No operator wants to send units to auction. We'd all much rather the tenant pay on time, or at least pay back dues and move out! But sometimes the lien process is the only solution.
While auctions can be necessary, sometimes the right choice is to meet the tenant halfway, to let them pay what they can and move out. That might be better for your business than sending their unit into auction. If you do choose this route, our Settlement and Release Agreement ensures everyone is on the same page.
As with everything else in business, documentation is key. Don't rely on a verbal agreement to protect you or to guarantee that everything will be taken care of properly. There's too much room for misunderstanding, both innocent and nefarious. Our Self Storage Operator's Toolkit offers forms to help you keep track of every deal you make.
The settlement and release agreement, like all the other helpful forms in the toolkit, is completely customizable, so you can add whatever language or information you deem most useful.
All of our forms come from our friends in the industry, so they've been vetted by self storage pros. While everyone's business has its differences, you can be certain that these forms are useful in self storage.
The reasons for changing a lock will vary depending on how your self storage rental agreement is written, but you can't rely on your tenants to remember what the agreement said exactly. This form has short explanations for the reasons you might have to cut or add a lock to their unit to refresh their memories.
The notice has a checkbox you can mark to signify why you had to change the lock, so you don't need a bunch of different sheets for different tenants.
Not only does this form ensure you have a paper trail for later, it helps you keep track of incoming and outgoing expenses. This ensures that you have something you can put in your books to keep track of fee forgiveness, so when your incoming funds don't match what your system expects, you can check to see why.
Lien law and auctions are complicated, irritating, and not very profitable. Many experienced operators favor getting what you can and getting your unit back. On the other hand, you need to be careful not to teach your tenants that they can get away without paying dues.
If you decide to give a tenant some leeway, you should definitely make a record of it. You could, of course, type up your own release agreement, but why would you? Our friendly self storage pros have already got a form ready, so you don't have to spend any time fighting with margins and fonts.
Signing a piece of paper will also make the deal more real to your tenants. If you're going to give the tenant a discount on dues to get their stuff and get out, you need to make sure they understand the terms, and that you can prove what the terms were later.
We can't guarantee that this form (or any others) will be bulletproof in court. We're not lawyers, we're just pugs web developers. So make sure you check with your legal counsel or local storage association about what you'll need to do to be covered.
Good documentation can solve a lot of problems. Our Self Storage Settlement and Release Agreement is a clean, simple way for you to keep track of what's going on at your facility!
For more great resources and information, check out the links below!
At StoragePug, we build self storage websites that make it easy for new customers to find you and easy for them to rent from you.
With Insights, our self storage marketing platform, operators get the data and digital tools they need to make the get out of their website and their self storage investment.
