Enacts the "pandemic self-storage act" which prohibits owners of self-service storage facilities from enforcing a lien held upon personal property stored at a self-service storage facility; provides for repeal upon expiration thereof.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
41--B
Cal. No. 404
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered
to first and second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and
ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
AN ACT in relation to enacting the "pandemic self-storage act"; and
providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "pandemic self-storage act".
3 § 2. Definitions. 1. For the purposes of this act, the terms "occupan-
4 cy agreement," "occupant," "owner," "personal property," and "self-sto-
5 rage facility" shall have the same meanings as those terms are defined
6 in section 182 of the lien law.
7 2. The term "hardship declaration" means the following statement, or a
8 substantially equivalent statement in the occupant's primary language,
9 in 14-point type, published by the office of court administration,
10 whether in physical or electronic written form:
11 "NOTICE TO SELF-STORAGE FACILITY OCCUPANT: If you have lost income or
12 had increased costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and you sign and
13 deliver this hardship declaration form to the owner of the self-storage
14 facility in which you have personal property pursuant to an occupancy
15 agreement, the owner cannot enforce a lien held upon your personal prop-
16 erty by public or private sale until August 31, 2021 for non-payment of
17 occupancy fees or other charges.
18 If the owner of a self-storage facility has provided you with this form,
19 the owner must also provide you with a mailing address and e-mail
20 address to which you can return this form. You can return this form to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02336-09-1
S. 41--B 2
1 the facility owner at any time prior to the public or private sale. You
2 should keep a copy or picture of the signed form for your records.
3 You will still owe any unpaid occupancy fees or other charges owed
4 pursuant to law or the occupancy agreement to the owner of the self-sto-
5 rage facility. You should also keep careful track of what you have paid
6 and any amount you still owe.
7 SELF-STORAGE FACILITY OCCUPANT'S DECLARATION OF HARDSHIP DURING THE
8 COVID-19 PANDEMIC
9 I am an occupant of a self-storage facility under an occupancy agree-
10 ment at (address of self-storage facility).
11 I am experiencing financial hardship, and I am unable to pay the occu-
12 pancy fees or other financial obligations under the occupancy agreement
13 in full because of one or more of the following:
14 1. Significant loss of household income during the COVID-19 pandemic.
15 2. Increase in necessary out-of-pocket expenses related to performing
16 essential work or related to health impacts during the COVID-19 pandem-
17 ic.
18 3. Childcare responsibilities or responsibilities to care for an
19 elderly, disabled, or sick family member during the COVID-19 pandemic
20 have negatively affected my ability or the ability of someone in my
21 household to obtain meaningful employment or earn income or increased my
22 necessary out-of-pocket expenses.
23 4. Other circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic have negative-
24 ly affected my ability to obtain meaningful employment or earn income or
25 have significantly reduced my household income or significantly
26 increased my expenses. To the extent that I have lost household income
27 or had increased expenses, any public assistance, including unemployment
28 insurance, pandemic unemployment assistance, disability insurance, or
29 paid family leave, that I have received since the start of the COVID-19
30 pandemic does not fully make up for my loss of household income or
31 increased expenses.
32 I understand that I must comply with all other lawful terms under my
33 occupancy agreement. I further understand that all lawful fees, penal-
34 ties or interest for not having paid occupancy fees in full or met other
35 financial obligations as required by my occupancy agreement may still be
36 charged or collected and may result in a monetary judgment against me. I
37 further understand that the owner of the self-storage facility may be
38 able to enforce a lien against my personal property by public or private
39 sale after August 31, 2021, and that the law may provide certain
40 protections at that time that are separate from those available through
41 this declaration.
42 Signed:
43 Printed Name:
44 Date Signed:
45 NOTICE: You are signing and submitting this form under penalty of law.
46 That means it is against the law to make a statement on this form that
47 you know is false."
48 § 3. Pending lien enforcements by public or private sale. Any notice
49 that has been delivered pursuant to subdivision 7 of section 182 of the
50 lien law for a public or private sale that has not occurred as of the
51 effective date of this act shall be void and an owner seeking to enforce
52 a lien shall deliver a new notice pursuant to subdivision 7 of section
53 182 of the lien law with a date for a public or private sale that is at
54 least thirty days after the effective date of this act. Owners shall
55 attach a copy of the hardship declaration to any notice required by
S. 41--B 3
1 subdivision 7 of section 182 of the lien law that is delivered after the
2 effective date of this act.
3 § 4. Prohibition on lien enforcement by public or private sale. If the
4 owner or an agent of the owner receives a hardship declaration from an
5 occupant prior to lien enforcement by public or private sale against the
6 occupant, there shall be no lien enforcement by public or private sale
7 against the occupant until at least August 31, 2021. An owner that
8 knowingly enforces or attempts to enforce a lien upon an occupant's
9 personal property by public or private sale prior to August 31, 2021
10 after receiving a hardship declaration from such occupant shall be
11 considered to have forfeited their entitlement to claim a lien upon
12 occupant's personal property in any special proceeding pursuant to
13 subdivision 9 of section 182 of the lien law.
14 § 5. Translation of hardship declaration. The office of court adminis-
15 tration shall translate the hardship declaration, as defined in section
16 two of this act, into Spanish and the 6 most common languages in the
17 city of New York, after Spanish, and shall post and maintain such trans-
18 lations and an English language copy of the hardship declaration on the
19 website of such office beginning within 15 days of the effective date of
20 this act. To the extent practicable, the office of court administration
21 shall post and maintain on its website translations into such additional
22 languages as the chief administrative judge shall deem appropriate to
23 ensure that tenants have an opportunity to understand and submit hard-
24 ship declarations pursuant to this act.
25 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and be
26 deemed repealed August 31, 2021.
