Heritage Self Storage in Town of Union, N.Y., has been closed by municipal officials for a collapsing ceiling, black mold and other safety violations. Customer access to the facility and their property is on hold until repairs are made, according to the source.

Officials responded to two complaints about the facility. Investigators discovered a collapsing ceiling inside a storage unit, black mold, exposed wiring, and fire detectors and extinguishers that were not properly inspected. Daria Golazeski, director of code enforcement, said the damage appeared to accumulate over several months.

Customer Anthony Garcia said he discovered molded and warped furniture inside his familys unit and also had to throw away personal items like family photos and scrapbooks due to damage.

"About 40 percent of what we had in there got lost, and it was all mainly the bigger things," Garcia said. "We had brand new mattresses in there, my mom's, my brother's and mine. We had more furniture in there like this that the mold got so bad it was actually warping the wood away."

Facility owner Brandon Jay Hatch is based out of state in Orem, Utah. He told the source he questioned the validity of code violations. "This isn't some slum-lord situation, Hatch said. Either the code people aren't trying to make it sound right. There's something funny going on."

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