Vehicles & Boats: Lease Addendum

By Richard Marmor
AZSA Legal and Legislative Committee Chair

In response to repeated requests from members, AZSA is pleased to announce the upcoming release of a new form: the Motor Vehicle and Boat Storage Addendum. This form, designed to compliment and work with AZSA’s renowned Form Lease, sets a new standard for RV and boat storage documentation.

It is surprising how inadequate even the most sophisticated operators’ leases are on the subject of RV, boat and other vehicle storage. Equally surprising is the lack of rights reserved by operators to protect themselves under those leases.

We therefore sought to address as many situations as we could in one comprehensive and effective document. Here’s just a sampling of problems solved by the new Addendum:

• You ask for various forms of paperwork for stored vehicles. The question is: what paperwork should you be asking for?
  
  
• When a boat comes in for storage, you typically ask for some documentation about the boat. What about the trailer it came in on? That’s a separate vehicle, under storage law. What about that car dolly behind the RV?

• What rights and remedies do you have with respect to an auto left in the space while the RV is on the road? Can you overlock it or even auction it if the rent becomes delinquent?

• When the renter in the next stall parks so as to block another tenant’s access, what’s to keep the unhappy tenant from suing you for breach of the lease for no longer providing a parking space?

• When a tenant has an RV out for weeks, has he left without notice? Can you re-rent the space?

• What rights should you have with respect to the treatment of all the evil fluids inside an RV or boat? What about when those fluids find their way outside of the RV or boat?

• Your tenant’s parking habits are driving you and those around him nuts. Other than terminating his lease, what tool should you have to control that behavior?

• Your tenant’s rent has gone delinquent. You can deny him access to his RV, of course, but if the RV is out on the road, can you refuse to allow it back in? Are you then in default, too?

• The tenant’s insurance company paid to repair the tenant’s RV after it was found mysteriously damaged. What defense does the storage operator have when the insurance company turns around and sues him to recover the loss?

• You provide a service for RV users, for example, a wash rack. Now your wash rack is broken. What’s to prevent tenants from suing you for breach of the lease?

These and many more issues are addressed in the Addendum.

The new form will be available in blank, personalized and electronic formats in the same manner and on the same basis as the AZSA Form Lease.

[This article deals with a law related subject at a general level and is not intended for you to rely on. You should consult a lawyer before making a final decision in a situation involving any legal issues.]

Richard Marmor, Esq. is a self-storage consultant, facility owner and former facility operator in the Phoenix area. He is also the founding President and current member of the Board of Directors of the Arizona Self-Storage Association, serving as Chair of the Legal and Legislative Committee.

Source: Behind Closed Doors, AZSA Newsletter Archives