Lien Law Article: California Storage Auctions (Legislative Changes Only)
In October, California Governor Gavin Newsome signed Assembly Bill 542. The act will go into effect on January 1, 2024, reducing the number of newspaper advertisements required in the California storage auctions lien enforcement process. The changes do not entirely remove the newspaper requirement, but they reduce the cost of newspaper advertising, with only one print ad required.
After the expiration of the time given in the second notice, the Notice of Lien Sale, an advertisement must be published in one of two ways.
- Once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the public notice district or county where the storage facility is located.
- One time in a newspaper of general circulation in the public notice district or county where the storage facility is located AND once on a publicly accessible internet website that customarily conducts or advertises online auctions or sales.
California Storage Auctions
Before the legislative changes, the public notice district was the only newspaper option California storage auction operators had. Expanding that requirement to include the county where the facility is located allows facilities more newspaper options.
If you are not familiar with the public notice district for your facility, you can find that information here.
There are still specific requirements that you need to include in your legal ad regardless of the manner of publication. The legal ad needs to have the following.
- Name of the tenant
- Name and location of the storage facility
New Compliance
You will notice the description is no longer required. This will save on advertising costs as well. In addition, the online legal ad shall remain online for seven (7) days before the sale.
StorageTreasures is a publicly accessible internet website that customarily conducts online sales. Your StorageTreasures listing meets the legal requirements for the online portion of the legal ad requirement. However, you must add a few elements to your auction listing to make it legally compliant. You need to include the tenant’s name and the name and location of the storage facility.
Additional Information
The name of the storage facility appears on each auction listing, but you will need to add the tenant’s name to the Additional Information section of the posting. See the screenshot below for an example.
You must also ensure the listing is active for at least seven days.
If you need a report showing the duration of your listing on StorageTreasures, you can export data from all your auctions in the Online Auctions dropdown in your account.
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If you have any questions about lien laws for California storage auctions, please get in touch with our Customer Support Team, who will connect you with your account manager. You can reach them at (480) 397-6503 or support@storagetreasures.com.
