The Missouri Self Storage Owners Association (MSSOA) will make a new model rental agreement available to its members on Oct. 1. The model was unveiled in August during MSSOAs annual conference and was prepared by Stan Masters, the associations legal counsel. The current model agreement has been in use for 10 years.

The new model is organized into four parts, including the rental agreement and addenda for military personnel, vehicles and trailers, and marine property.

Although the new rental agreement keeps all of the provisions from the current model, it also enables operators to capture more information about tenants, helping them to determine if a customer is eligible for a Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) waiver or whether the facility will need to obtain a title before having a lien sale. SCRA replaced the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act and is intended to postpone or suspend certain civil obligations to service members called to active duty or being deployed.

Additional changes to the model agreement offer operators greater protection against liability for inadvertent disclosure of a tenants confidential information, clearer rules for handling and using security deposits, an expanded definition of abandonment, and other improvements, according to the MSSOA September 2012 newsletter.

The association said it will also offer tools to help member facilities apply the new model rental agreement terms to current tenants as well as new customers.

MSSOA has a membership of 250 self-storage owners in Missouri.