Imagine this scenario: While conducting the morning walk-through at your self-storage facility, you notice a unit missing a lock. You roll up the door and discover the space is mostly empty except for a couple of very light boxes and few loose, decrepit items. It kind of looks like trash. Your records indicate the unit is occupied and in good standing, but you remember the tenant saying he may be ready to move out soon. Has he done so? Can you assume these items were abandoned and the space now vacant? Not without putting your business at risk.

In this thread on Self-Storage Talk, the industry’s largest online community, members are discussing the steps they take before deeming a unit abandoned and options for handling the items left behind. Has this happened at your facility and how did you handle it? Read about legal solutions to this common issue.