If you are a TSSA member, you have access to our exclusive "Ask the Experts" database, with answers available 24/7 through the Members-Only part of
txssa.org
.
With more than 400 self-storage questions and answers from our team of industry experts, the database is searchable by both category and keyword.
Question:
I have a tenant who owes back rent and late fees but who does not have the money to pay the rent. The contents of the unit are not valuable, and I don’t think I would ever recoup the expenses of foreclosure from the foreclosure sale proceeds. Is there a form that the tenant can come in to sign and take his things away so I can cut my losses?
Answer:
Yes, you may use the "Authorization and/or Release by Tenant," form BUS-23 on the Goldbook© Appendix CD or on the TSSA website in the Members Only section. This form has six different options and you can check the boxes as appropriate, and have the tenant sign and return this form to you. If you check box #5 and the tenant signs this release, he is agreeing that "Tenant or the person acting for Tenant named in paragraph 1 above, has abandoned all property left in Tenant’s space after the move-out date below. Lessor may enter and throw away, give away, or sell such remaining property and keep the proceeds." So, if you check box #5, mail it to the tenant, and the tenant signs the authorization and mails it back to you (you should check the signature against the signature on the lease to be safe), you can be confident that you can enter the unit, sell or throw everything away, and rent the unit to a paying tenant. This authorization form also states, in the last paragraph, that you do not agree to release a tenant from liability just because a tenant signs this form. If you prefer, you may cross that sentence out and hand-write in a sentence stating that if the tenant signs this form, you will release him from liability for any past due rent.
