House Bill 1093/Senate Bill 2437: Alternatives to Mandatory Newspaper
Advertising for Lien Sales
HB 1093 (and Senate Bill 2437) will provide a much-needed update to the statute
governing the self-storage lessor/lessee relationship (Texas Property Code
Chapter 59) that was originally written in 1983. The update will allow for an
alternative to advertising an auction by newspaper. Currently, the Notice of Public Sale required by the statute
for scheduled lien auctions must be run twice in the local newspaper. The
changes we seek to amend the statute add more effective and modern methods for
publicizing the sale, for instance online sites that specialize in drawing
bidders to lien sales. Last session the bill passed the House Chamber, but we were
not able to make movement on the Senate side before the session ended. We are
thankful to State Representative Stan Lambert (Abilene, House District 71) for championing
our bill again this session.
Newspaper ads are intended to draw bidders to the lien sale, not to notify a tenant via another source of communication.
Tenants would have already been contacted numerous times by the facility regarding the unpaid amount and received an official Notice of Claim regarding the impending sale of their property. The tenant would have no way of knowing what day an ad containing their name would appear in a printed paper and is thus not a means to notify a tenant.
This amendment does not alleviate any required notice to the tenant.
Self-storage owners are still required to send the Notice of Claim when the tenant becomes in default and is non-responsive to satisfy the outstanding debt obligations as outlined in their contractual agreement.
Self-storage owners have been singled out as the only private industry targeted for this requirement and it hurts the consumer and the small business owner.
We have been singled out as the only private industry with a requirement to finically support another private industry. The cost of the required newspaper ad, when a newspaper is available in the county, typically exceeds any income received from the lien sale. The expense of the newspaper ad is added to the tenant’s debt obligations. By allowing alternative means of advertising a lien sale, the self-storage facility can reach more bidders and reduce both the tenant’s and small business owner’s debt.