2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TEN - Commerce (§§ 1 — 4196) › Subtitle 3 - Business Regulations Generally (§§ 2001-2016 — 4196) › Chapter 316 - Self-Service Storage Facilities Lien Act (§§ 4151 — 4161) › § 4155 - Procedure to enforce the operator’s lien

In order to enforce a lien against the occupant’s property stored in the leased space or self-service mobile storage unit, an operator shall comply with the following procedures:
(a) First notice of noncompliance.— When the rent or any other sum due from the occupant under a self-service storage rental agreement remains unpaid for more than twenty (20) days, the operator shall send a notice of noncompliance to the occupant by certified mail to his/her last known address. Said notice shall contain the following information:
(1) The due date, an itemized statement of the sum due at the time of the notice, and a demand for payment of the sum due.
(2) The name of the operator, telephone number, and street and mailing address, in order for the occupant to be able to remit the payment or answer the notice.
(3) A statement that unless the payment is made, the property of the occupant stored in the leased space or self-service mobile storage unit shall be sold in a public auction.
(4) A notice that, unless the rent is paid in full, the occupant shall not have access to the leased space in the self-service storage facility or self-service mobile storage unit where his/her property is stored.
(5) A notice that the occupant shall have the right to file a claim with the Department of Consumer Affairs or the Court of First Instance in accordance with the administrative procedures followed by said agency or those established by the Rules of Civil Procedure.
(b) Second notice of noncompliance.— Within a term not sooner than ten (10) days after remitting the first notice mentioned in subsection (a) of this section, as indicated by the date of certification by the Postal Service, of the mail, the operator shall send a second notice to the occupant by certified mail return receipt requested, which shall contain the following information:
(1) Number or code to identify the leased space or the self-service mobile storage unit and the location of the self-service storage facility or self-service mobile storage unit where the property subject to lien is held.
(2) A clear statement that unless the occupant pays the sum owed in full within the term stated, which shall be at least ten (10) days after the date on which the letter was sent, the operator may sell in public auction the property upon which the lien established in § 4153 of this title is claimed.
(3) The name of the operator, telephone number, and street and mailing address, in order for the occupant to be able to remit the payment or answer the notice.
(c) Notice of public auction.— If upon compliance with the two (2) notices required and after the expiration term established in subsection (b)(2) of this section the occupant fails to pay off the existing debt, the operator, accompanied by a notary public, shall make an inventory and appraisal of all the stored property or goods that may be or are subject to sale in public auction to satisfy the existing debt. The inventory of all property and goods stored in the leased space shall be certified by the notary public who accompanied the operator. After conducting the inventory and appraisal, the operator may advertise the sale in public auction of the property upon which the lien established in this chapter is claimed. Said notice shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Puerto Rico. Both the notice and the sale by public auction of the property upon which the lien established in this Act is claimed may include the property of more than one occupant; provided, however, that the total of the property adjudicated to each occupant shall be registered separately. Said notice shall include the following information:
(1) The address of the self-service rental facility or place where the self-service mobile storage unit is located, the number or identification code of the leased space or spaces, and the name or names of the occupants.
(2) The time, place, and date on which the property subject to the lien established in this Act shall be sold in public auction.
The operator shall retain all auction documents for inspection by regulatory agencies and public review for at least two (2) years.
(d) The operator shall also post a copy of the notice on a bulletin board he/she shall keep for these purposes at the self-service storage facility or the place where the self-service mobile storage unit is located. The operator shall also deliver by regular mail a copy of the published notice to the Administrator of the General Services Administration and to the Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs of the Government of Puerto Rico.
(e) The sale of the property upon which the lien established in this chapter is claimed shall take place not sooner than ten (10) days after the notice stated in subsection (c) has been published, by a public auction in accordance with the terms notified to the occupant. The sale of the property for the payment of any assessed debt, fines, interest, surcharges, and penalties shall be made by public auction and, if the same may be separated from the others or fractioned, the number or part of such personal property to be sold shall be that strictly needed for full payment of the assessed debt, fines, interest, surcharges, penalties, and costs. However, the operator shall have no liability with respect to the property not sold and the same shall not be stored again. The preceding condition shall be considered to be met when the number of property whose appraised value, with the adjudication price in a third auction, is sufficient to cover the probable entirety of the assessed debt and interest, surcharges, fines, penalties, and costs in said third auction. The operator shall assess the same prior to the sale in public auction of such personal property. The sale of the personal property shall be carried out in public auction, fixing as the minimum adjudication rate for the first auction one hundred percent (100%) of the amount of the appraisal thus made by the operator. If the first auction fails to produce a sell-off or adjudication, the minimum rate in the second auction to be held shall be seventy-five percent (75%) of the appraised value that the operator has fixed for said personal property. If said second auction fails to produce a sell-off or adjudication and a third successive auction is needed, the minimum rate for such third successive auction shall be fixed at fifty percent (50%) of the ad hoc appraised value that the operator has fixed for said personal property. If any of these auctions fails to produce a sell-off or adjudication, the property may be adjudicated for the minimum appraised value corresponding to the auction in which the property shall be adjudicated. A notary shall record minutes in which a detailed report of auctioned property and adjudicated property, if any, is included, as well as any incidences that occurred during the auction process. If the auction fails to produce a sell-off or adjudication, the operator may dispose of the property upon which the lien established in this Act is claimed in any manner deemed convenient. The operator of the leased space, his/her spouse, or any relative with a third degree of consanguinity shall not participate in the purchase of the property subject to the lien during the auction process. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event that the auction is deserted, the operator may adjudicate the property on the basis of the appraised value to pay off the occupant’s debt.
(f) Once the sale has been made, the operator may again rent the self-service storage space or mobile storage unit to a new occupant.
(g) The operator shall use the proceeds of any sale carried out pursuant to the provisions of this section to satisfy the debt of the occupant. Said occupant shall be liable for any deficiency. In case of a balance, the operator shall notify the occupant by regular mail to his/her last known address, within ten (10) days after the auction, indicating the amount of said balance, and explaining that he/she shall have a term of sixty (60) days to claim the same. If the occupant fails to claim the balance within the sixty (60)-day term provided, the operator shall pay such balance to the Department of the Treasury, where the occupant shall have one (1) year to request the corresponding refund; otherwise, the balance shall be remitted to the General Fund. Together with the remittance, the operator shall send a report explaining the source of the balance and the occupant’s full name, last known address, and the last four (4) digits of his/her social security number.
(h) Once the payment of the bid price of the personal property sold is made, the delivery thereof by the operator to the buyer shall include the title and the right of the buyer over said property, free from the operator’s lien under this chapter, and any other fees or liens subordinated to the operator’s lien under this chapter.
(i) Before any sale, the occupant may pay the operator the total amount owed and other fees stipulated in the agreement, and thereby redeem the personal property. This same right shall apply to a third party who shows proof to the operator’s satisfaction that said third party, in compliance with the Civil Code of Puerto Rico or any other applicable law, is the owner of the stored property; said satisfactory proof shall include a sworn statement signed by the third party whereby he/she proves to the operator that he/she is the legal owner of said property.
History —Aug. 10, 2011, No. 173, § 6.