The last time we checked in on the self-storage industry, it had helped pass new laws in four states relieving itself of the burden of informing its indebted customers via newspaper ads that it was about to sell their property. By some estimates, about 30 states have now enacted statutes providing self-storage operators with non-newspaper notice options that are woefully insufficient.

The private-equity dominated industry is back this year with legislation in at least five states that would give it the option to jettison newspaper notice of lien sales.

Most self-storage bills come in two different forms, each with its own almost-identical language. Bills introduced in Vermont, Illinois and Missouri, for instance, would allow self-storage facilities to choose to continue to notify delinquent customers via newspaper notice or by any other “commercially reasonable manner.” The method would be deemed commercially reasonable if “at least three independent bidders” attend or view the sale. The bills in Illinois and Missouri appear to duplicate failed legislation in those states from 2021. The bill in Vermont passed the House last month and was referred to a committee in the Senate.

The second common type of self-storage legislation was introduced this year in Virginia. It would allow self-storage owners to provide notice on any “publicly accessible website that conducts property sales” as an alternative to a local newspaper. This bill type is presumably deployed in states where self-storage owners are equipped to conduct online auctions. The bill in Virginia has already stalled in a subcommittee that declined to recommend its passage.

But a self-storage bill introduced this year in South Carolina is a different kind of animal, perhaps because the self-storage lobby’s earlier, more conventional attempts to roll back newspaper notice in the Palmetto State have been defeated in at least three previous sessions. H-4855 would allow self-storage facilities to deputize their customers to reduce corporate transparency by getting them to waive their right to a newspaper notice by sticking the a clause in the fine print of self-storage agreements that nobody ever reads.

The new contract language that would be sanctioned by H-4855 reads as follows:

“You have the right to choose where you want the advertisement of sale published. When choosing a publicly accessible website, you waive any right to have the advertisement published in the newspaper. To choose an advertisement placed on a publicly accessible website that conducts personal property auctions upon default, sign here.”

South Carolina Press Association (SCPA) Co-Executive Director Jen Madden tells us the bill’s sponsor wasn’t aware that newspaper notices in the state are also posted on SCPA’s statewide public notice website. She believes his newfound awareness may be helpful in defeating the bill.