A new Minnesota storage law now allows any renter facing auction of property for non-payment to recover personal papers and health aids, like CPAP machines or wheelchairs, regardless of value. Self storage reform was one of several equity provisions adopted by the 2021 Minnesota Legislature.

Previously, self-storage facility owners could lock out renters for nonpayment of rental fees and ultimately auction off their property. Self storage facilities are sometimes utilized by people who have been evicted, foreclosed on, or are facing some other financial, housing, or domestic violence crisis and need a place to store their belongings.

The new law is an update to 1988 legislation not reviewed since 2014. The Legal Services Advocacy Project (LSAP) and the Minnesota Self Storage Association negotiated to approve language acceptable to both renter advocates and owners. In addition to the ability to recover personal papers and health aids when facing auction, renters can now recover other items if they are recipients of “relief based on need” or are survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“Relief based on need” includes the Minnesota Family Investment Program, Medical Assistance, General Assistance, MinnesotaCare, the earned income tax credit and other government benefits programs for residents with lower incomes. Importantly, the new law does not create an eviction record for renters because it removes the process from landlord-tenant eviction law and places it in the section of law covering self-storage. Additionally, building owners must now provide more detailed notice before they can start an action to auction off property. The notice must say how much rent is owed, when access to the unit will end, and how the renter can dispute the claim of money owed.

Read “How reforming Minnesota’s law governing self-storage units became an equity issue” in MinnPost.