collections during and after covid-19

steveguess

hi
my name is Steve Guess, i own two facilities in the Turks and Caicos islands. we are presently under a complete 21 day lock down. i am curious what the industry is going to do regarding collections during the next few months considering the current events. i am about to write my tenants a letter explaining company payment policy for the foreseeable future. the following is what i was thinking and was hoping for some feed back on this forum.
1) remove all late fees
2) no lock outs for tenants that were current 4/01/2020
3) rates will remain the same
4) rents will continue to accrue and tenants will be responsible for rent.
5) recommend tenants pay as much and as often as possible to keep from building large arrears.

 the Turks and Caicos is driven solely by tourism, and many of my tenants are in the tourism industry. all of the hotels, tour operators, restaurants, and their employees have been shut down. the government is suggesting that airlift will not return until the fall or at least until the USA has the virus under control or there is a vaccine, both may be a while out. ultimately my current problem is going to be everyone's problem as increased unemployment, bankruptcies and secession of travel and tourism die off.
 i am interested in the thoughts of other operators and what their plan to deal with this is presently and in the future.
thank you for your time and comments.
Steve Guess

GSI03

My company is doing exactly the same as y'all are.  We have 28 properties mostly in the southeast of the U.S.  Do you need a property manager?

steveguess

Unfortunately being an international destination bringing in staff from outside countries is very difficult and very expensive. 

i43storage

Steve, sounds like you are doing everything possible to be fair yet carry on with your business.

steveguess

Are you aware of any changes in policies regarding eviction or seizures of units. Will operators extend those dates. 

MamaDuke7

Evictions/seizures are different in each state.  I would check with your state self-storage association.  I'm sure they are on top of each change as it occurs.

I know for California, our association has a COVID-19 specific page with regular updates as they occur/apply to self-storage.

CVSSSTORAGE

@MamaDuke7 I live in California and my owner has not stopped late fees or preliens and liens we still do lock cuts and have cancelled our April auction due to the stay in place order but we are moving along with our May one until we are told not to. Have you guys halted late fees and auction proceedings? 

steveguess

Where I live we have no storage or lien laws. We can in theory seize at 30 days. We do not auction we just take and sell. The problem is that I live on an island with about 20k people so taking people's stuff does not go unoticed. 

MamaDuke7

CVSSSTORAGE said:

@MamaDuke7 I live in California and my owner has not stopped late fees or preliens and liens we still do lock cuts and have cancelled our April auction due to the stay in place order but we are moving along with our May one until we are told not to. Have you guys halted late fees and auction proceedings? 

We are still adding fees and proceeding with the lien process.  However, I won't hold an auction for at least a few months.  The CSSA attorney has said that we can still auction, though, if we choose to.  The terms of the lease still apply.

sonyawiprud

We are in California, we are applying late fees, but told to stop sending letters as a blanket statement from Corp. however I AM sending letters, I feel they should know the status of their unit, this prompts a call from them, so that I can work with them on a case by case basis. Yes I am also having opportunists, and that part sucks, but we are deferring rent for 2 months with a repayment plan in place. No auction, and waive late fees when an agreement is made. What about the guy who moves out after his two months are free? We have to keep locks on until some reasonable payment is made. I personally would prefer to only be open to customers who are still considered an essential business. It's a tough one, hang in there!

steveguess

Thank you , some very good ideas

rmason

Here in Florida (our two facilities) we have suspended all auction actions, rent and late fees continue, no rate increases, no rent reductions or repayment plans offered and unit lock outs continue.  Offices are locked but manned daily, grounds opened per usual hours.  All customer activity by phone, email, kiosk, or drop box.  No vehicle rentals.  Stay Safe!

ESS

rmason said:

Here in Florida (our two facilities) we have suspended all auction actions, rent and late fees continue, no rate increases, no rent reductions or repayment plans offered and unit lock outs continue.  Offices are locked but manned daily, grounds opened per usual hours.  All customer activity by phone, email, kiosk, or drop box.  No vehicle rentals.  Stay Safe!

We are operating nearly the same as you. However, we did waive late fees for April. I am still sending out past due and lock cut notices, but we have suspended lock cuts and auctions at this time. 

CVSSSTORAGE

Our offices are still open unfortunately more people come in now then before this started. I am bleaching and sanitizing so much my hands are bleeding =/

steveguess

At this point our offices have been closed since March 26 and are now not due to reopen until April 21st. We are getting some bank transfers but most of our payments are in cash and checks. There is no point in sending out demand notices when the tenants aren't even allowed out of their houses yet. I guess we won't really know how big a problem we have until that happens.

