection agency after giving the tenant 10 days notice as
required by Paragraph 11 of the TSSA Lease. Check your lease to make
sure your lease has this language, some of the older versions of the
lease do not have this language. The last sentence of the first
paragraph of Paragraph 11 in the latest TSSA lease version reads: “If
you fail to pay all amounts due within 10 days after we mail you a
notice demanding payment and stating that your account may be turned
over to a collection agency, you must pay all collection agency fees.” A
sample notice that you can send to the tenant to meet the 10 day
requirement is enclosed in this legal update and will be in the next
TSSA Goldbook. Once you verify that your lease contains this language
and you send this 10 day notice and receive no response, you may turn
the matter over to a collection agency who will collect the fees on your
behalf, and the tenant will also be responsible for any charges the
collection agency requires. For example, if the tenant owes you $500 and
the collection agency charges you a 50% fee for collection, the tenant
will then owe you $750.
How long must we wait for a tenant’s response before we can bulldoze?
What I would recommend is if the tenant’s contents are still
identifiable, (if the tenant’s unit still exists and it is feasible for
the tenant to come and retrieve his things) give the tenant a 15 day
notice of lease termination, or if you have the time to be more cordial,
ask the tenant to come and retrieve his things by a certain date, and if
the tenant does not respond, then give the tenant a 15 day notice of
lease termination.) If in your judgment there is nothing that is
potentially recoverable from the tenant’s space, then I would recommend
sending the tenant a notice of abandonment informing him that his rent
ceased to be owed as of the day of the hurricane, that all of the
contents of his unit are either lost or damaged beyond any potential
use, and informing him that within a certain number of days the contents
will be deemed abandoned unless he comes to the facility and claims any
contents that are his. A sample notice of abandonment for casualty loss
such as hurricane Rita is also included in this legal update.
Regardless of what you do and how you contact your tenant, I would
strongly recommend you video the site in as much detail as possible.
This video will be your proof that items were damaged beyond any
potential value.
Additionally, if you have items that are salvageable but you do not hear
from the tenant after your communications are sent to the tenant, don’t
forget that under Paragraph 18 of the TSSA Lease you have the right to
relocate the contents of a unit if relocation is needed to protect the
contents or space from loss or damage from casualty or theft. Presumably
all security at your facilities has been compromised so theft is an
issue. If this is your situation I would recommend relocating the
contents to a more appropriate place. If you do relocate the contents,
don’t forget that per Paragraph 18 of the TSSA Lease, the tenant is no
longer liable for rent but is liable only for reasonable storage charges
only. You must also promptly notify the tenant by regular mail or phone
of any entry or relocation.
Related Forms to Use
Final Notice Before
Collection Agency Fees Charged
Notice Of
Abandonment After Casualty
