Natural Disasters and Casualty Events—Now What?

by TSSA Legal Counsel

Texas weather has always been a little unpredictable, but the in the last five years we have seen some devastating natural disasters and casualty events. Hurricanes have wreaked havoc on the coast, ice storms have basically shut down Texas for days at a time, sporadic hailstorms and most recently, tornadoes, devastating winds and flooding affected many parts of the state. It's important to create a natural disaster plan so that you and your onsite staff know exactly what to do before the unexpected happens. Click here to read an article on developing a disaster plan for your facility.

In this blog post, we will provide links to helpful Self-Storage News magazine articles written by members who have been impacted by casualty events, TSSA Goldbook© legal articles on natural disasters and TSSA forms that you may need if your facility is affected by severe weather events.

First Steps

The most important first step in the wake of a casualty event or natural disaster is communication—communication with your tenants, your insurance company and the appropriate authorities if necessary. Click here to read a Self-Storage News article on how communication can help save your business.

There is an article in the TSSA Goldbook© that details step-by-step instructions on how to handle a plethora of casualty events, including fire, windstorm (ripping roof off), flood/water penetration and more. Click here to read a legal article detailing emergency instructions for onsite managers after a casualty event has occurred. 

Many of the steps listed in the legal article above are appropriate for several different types of natural disasters, but depending on the damage your facility sustained, additional steps may be required—such as securing the scene to ensure no one is injured. It may be more than putting an overlock on an unsecured unit—it may also include bringing in a rented fence to help secure an area where a wall or roof has blown off (often insurance will pay for this). Some of the other challenging issues to address are:

How long should we wait before letting tenants in to look for their things?

The answer to this question depends on the extent of damage at the facility. If the facility has been so damaged that allowing tenants in would potentially be unsafe, check with the police department or fire department for their recommendations and follow them. If the police or fire department have no recommendations, use your own judgment, but if there is the potential for harm (any potential for structural compromise), you should try and have all tenants sign a release prior to entry. At the very minimum, you should have a sign at the facility so that when tenants who demand to enter will see it. The sign should be very conspicuous and should say something like: “Danger, enter at your own risk. Due to [Tornado, Flood, Structural Damage, etc.] this facility has sustained extensive damage, including extensive potential structural damage. Hardhats are available in the office, and you are encouraged to wear one.” Consider having a supply of hardhats on hand for tenants to borrow. Also, photograph the sign in place, and document the date it was posted.

How do we get the tenants out of our facility so that we can bulldoze the whole thing and rebuild?

Paragraph 9 of the TSSA lease gives you the right to terminate the lease if the space is “substantially damaged” by a casualty (in your sole judgment) by emailing, mailing or hand delivering five days advance written notice of termination to tenant. Click here to download TSSA Form BUS-22, Five Day Notice of Termination Due to Casualty. 

Also, if you are using a TSSA lease version dated 2006 or later, paragraph 26 of the lease provides that a unit will be “deemed abandoned” if, due to a casualty, the unit contains nothing of value to the ordinary person and the tenant fails to remove his or her items from the space within 10 days after you mail the tenant TSSA Form BUS-11, Notice of Abandonment Due to Casualty. This can greatly assist you if a casualty “wipes out” the facility or several units and it is clear that there is nothing of value left to retrieve from the unit(s). Having a unit be legally abandoned according to Paragraph 26 of the TSSA lease gives you the right to consider all of the tenant's rights to the space's contents terminated, and gives you the right to dispose of all contents. Click here to download TSSA Form BUS-11.

How long must we wait for a tenant’s response before we can bulldoze?

If the tenant’s contents are still identifiable (if the tenant’s unit still exists and it is feasible for them to come and retrieve the contents but they just haven't after you've made a request, you can send them TSSA Form E-1, 15-day Notice of Termination of Storage Space Rental Agreement. Click here to download TSSA Form E-1. It's always preferable to be understanding of the circumstances, but you will probably have to give a specific date for tenants to respond and to retrieve the items they want. If the tenant does not respond, then give the tenant a 15-day notice of lease termination. If in your judgment there is nothing that is potentially recoverable from the tenant’s space, then we recommend sending the tenant TSSA Form MISC-3, Notice of Abandonment, informing the tenants in question that new rent ceased as of the day of the weather event, that all of the contents of his unit are either lost or damaged beyond any potential use, and that within a certain number of days the contents will be deemed abandoned and disposed of unless the tenant can immediately come to the facility to look at and claim any contents that are wanted.


How should our facility handle delinquent tenants now that we don’t have any collateral due to the damage that a natural disaster caused?
If tenants were delinquent prior to the casualty and if any of their items are left behind, you can go through the standard Chapter 59 foreclosure process. If there are no items left behind, or if what is left behind has been destroyed to the point of having no value, you may either sue the tenant in small claims court for the delinquent balance or turn the tenant over to a collection agency after giving the tenant 10 days notice as required by paragraph 11 of the TSSA lease. Check your lease to make sure it has this language; some of the older versions of the lease do not. Click here to download TSSA Form BUS-10, Final Notice Before Collection Agency Fees Charged. Once you verify that your lease contains this language and you send this 10-day notice and receive no response, you may turn the matter over to a collection agency, which will collect the fees on your behalf, and the tenant will also be responsible for any charges the collection agency requires. For example, if the tenant owes you $500 and the collection agency charges you a 50% fee for collection, the tenant will then owe you $750.

Regardless of what you do and how you contact your tenant, document with photographs and video in as much detail as possible. This video will be your proof that items were damaged beyond any potential value.

Additionally, if you have items that are salvageable, but you do not hear from the tenant after your communications are sent, don’t forget that under paragraph 18 of the TSSA lease, you have the right to relocate the contents of a unit if relocation is needed to protect the contents or space from loss or damage from casualty or theft. Presumably all security at your facilities has been compromised, so theft or looting may be an issue. If this is your situation, I recommend relocating the contents to a more appropriate place. If you do relocate the contents, don’t forget that per paragraph 18 of the TSSA lease, the tenant is no longer liable for rent but is liable for reasonable storage charges only. Check your lease version (TSSA lease paragraph 18)—some of the older lease versions required different tenant notices after entry than the newer versions do. In closing, a little pre-planning for natural disasters and casualty events can greatly minimize potential hassles and liability exposure. Hopefully this has outlined some ideas for you to consider when determining the best protocol for your own needs.

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