MrFugate

I've noticed at my location that I have had more people sign up for autopay & online payments then we had in say Feb. Our company stopped all Auctions & are waiving late fees case by case not on every unit.
 I have had several people ask if we are going to give them free rent till this whole thing is over & several people take this time ( even though we are under a stay at home order ) to clean out their units, Organize them or just pack up and move out.

CVSSSTORAGE

@MrFugate
it amazes me how many people are out right now coming here. I am starting to get very annoyed and having trouble keeping my customer service voice on. I just had a guy come in the office coughing up a storm upset when I whipped out the Lysol can and started spraying. I just told him do not come in here to sign in if you are coughing I can speak to you through the window

Pat

We are not allowing anyone into the office - we are here, with our phone number on the door - people are calling and we are assisting them over the phone. 

CVSSSTORAGE

I wish we could close our office =/

Orkocean

CVSSSTORAGE said:

I wish we could close our office =/

Well it could be worse, you could live on site and still get stuck driving 64 miles round trip every day to cover another site....

CVSSSTORAGE

@Orkocean
none of the people here respect the fact that I have my dad living at home with me. All they say is that I will be fine and when I tell them my father won't be they kinda shrug it off like eh. It would be nice to lessen my exposure and my bleaching and handwashing daily. And driving 64 miles wouldn't work for me sine I don't drive lol That would sure be a long walk

Orkocean

CVSSSTORAGE said:

@Orkocean
none of the people here respect the fact that I have my dad living at home with me. All they say is that I will be fine and when I tell them my father won't be they kinda shrug it off like eh. It would be nice to lessen my exposure and my bleaching and handwashing daily. And driving 64 miles wouldn't work for me sine I don't drive lol That would sure be a long walk

Here it's kind of "how you feel", some of our stores are closing and operating thru dropslots/windows. If it's one i'm at i'm letting it be pretty much as normal and just washing up a lot. Those of us that are keeping open offices are limiting how many can come in at a time based on office size. Bank runs were cut down, used to it was if you have a deposit you go. Now it's about 2x a week on average.    

KarenPenrod

I am in Texas and we are keeping offices locked and assisting customers over the phone. We have it set up to have several of each size unit available for rent and have contract in the unit with a free lock. Customer calls, we rent unit over phone and take payment. They go to unit and sign contract and drop it through mail slot then email us their driver's license pic. Been working good so far. We are mainly waiving late fees but depends on who is running each store also. Some are not waiving late fees unless customer says effected by the coronavirus. We have cancelled auctions for April. Not sure about May yet since we are in process of opening some things back up soon in Texas although virus is picking up in our area. We have a mail slot by door for customers to drop off checks if needed. We are doing lockouts for late but encouraging them to pay what they can. People still try to walk into the office daily even with a limited stay in place order for our city and state. Locking the office doors has helped a lot though. We have online payments, a slot by door and also can take over phone or by mail. 

ESS

KarenPenrod said:

People still try to walk into the office daily even with a limited stay in place order for our city and state. Locking the office doors has helped a lot though. We have online payments, a slot by door and also can take over phone or by mail. 

I am in Texas, as well and even with our doors locked, I'm getting a little push-back from a few tenants. I had one elderly tenant demand that I open the door and let her in. I explained for her safety and ours, I could not do that. She continued to advise me that she's not sick and I needed to open the door for her. I just replied and told her, I'm not sick either, but we'd like to keep it that way. BTW, she is one that is constantly coughing and hacking into her hands or sometimes not even covering her mouth when spewing her germs all over the place and wiping her nose with her hands....No ma'am, nobody can come in, especially not you 

Pat

I am in TX as well. Individual location, and owners are adamant no one in office but us - we do live on site. Sign on door has large office number to call us - so far people have been very understanding. I do info sheet for lease over phone, do lease, take payment - then print 2 copies - go out to their car for signatures. Will bring in DL to make a copy. Everything sits on separate counter in back after being disinfected (clipboard, pen) - I leave the lease and other papers there for couple days.  So far so good - but it is extremely slow on rentals so guess we are lucky in that respect.  They follow us to unit to put their lock on, disinfecting everything that gets touched along the way. Keypads never looked cleaner!

CVSSSTORAGE

Our owners will not allow us to close the office during this time. 

Pat

That is really sad as there is really no  reason for anyone to HAVE to come into office.

Faye

CVSSSTORAGE said:

Our owners will not allow us to close the office during this time. 

