The Rhode Island legislature approved SSA and NeSSA-backed Senate Bill 213 on June 20, and it is now waiting to be officially “transmitted” to Governor Daniel McKee for his consideration and signature. The bill will take effect immediately upon signature.
Assuming the bill is signed into law, which the National SSA believes it will be, SB 213 will make the following changes to the Self Storage Act.
First, it eliminates the mandate to provide notice via publication absent a demonstration of personal service of the second default notice by eliminating paragraphs (3) and (4) outlined below:
(3) If the owner is not able to obtain personal service of the second (2nd) notice on those persons entitled to notice or if the certified mail return receipt is not signed by the person to whom notice must be sent then the owner shall be required to give notice by publication once in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town where the person to receive the notice was last known to reside.
(4) When notice is by publication, the notice does not have to include an itemized statement of the claim but only a statement as to the amount of money due at the time of the final notice, nor is a general description of the personal property subject to the lien required. The demand for payment of the claim by a specified date shall set forth a date no less than twenty (20) days after the date of the published notice.
Second, it amends the advertising section of the law, adding the bold and underlined language below:
(d) After expiration of the time given in the second (2nd) notice, if the claim has not been paid in full as demanded and the owner wishes to sell the personal property to satisfy its lien, an advertisement of the sale must be published once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks on a publicly accessible website identified in the rental agreement or in a subsequent notice sent to the occupant’s last known address. In lieu of an advertisement on a publicly accessible website, an advertisement of the sale may be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town where the self-service storage facility is located.
Once the bill is signed into law, Rhode Island storage owners will no longer be required to advertise the sale on the website identified in the rental agreement. Instead, owners may send a notice to the occupant, informing them of the new website where the advertising may occur. This should provide owners with additional flexibility.
Additionally, the law provides owners with the option to advertise the sale once in a newspaper of general circulation in lieu of advertising the sale online. This amendment was intended to appease the Rhode Island Press Association. Given the limited utility of newspaper advertisements relative to their cost, we generally recommend that owners advertise those sales online.
Finally, the bill adds a new section (f) that amends the lien enforcement timeline as follows:
(f) The sale shall take place no sooner than:
(1) Sixty (60) days after the occupant’s default; and
(2) Fifteen (15) days after final publication required pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.
As a result, owners must amend their enforcement timeline to reflect the new mandatory minimum periods above. The law previously required owners to conduct a sale no sooner than ten (10) days after the first publication. Once the bill is signed into law, owners will be required to conduct the sale no sooner than fifteen (15) days after final publication. This timeline shift is a result of an unfortunate drafting error that could not be fixed before the legislature was scheduled to adjourn for the year. Owners must ensure that their timeline is adjusted accordingly.
Additionally, as a compromise to eliminate the newspaper requirement outlined above, the overall minimum enforcement timeline was adjusted to sixty (60) days after the occupant’s default. The law previously permitted the owner to enforce their lien rights on a slightly faster timeline, but once the bill is signed into law, owners will be required to wait a minimum of 60 days after default before conducting the sale.
NeSSA will update their Rhode Island lease templates with the attorney and send the updated versions to those members in good standing who previously purchased a version. The National SSA will publish an update to its Rhode Island Self Storage Lien Law Annotated booklet soon that will be available here. That update will provide an in-depth analysis of the new changes and offer our recommended timeline for all actions permitted or required by the new law.
Thank you to all the SSA and Northeast Self Storage Association members who helped throughout the process.
Please contact Daniel Bryant if you have any questions.