While we’ve always been a litigious society, lately it seems the courts are working overtime to hear the lamest cases ever. Case in point: A Utah woman is suing Google for damages for giving her bad walking directions after she walked onto a busy highway sans sidewalks and was struck by a vehicle. Yes, you read that correctly. She walked onto a highway. She’s also suing the person who hit her, of course.

While the story is a bit more complicated, (read just one of many articles on the Web here) it seems common sense didn’t play a role in this unfortunate incident. And while you would think common sense should play a role when it comes to signing a self-storage rental agreement—which is a legal contract—you can’t bet on it. So rather than just hoping your lease is solid, know for sure, and keep yourself and your business from being dragged into a silly court case.

If you haven’t taken a hard look at your lease since it was drafted, you need to. Not only do state laws change constantly, but verbiage can become outdated, too. Rental agreements from a decade ago also contain a lot of legal jargon no one wants to read. Many businesses—and even government entities—are now using “plain language” in their contracts so everyone can clearly understand what’s involved. Yes, you’ll still need some legal stuff in there, but the overall language should be easy to comprehend. Here’s a great article on revamping your rental agreement to include plain language.

Or perhaps you’d like to make some minor changes to the rental agreement. Legal expert Jeff Greenberger points out in this recent article that you can make small changes to your lease without making substantial modifications to the landlord/tenant relationship. Jeff’s example in the article is clearly defining “written notice” of an address change. But perhaps there’s another small change you’d like to make without the hassle of overhauling the entire document.

Is your tenant lease on your website? There’s a debate on Self-Storage Talk right now on this subject. Some operators have found making the lease agreement online gives prospective tenants more time to review the agreement. Most managers agree going over the rental agreement during leaseup is often rushed for a variety of reasons. The tenant could be in a hurry, may have kids with him, or the manager could have several people vying for his attention.

Others feel the legal document should be restricted to those serious about renting a unit and be completed face-to-face in the self-storage office. You can add your two-cents on this hot topic here.

Regardless if your rental agreement is available via your website or only by walking through your door, it needs to be up to date and protect your business. Here are a couple of other articles from the ISS archives on creating your best self-storage lease. 

If you have more questions about your lease agreement or other legal issues, join us at the Inside Self-Storage World Expo in New Orleans, Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Consider signing up for the add-on workshop Legal Learning Live, a four-hour seminar led by Jeff that highlights several of the industry’s most prevalent legal challenges including lien sales, abandonment of goods, vehicle storage and protecting tenant information. Read more about this workshop and get the full agenda at www.insideselfstorageworldexpo.com. We hope to see you there!