Earlier this week, Tennessee senators amended a bill proposing changes to the states self-storage statute, sending it on its way back to the House of Representatives. The modifications include re-adding a newspaper-advertising requirement for self-storage lien sales.

As amended, Senate Bill 1293 (SB 1293) and House Bill 1265 (HB 1265) require self-storage operators to take out a one-time newspaper advertisement in a publication circulated in the general area of the facility conducting the auction. The existing law requires a two-time advertisement. The first version of the bill, which had removed the newspaper-advertisement requirement entirely, passed the House in March.

An earlier amendment also dropped the proposed maximum monthly late fee from $40 or 20 percent of the rent, whichever is greater, to $20 or 20 percent of the rent. Several other changes to the existing statute are still part of the bill's amended version, including the option for operators to contact auctioned tenants by a "verified mail" means, which includes e-mail.

The House will now vote on the amendments, though the voting date has not been established. Sherry Cole, a member of the Tennessee Self-Storage Association Board of Directors and chair of the associations legislative committee, said the bill should appear on the House's calendar Friday or Monday.

If passed, the amended bill will head to the governor for approval. If the governor signs the bill into law, the new rules will be effective July 1. The complete text of the bill and its amendments are available here at http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1293. To read an earlier article about the bill published on the Inside Self-Storage website, visit http://www.insideselfstorage.com/articles/2011/03/tennessee-bill-proposes-changes-to-self-storage-lien-sale-process.aspx.