SPACE STATIONS
When Theo Spratt decided to attend Cal State Fullerton as a working adult two years ago, his decision also meant downsizing from his house to an apartment.
Rather than get rid of furnishings and other belongings that didn’t fit in the apartment, Spratt put his things in storage, first in a facility in Fullerton, then into two units at Madison Squares Self-Storage in Anaheim.
“I can keep my garage clean and park the car inside it. I can store my winter clothes in the summer and summer clothes in the winter,” he said. “I also have a small maintenance company, City Best Maintenance, and I keep my equipment there.”
Self-storage can be the ideal solution to slimming down an overstuffed home or temporarily storing belongings during a move or home renovation.
In fact, this relatively new industry has exploded in the last three decades in response to American mobility and the dwindling storage space in homes.
“People say, ‘We have a lot of stuff’; ‘Our new house is smaller than our old one;’ ‘The garage is overflowing’; ‘We’re moving’; ‘We’re remodeling.’ You name it,” said Peter Conti, an executive with the Mini Storage Messenger, a monthly industry publication.
Nationwide, there are more than 27,000 storage facilities consisting of almost 9 million individual units.
California leads the nation in the number of self-storage facilities, which range from small mom-and-pop companies to state-of-the-art corporate-run operations.
There are more than 1,000 storage facilities in Los Angeles alone, the most in any metropolitan area in the country.
Among them are businesses run by the top four industry leaders--Public Storage, Storage USA, U-Haul and Shurgard Storage Centers--as well as local companies such as E-Z Storage and Madison Squares Self-Storage.
On average, belongings stay in self-storage for nine months, Conti said. But regardless of the time, consumers need to be alert to the risks.
Largely unregulated, the self-storage industry takes little, if any, responsibility for customers’ belongings. Theft can be a problem. So can fire and leaky roofs. Neighboring units can be home to illegal or dangerous materials.
“Anyone can rent a cheap space and then be free to roam the facility,” said Mark Gleckman, owner of Security Management Services Inc. in Valencia.
“Cutting through locks and then changing them is simple and has been going on for years. For someone who wants to steal, that’s an easy way. Also people can piggyback through the main gate and bypass having to enter an access code.”
To improve security, many self-storage facilities feature 24-hour surveillance cameras. Others require personal identificaiton numbers for entry to deter unauthorized visitors. And some fingerprint customers before renting them units.
Still, smart consumers have to ask a lot of questions before choosing a facility to house their possessions, even if it’s only for a few months.
Easy Access
Self-storage is a more accessible option for most consumers than the long-established warehouse-type storage offered by moving companies and others. In fact, the self-storage industry has dropped the term “mini-warehouse” because it doesn’t really describe today’s units.
Warehouse customers pack their belongings with the understanding that access is by appointment only, if at all. The storage company picks up and moves items to a warehouse, where they remain until movers are told where to deliver them.
Self-storage customers store and secure their belongings in individual units ranging in size from 4 feet square to 12 feet by 30 feet, large enough to hold the furniture and some cartons from a three-bedroom house or even to hold a car or boat. Access is a given; in some facilities it is allowed round the clock.
Monthly costs depend on the size of the unit and on features such as climate control, individual unit alarms and other security and competition.
In California and other Western states, the average monthly rent for a 5- by 10-foot unit is $41, according to a 1997 survey by MiniCo, a publishing company and insurance provider for the storage industry. For a 10-foot-square unit, the average cost rises to $65 a month.
But unlike warehouses, which assume some liability for stored goods, the risk with self-storage units lies with the customer.
Michael Kidd, Self Storage Assn. executive director, likens the relationship between the customer and the facility to that between a landlord and tenant. Tenants move their belongings into units and are responsible for “care, custody and control.”
As long as a customer has paid up, the management of the facility cannot enter the unit, does not know what’s been put inside and takes no responsibility for the safety of stored items.
The only assurance they have that customers are not storing anything illegal or dangerous is a clause in the rental contract that must be initialed and that lists prohibited items.