I don't know your situation there but do the higher up realize that if you even come in contact with someone who is confirmed COVID that you are supposed to quarantine yourself? I had to point that out to the owners here as well as inform them that if we come in contact and or come down with it, the business will not run at all unless they come in to run it. Our office door is locked. NOBODY is allowed into our office

CVSSSTORAGE

@Faye
they said we have masks and sanitizer so we will be fine. 

Faye

CVSSSTORAGE said:

@Faye
they said we have masks and sanitizer so we will be fine. 

SMH!

teamcapitola

We are in Santa Cruz County in California... in Shelter In Place. The SSA declared Self Storage as an Essential Service so we are allowed to be open, however the owners have basically said staff can volunteer to come into & open office. We have been promised our normal salary/pay regardless.

Currently we are on site 11am to 2pm daily, and forward phones the rest of our "normal" hours.

So far we have had more new business than before the lockdown; our delinquency went up 2 points but for the most part everything is running well. No late fees during the crisis but rent will need to be paid eventually.

How is everyone else dealing with late tenants?

nitaabc

CVSSSTORAGE said:

@MrFugate
it amazes me how many people are out right now coming here. I am starting to get very annoyed and having trouble keeping my customer service voice on. I just had a guy come in the office coughing up a storm upset when I whipped out the Lysol can and started spraying. I just told him do not come in here to sign in if you are coughing I can speak to you through the window I'm in Mountain View CA , We are open but no customers are allowed in the office. They can pay online, by phone or drop a check through are mail slot in the door. If the need a receipt we can email it. 

nitaabc

nitaabc said:

CVSSSTORAGE said:

@MrFugate
it amazes me how many people are out right now coming here. I am starting to get very annoyed and having trouble keeping my customer service voice on. I just had a guy come in the office coughing up a storm upset when I whipped out the Lysol can and started spraying. I just told him do not come in here to sign in if you are coughing I can speak to you through the window I'm in Mountain View CA , We are open but no customers are allowed in the office. They can pay online, by phone or drop a check through are mail slot in the door. If the need a receipt we can email it. 

nitaabc said:

CVSSSTORAGE said:

@MrFugate
it amazes me how many people are out right now coming here. I am starting to get very annoyed and having trouble keeping my customer service voice on. I just had a guy come in the office coughing up a storm upset when I whipped out the Lysol can and started spraying. I just told him do not come in here to sign in if you are coughing I can speak to you through the window 

nitaabc

I'm in Mountain View CA , We are open but no customers are allowed in the office. They can pay online, by phone or drop a check through are mail slot in the door. If the need a receipt we can email it. 

BusyProperties

I am in Illinois, it is business as usual for us as far as payments, late fees, overlocks & scheduled auction in May. We have mail, drop boxes & are taking payments over the phone. No one is allowed in the office and we are meeting on an as needed basis. I have found that those that always paid on time still are and those that did not are using Covid-19 as an excuse for why they have not paid in months

CVSSSTORAGE

@BusyProperties
we have had a few people who are never late be late because of Covid but it is mostly the same people who always get lock cuts calling now asking what we are going to do about it. It is really hard not to say not a darn thing for you. 

AnitaJohnson1269

We are asking they send a copy of their furlough letter or unemployment approval letter.  We say "tax and accounting purposes"

LADYLIFT1

We have a note on the door asking for customers to drop payment in door slot, or call and make payment over the phone. If they must come in we are in the office. We made the desk a lot wider to keep the 6ft distance.
We have no auctions scheduled at this time. Not sure how long. We are calling people.sending letters and locking customers out. But we are not charging any late fees until June 1st . Trying to help with our customers in this difficult time.

rmason

In Florida since Apr 1st we have been locked and doing all business over phone or email.  Our drop box for checks hasn't been used much maybe 3 or 4 per week.  We started a soft opening on 4/22.  Didn't send a notice just unlocked front door.  We have barriers, signs, two new tables for customers (6 feet from regular desks), face masks and hand sanitizers.  We are allowing max of 2 customers in office at a time.  No walk in  customers on 4/22.  Waiting for first customer today 4/23.  Will send blast email to all customers next week announcing opening date and new rules.  Fingers crossed.

CVSSSTORAGE

since we are not allowed to close our office I just propped the door open and put the sign in sheet on the door so it is at least 6ft away. We have mostly cash payments here unfortunately. 

GSI03

We are keeping the door locked,  If someone comes up to the door we ask that they call us on the phone.  If they are making a $ or check payment put it in the dropbox beside the door.  If they are making a CC payment they can read the info to us over the phone.  The only reason we are  letting people in the office is to sign the lease.   We have had a truly terrible rental month!

i43storage

@rmason - That all sounds like good business!