Ways to lose your storage unit
If you have a house filled with items you aren’t using at the moment, you should rent a storage unit. This is a great way to make more room in your home and declutter. However, there are ways to lose your storage unit in some cases. For example, if you aren’t able to pay your rent, you risk your items until you’re able to do so. There can be different reasons for skipping your payment. You could be in a hard spot with your budget, or maybe you just forgot. In the end, regardless of the reason, you may end up losing your storage unit. If you decide to lease storage units Skokie has to offer, you should be a good and responsible owner, and pay your bills on time. Here, we will go through the process that would happen if you are at risk of losing your unit.
What are the ways to lose your storage unit and how can it happen?
One of the ways to lose your storage unit is not being able to pay for it, as we mentioned. It can also happen if you store items that are not allowed by the renting company. These items can sometimes be at fault for small explosions or contaminations, which can damage the unit or contaminate it with pests, for example. Moving companies in Skokie IL offer storage services, and they will clearly tell you which items are forbidden. These, fortunately, happen very rarely, and you are more likely to lose your items due to damage, instead of the user policy. Given the fact that people lose their unit through failed payments, we will focus on that.
One of the ways to lose your storage unit is when it goes into Default
You have most likely never heard of the phrase “going into default”. If you haven’t, we are here to explain. “Default” is the state your unit is switched to until you are able to pay your fees, be it late rent, or other penalties. It is a period of time between you stopping to provide payments, and the officially losing your unit. This time span is different from company to company, but usually, it is around 30 days. However, if you read your contract before closing the deal, you should be aware of this. Given this fact, carefully reading the contract should be pretty high up on your to-do list.
Many moving companies in Skokie IL offer storage services, and they will tell you all about these details openly. Be careful when renting a storage unit with friends. Even if you pay your part of the rent of time, someone else might not. In addition, the storage owner may put a new lock on your unit, to prevent you from tampering with the content during the lockdown period. Whatever is inside can wait until you pay your rent. Given this fact, we strongly advise against trying to break into your storage unit. Most owners will place a notice on the door saying that the unit is in the default state and that you should not try to enter. Breaking and entering will land you in even more legal trouble, on top of everything else.
The storage facility will do everything they can to contact you
Not only will they try to get in touch with you, but they will try very, very hard. The last thing in their interest is to lose a customer. Keep in mind that it is far more important to the storage facility to keep you as a customer and tend to your items, than to just auction off your unit. In order to have a successful auction, the facility needs to follow certain lien laws. These laws are different from state to state, but they are very strict. If the storage company makes the slightest mistake while auctioning a unit, they will face fines. Because of this, they’ll try everything in their power to avoid auctioning your unit as long as possible. In addition, they know that your storage unit means a lot to you and that you’ll try to pay your late fees.
They will surely profit much more from keeping you as a customer, then selling it to the highest bidder. So unless you are renting a short-term storage unit, they will try to contact you in every way possible. They will start by sending you letters and email. Should this fail, they will try contacting you over the phone. However, the lien laws we mentioned before forbid them from contacting clients in any way except via email. But they will go as far as breaking the law to contact you and see if you’re able to make your payment. This alone shows how much they care and want to keep you as a customer, so keep that in mind. They will also try to delay the auction by increasing the default time. This will most likely be stated in the contract.
You can always negotiate with the storage company
If you still are not able to pay off your rent and the default period is coming to an end, try calling the storage facility and talk it over with them. They are most likely aware of the fact that you would have paid your late fees if you could have, so make sure to explain the situation to them. They need to know that you are just a human being and run into problems sometimes. These problems may delay your payment, so they should try to help out. There is a possibility of setting up a payment plan, which would imply paying a part of the debt now, and the rest later.
Alternatively, they can divide your debt into monthly payments. However, they may simply ask you to clear out your unit and leave. If this happens, keep your storage tidy and organized. This may convince them that you are responsible and can be worked with. If you do run into some of the ways to lose your storage unit, the worst-case scenario is your unit being sold at auction. Your items may be sold for a ridiculous price of only $20 if there is only one bidder. Your items are worth far more than that, so be responsible when renting a storage unit.