“We don’t know what’s in these spaces,” said David Greenhut, a general partner with E-Z Storage, which has nine facilities in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
“We’re very conscious of hazardous materials and ammunition, things like that. Customers have to sign off on the contract that they won’t store them there. If they do, they have the potential for gross negligence.”
For many self-storage users, the risks are worth getting the flexibility they want.
“I’m in there two or three times a week,” said Spratt, who pays $170 a month for his two units.
“I use it for my nicer things. I can’t afford to open my garage and have people looking in and seeing what I have. This way I know my things are secure.”
Pickup, Delivery
But as the self-storage industry matures and offers new services, the difference between warehousing and just putting a padlock on a space is blurring.
A new storage option popping up across the country, including the Southland, crosses the boundary of what has been considered traditional self-storage.
Pickup and delivery service, offered by companies like Glendale-based Public Storage, the nation’s largest self-storage company, is raising new issues in the industry.
“The biggest issue is care, custody and control,” said Kidd, of the Self Storage Assn. “Where does that fall? I’m always concerned about the liability of taking possession of goods. We’ve struggled to distinguish ourselves from traditional warehousing. This blurs the line. We are trying to define it and figure out how it fits best in our industry.”
Responsibility is not easy to determine. These pickup providers deliver to the customer a 5- by 7-foot wooden container that can hold as much as 2,000 pounds.
“It can hold just about anything you’d want to store, including appliances and furniture,” said Public Storage’s marketing director, Les Guttman. “The customer packs the container and puts [his or her] own lock on it. In that sense, it’s just like self-storage.”
But customers don’t deliver the packed containers to the facility or have ready access to their belongings, as they do with garage-type facilities. Typically, it takes a few hours’ notice to have the stored container brought to a viewing area.
Storage cost is $52 a month; pickup is free; delivery is $19.
As self-storage has become big business and more sophisticated companies and managers take over, Kidd said, the industry is striving to improve its product. One major advancement already evident, he said, is security.
Alarms are being installed on individual units in new facilities, and security fencing and video surveillance are being installed in many older, independent facilities, he noted. Individual access numbers control entry.
“The state of the art today is individual door alarms,” said Craig Clausen, who, with his wife, Susie, owns the 675-unit Madison Squares Self-Storage in West Anaheim and is building a 1,000-unit facility in East Anaheim.
“The alarms are [linked to] a computer system that [monitors] the status of the units 24 hours a day. Every tenant has a secret PIN number that allows entrance into the facility.
“They buy their own cylinder locks from us that come with three keys. When they leave, we buy the locks back if they give us all the keys back.”
Self-storage operators are also being encouraged to participate in the industry’s Crime Watch program, overseen by MiniCo.
“We spend a lot of time trying to educate managers against low security and to be proactive,” said Conti.
The need for stringent security is clear from industry statistics. “The Self-Storage Almanac,” also published by MiniCo, says that 27.4% of storage facilities reported at least one theft or break-in between July 1996 and June 1997.
As many as 90% of those break-ins, Conti said, are done by unit neighbors, thieves who rented a space and then, given access, steal from others in the facility.
Because the security measures at facilities vary and there is no industrywide rating system in place, consumers have to be cautious.
If something does happen, however--a fire, leaky roof or theft on the site, for example--chances are that the contract storage customers sign will have freed the company from responsibility.
That’s why consumers must read the contract’s fine print, said San Diego attorney Bob Ottilie, who successfully represented a consumer in a landmark case against Personal Storage.
The consumer, Lucy Gonzales, had been delinquent in paying her storage rent and claimed she hadn’t received the required two late-payment notices before Personal Storage ran a newspaper ad announcing the auction of her belongings.
When she attempted to make payment, Gonzales was told that Personal Storage already had accepted money from a woman claiming to be Gonzales, who had then cleaned out the unit.
Because self-storage contracts “contain numerous provisions that limit the liability of the facility,” Ottilie said, consumers can be out of luck if something happens to their possessions.
And then there are the flukes that the liability provision may or may not cover. Jeff and Helen Rosenberg of Venice learned the hard way that it’s not just theft or fire that can wreak havoc with belongings in storage.
“The on-site manager of the facility was doing the laundry when the washing machine burst a pipe,” said Jeff Rosenberg. “Our space was flooded. I had boxes of antique books very dear to me that got wet.”
