Access Rights Q&A

by TSSA Legal Counsel

It is important to remember that your signed Rental Agreement is the primary source for determining access rights. The tenant who signed the lease is the only person with access rights. Other individuals might be listed on the lease for possible access rights (at your option and sole discretion), but these individuals have no legal rights for access.

The Repo Man Wants Access 

Question: We have a tenant who is current on rent, but there is a person wanting to repossess the vehicle he’s storing with us. The “repo” man is pretty demanding, and we are not sure how to handle this situation. The police have not been helpful. The repossession representative has paperwork from the lienholder but not a court order. What can we do?

Answer: You are not authorized under the lease to provide the “repo” man access. You would be violating the lease in doing so, unless you were authorized to enter under paragraph 18 (in other words, unless you had written or oral permission from the tenant to provide entry to the repo man). Any repo rep should have paperwork from the lienholder evidencing the lien, and he might even have a court order ordering the tenant to hand over the car. However, any such court order would not be binding on the facility. The best course of action is likely to inform the repo man that 1) this is not a warehouse; 2) you do not have access to the unit; 3) you would be violating the tenant’s lease by providing access to the unit to anyone not authorized by the tenant; and 4) you’re sorry, but you cannot assist with access. The repossession company will need to go to court and get an order commanding the tenant to turn over the property, with a statement that if the tenant fails to do so, the tenant will be held in contempt and will be subject to fines or even jail time. 

 

Husband vs. Wife—Access Rights During Divorce

Question: I have a tenant who listed his wife as someone with whom we are authorized (at our discretion) to discuss the unit’s account and to cut locks. They have now decided to divorce, and the wife had the key to the unit. The husband came out today and requested we cut the lock and replace with a new one. Then the wife called and asked if she could have the locks cut and replaced with new ones.

Answer: Your best move is to stay out of this. Assist no one. You don’t have a duty under any version of the TSSA lease to assist anyone (including tenants and “additional access” people) with lock cutting. Let the husband and wife duke it out and you stay out of the fray!

Access Rights for Girlfriend/Boyfriend

Question: A man signed a lease and listed his girlfriend as a person the facility may grant access to in the facility’s discretion. Now they’ve had a fight and she wants to remove the contents of the unit and put them in a different unit under a new lease with her name only. He refuses to cooperate. What should we do? Can she remove the contents of the unit?

Answer: If she is listed on the lease as a person you are authorized to allow access to, if you elect to allow her entry, she may enter the unit and remove anything from the unit just as if she were a tenant. As a practical matter, anyone with a key and a gate code can enter the unit—the tenant has made a decision to provide a code and key to someone, and that is the tenant’s business. If she doesn’t have a key or code, per the terms of the TSSA lease, since she is listed as an “additional access” person, you may assist her with entry and lock cutting (but you have no obligation to assist, and it is recommended that you don’t assist in this capacity). Although it is not technically unlawful, I would recommend that you not rent the girlfriend a new unit. It would probably be advisable to have her rent a unit from another facility so that you are not dragged into the middle of a fight.

DEA or Law Enforcement Agency Seizure

Question: The DEA came to my facility with a federal search warrant and demanded search and seizure of three units. I allowed them entry, and they cleaned out three units, including a stolen car. At the time, we had not yet started a foreclosure procedure as the tenant was only one month behind in rent. Should I have done anything differently in this situation?  

Answer: In a word, no. Your Chapter 59 lien on property in a unit includes stolen property. So, you had a lien on all property in the unit and the DEA has taken away property upon which you have a lien. The DEA had a right to enter the property under its search warrant, and in that situation, there is very little you could do to prevent the DEA or other governmental officer from taking away property found in the unit. You may try to contact the DEA officer who came to your property and inform him that you had a lien for the property seized from your storage facility. You may send a copy of the legal article titled “Memorandum Brief on Police Seizure of Stolen Vehicle in Self-Storage Facility” which can be found in the TSSA Goldbook©. You may have to press the DEA to get them to respond, but you may be able to work a deal that your lien amount (the one month's rent) would be satisfied out of any sale of the seized property that the DEA conducts. Since this incident only involves one month of unpaid rent, it is up to you to determine whether it is worth it to press this matter with the DEA.

Deceased Tenant, Access by Others

Question: A tenant is deceased, and no one is listed as someone I can grant access to, and there is obviously a family conflict regarding the contents of the unit. Is the best course of action to wait for a court order, or take a “first-come, first-served” approach as far as relatives wanting access?

Answer: This topic is addressed in further detail in the article “When a Tenant Dies,” which can also be found in the Goldbook©. If no emergency contacts are listed and there are no other persons listed who you are authorized to grant access to, then under TSSA lease paragraph 1 (the “emergency contact” section), you have the right, but not the obligation, to allow the tenant’s brother, sister, spouse, parent or child over 18 (and in more recent versions of the lease, the estate executor) to have access to the tenant’s space if that person signs an affidavit that the tenant is deceased, incarcerated, permanently missing or permanently incapacitated (TSSA form MISC-2). You also have the right to discuss the tenant’s account with this person.

What this language of the TSSA lease means is that you have the ability to work with the tenant’s immediate family (or on newer lease versions, the estate executor) in the event of death, should you elect to allow one of these people to have access. If you allow this person to have access after signing an affidavit, you have done nothing legally wrong and should have no legal liability—the tenant has contractually agreed that in the event of his death, the people listed above may be granted access to his space if they sign an affidavit.

However, you have no duty to assist anyone with access. If, at your discretion, you elect to wait for a court order or wait for the unit to become delinquent and proceed to foreclosure, that is fine, too. This is probably the most conservative stance to take if you have reason to believe that there is a family conflict. If you are on a newer version of the lease (check paragraph 1) and you have the right to allow access to the estate’s executor, that is likely “safe” as well in terms of not getting in the middle of feuding heirs. Any executor should be able to show you court documents appointing him or her as the legal executor of the estate.

Access for Repairs

Question: I need to access some units to make repairs. How do I notify the tenants? What if they turn out to be the hard-to-reach kind, and I cannot contact them, can I still perform the repairs?

Answer: If you are using the TSSA lease, you should not have any trouble performing the repairs. Paragraph 18 of the TSSA lease outlines your right of entry. Paragraph 18(4) gives you the right to send the tenant a letter requesting access to the space for a number of reasons, including repair. Your request needs to outline the time and the date of your requested entry, which may be no sooner than seven days from the mailing of the request. If the tenant fails to provide you access at the time and date requested, you may then enter the unit. Paragraph 18 also provides that if you enter the unit after you have provided the requisite notice and the tenant has not responded, the tenant must pay for lock removal charges. TSSA legal counsel has prepared a form to use when requesting access to the tenant’s space pursuant to paragraph 18 of the TSSA lease (TSSA form SP-1).

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