Self-service storage facilities: abandoned personal property.

Existing law, the California Self-Service Storage Facility Act, specifies remedies and procedures for self-service storage facility owners when occupants are delinquent in paying rent or other charges, including through enforcement of a lien by the sale of the stored property. Existing law requires that, where personal property remains on the premises after a tenancy has terminated and the premises have been vacated by the tenant, the landlord give written notice to the tenant or any other person the landlord reasonably believes is the owner of the property, as specified. Existing law requires the property to be sold at public sale by competitive bidding if the property is not released to the former tenant. Existing law makes these provisions generally applicable to self-storage units. This bill would enact similar provisions specifically applicable to personal property that remains at a self-service storage facility after the rental agreement has ended. Specifically, the bill would require the owner of the facility to give written notice to the occupant prior to the termination or non-renewal of the rental agreement, as specified. If personal property remains at the self-service storage facility after the rental agreement has ended, the bill would also require the owner to give written notice to the former occupant, and would set forth a notice form that would be in compliance with the requirement to notify the former occupant of abandoned property. The bill would require the owner to release the personal property to the former occupant under specified circumstances and subject to certain charges, as specified. The bill would require that the property be sold at public sale by competitive bidding if the property is not released to the former occupant. The bill would also specify that the above-described existing law shall apply to self-storage units only to the extent that it is not in conflict with this bill. Existing law authorizes a landlord to, upon giving notice in writing to the tenant in a prescribed manner, change the terms of a week to week lease, a month to month lease, or other lease with a period less than a month, as specified. Existing law provides that the notice, when served upon the tenant, shall in and of itself create and establish the terms, rents, and conditions specified in the notice as a part of the lease, if the tenant shall continue to hold the premises after the notice takes effect. This bill would, similarly, authorize the owner of a self-service storage facility to upon giving notice in writing to the occupant in prescribed manner, change the terms of a self-service storage facility rental agreement. The bill would provide that the notice, upon the expiration of a period of at least 30 days from the date of service, shall in and of itself create and establish the terms, rents, and conditions specified in the notice as a part of the rental agreement, if the occupant continues to store personal property at the self-service storage facility after the notice takes effect.