The storage company, E-Z Storage in Marina del Rey, has turned over the case to its insurance company.
“We did take responsibility in this case,” said E-Z Storage’s Greenhut. “It was a real fluke. I’ve never had this happen before.”
But because the unexpected can happen, consumers are urged to buy insurance.
“Most storage companies sell it [insurance], but I’d be hesitant about buying it from them,” said Ottilie. “Buy your own insurance or see if you can add it to your homeowner’s or renter’s policy.”
A spot check of major insurance companies found that they don’t offer stand-alone policies for self-stored possessions.
Ken Adams of the Western Insurance Information Service polled some member companies and did not find one offering stand-alone policies. Calls made to State Farm and the Automobile Club of Southern California also had negative results.
But you can extend your homeowner’s or renter’s policy to cover belongings in storage. Personal property is covered anywhere in the world, subject to the limits contained in the policy, said Cyrus Vafi, spokesman for State Farm.
If you do store property, notify your agent. Depending on the facility, a typical homeowner’s or renter’s policy will cover items in storage up to 10% of the policy’s value, Adams said.
For example, if you have $100,000 worth of coverage on your belongings, up to 10%, or $10,000, would apply to what is stored.
If you don’t have a homeowner’s or renter’s policy or need additional coverage, you’ll find it through storage industry-related companies like Safeco Insurance in Seattle, Republic Western in Phoenix and Deans & Homer in San Francisco.
Jean Bartch, vice president of the insurance division of MiniCo, the same company which publishes the Mini Storage Messenger, explained that the company writes its policies with Safeco.
The company insures both the storage companies and tenants at qualified facilities. The tenant policy covers fire, wind, smoke, burglary, water damage and even earthquakes.
Policy Limits
“What we typically find is that many times the homeowner’s or tenant’s policy does not extend to the goods while in storage or limits coverage to 10%,” she noted. “If what they want to store is more valuable, it can be covered as excess.”
MiniCo’s Tenant One policy, with a $100 deductible, ranges from $21 for one month, covering a value of $2,000, to $488 for 12 months, covering a value of $20,000. Coverage is available for up to $40,000 per space, and the cost varies according to the rental period.
Industry leaders agree, however, that even with insurance, renters shouldn’t store items that have high monetary or sentimental value. Some contracts even prohibit storage of “collectibles, heirlooms, jewelry, works of art or any property having special or sentimental value.”
Despite the risks, the market in the Western U.S. is growing. According to the 1997-98 Self-Storage Almanac, the occupancy rate for the Pacific region is expected to increase from 85.8% in 1993 to 92.9% this year.
And why? “It keeps me from collecting junk around the house,” Spratt said. “I plan to keep my units indefinitely.”
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Consumer Tips
* Ask the operator what kind of security is in place. How is access controlled? Ideally, there should be a secure gate accessed by individual codes and surveillance cameras. Some new facilities are installing an alarm in each storage unit. A manager who lives on the site can be a deterrent to late-night theft.
* Check the facility yourself, looking for evidence of leaky roofs or water damage--a common problem, according to Money magazine. Also look at the walls. Metal or wood partitions are better than drywall. And make sure the facility is clean. A neglected place filled with trash tells a lot about the overall operation.
* If you have items sensitive to extreme temperature or humidity, find out if climate-controlled storage areas are available.
* Learn how the facility screens potential renters. Does it require photo identification or fingerprints?
* Ask the operator about the facility’s history of losses from theft and from damage such as fire, smoke or flooding. Don’t expect to get something in writing but do expect the owners to be upfront with you.
* Document what’s in your unit. Take photos of everything as you put it in the facility and make a written inventory.
* Buy the best lock you can. Industry experts recommend a diskus lock, a style of padlock that has a minimally exposed shackle or loop. They cost from $10 to $18. Also recommended is the American 2000 from American Padlock, which has a mounting plate that is secured to the storage unit. The lock and mounting plate together cost about $50 and can be purchased from locksmiths, as can the diskus lock.
* Buy insurance, preferably as an add-on to your homeowner’s policy.
