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The Nevada Press Association strongly opposes Assembly Bill 137, which seeks to eliminate the requirement for public notice in newspapers prior to the auctioning of property stored in self-service storage facilities.
AB 137 represents a significant erosion of consumer protections, public transparency, and individual property rights. The bill would eliminate one of the few statutory tools that provides meaningful oversight in an industry granted extraordinary authority: the ability to seize and sell a renter’s personal property without a court order.
Historically, Nevada law required both personal notice to renters and public notice in newspapers to act as checks and balances on this power. AB 137 would dismantle that balance and allow facility owners to provide notice solely via their own websites or other “commercially reasonable” means—reducing public access and transparency.
Key Reasons for Opposition:
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Due Process and Public Oversight:
Public notices in newspapers ensure transparency in the absence of judicial review. Removing them invites secrecy and increases the risk of abuse, fraud, or self-dealing by facility owners. -
Critical Consumer Protection:
For renters who miss mailed or emailed notices, a newspaper ad may be their last opportunity to learn of an impending auction and recover their belongings—often including confidential documents or irreplaceable personal items. -
Notice to Others with Interest in the Property:
Heirs, spouses, lienholders, business partners, and others with a legal or personal interest in the stored property may never know their property is at risk without a public notice. Many of these individuals are not parties to the storage contract and receive no direct communication from facility owners. -
Fairer Auctions and Higher Returns:
Broad public notice increases bidder participation, helping secure better sale outcomes for renters. Many states recognize that when a facility owner becomes an auctioneer, they owe a fiduciary duty to obtain the best possible price. Public notice is vital to that process. -
Equity in One-Sided Contracts:
Storage contracts are typically standardized, written by the industry, and leave renters with minimal bargaining power. Eliminating public notice further tilts the scales in favor of facility owners. -
Potential Conflicts of Interest:
In states where facilities may retain unsold property or keep surplus proceeds from auctions, there is a financial incentive to suppress turnout. Weakening notice requirements makes it easier for such conflicts to arise. -
Community Accountability:
Public notices allow journalists, community members, and advocates to monitor facility practices. This accountability is essential in an industry that operates with little regulation or oversight.
The current notice system works. It ensures that, when a renter falls behind, there is an opportunity for transparency, fairness, and recovery—not just for the renter, but for the community and for the market itself.
Removing newspaper notice requirements would give the industry greater secrecy and control over an already unbalanced process. The public deserves better.
For these reasons, we respectfully urge you to OPPOSE AB 137 and preserve this long-standing consumer protection.