Georgia storage unit law: liens, late fees and auctions

This is a plain-English summary of the statute, not legal advice. If you are facing a lien sale, talk to a Georgia attorney, and read your own rental agreement: it governs your unit.

The law and what it covers

• Georgia's self-storage law is O.C.G.A. Title 10, Chapter 4, Article 5, 'Self-Service Storage Facilities' (sections 10-4-210 through 10-4-218), short-titled the Georgia Self-service Storage Facility Act of 2013 (10-4-210). Justia – 2025 Georgia Code, Title 10, Chapter 4, Article 5
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-211(7), a 'self-service storage facility' is real property designed and used for renting individual storage space to occupants who have access to store and remove personal property; the term does not include a warehouse under the Georgia State Warehouse Act or a bank safe-deposit box or vault. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-211 (2025) Definitions
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-211(5) defines 'personal property' as movable property not affixed to land, including goods, wares, merchandise, motor vehicles, trailers, watercraft, and household items and furnishings. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-211 (2025) Definitions
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-211(6) defines a 'rental agreement' as any agreement or lease, written or oral, that sets or modifies the terms for use and occupancy of a self-service storage facility. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-211 (2025) Definitions
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-216(a) says no occupant shall use a self-service storage facility for residential purposes, and 10-4-216(b) says laws on bonded public warehousemen do not apply to self-storage owners. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-216 (2025)

The lien and the rental agreement

• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-212, a facility owner has a lien on all personal property at the facility for rent, late fees, labor or other charges, and preservation and sale expenses; the lien attaches on the date the property is brought to the facility. It is superior to other liens except those perfected and recorded in Georgia before the rental agreement date (in the occupant's county or the facility's county), tax liens, and lienholders the owner knows about through the agreement's disclosure or other written notice. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-212 (2025)
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a) lets an owner enforce the lien without going to court only if it complies with the section, including obtaining a written rental agreement containing the statutory form language. Under 10-4-213(b), a rental agreement may be executed and delivered electronically. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code page, version marked [Effective July 1, 2026])
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-218(a) (effective July 1, 2024), if an occupant does not sign a written rental agreement within 14 days after the owner delivers it by hand or verified mail, continued use of the space is deemed acceptance, provided the agreement says so in bold type of at least 12 point. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-218 (2025)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a) agreement language, unless the agreement says otherwise, exclusive care, custody, and control of stored property stays with the occupant, and the owner does not become a bailee of the occupant's property by enforcing its lien. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• The statutory agreement form in O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a) has the occupant pay one month's fees as a clean-up and maintenance fund, refunded if the space is left in good repair and broom-swept, with the owner allowed to set off its claims against that fund. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)

Late rent, step by step

• Under the statutory rental agreement language in O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), rent is payable in advance on or before the first of each month, and the occupant is in default if a monthly installment is not paid by the seventh calendar day of the month due or if a payment check is dishonored. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• The required agreement language in O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a) states that upon the occupant's default, the owner may without notice deny the occupant access to the stored property until payment is received. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-217, an owner may charge a late fee under the rental agreement of no more than $20.00 per month or 20 percent of the monthly rent per month of late payment, whichever is greater. This applies to agreements entered into, extended, or renewed, and late payments occurring, on or after July 1, 2019. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-217 (2025)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), after 30 continuous days of default the owner may enforce its lien, starting with written notice to the occupant delivered in person, by verified mail, or by email, plus notice to parties with superior liens. If the owner emails a sale notice and gets no non-automated response or delivery receipt, it must also send the notice by verified mail before proceeding with the sale. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• The lien notice under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a) must include an itemized statement of the sum due and when it became due, notify the occupant of denial of access, give the owner's name, street address, email, and phone number, and demand payment within a stated time of not less than 14 days after delivery, warning that otherwise the property will be advertised and sold at public sale. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-211(8) defines 'verified mail' as certified mail, registered mail, statutory overnight delivery, or another mailing method where the carrier furnishes proof the item was sent. Under 10-4-211(2), an occupant's 'last known address' can be a street address, P.O. box, or email address given in the latest rental agreement or a later written change-of-address notice. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-211 (2025) Definitions

The sale

• Under current O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), after the notice period the owner advertises the public sale once in the county legal organ, but may instead advertise in any other commercially reasonable manner unless the property is a motor vehicle, motorcycle, trailer, watercraft, or recreational vehicle. The ad must generally describe the property, give the facility address, space number, occupant name, and the time, place, and manner of sale, and the sale may occur no sooner than 15 days after publication. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code), amended by HB 131 effective July 1, 2025
• HB 131, effective July 1, 2025 and applying to lien enforcement begun on or after that date, removed the old requirement to advertise a sale once a week for two consecutive weeks; the 15 days now run from publication rather than first publication. Some older online copies of the code still show the two-week rule. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 annotations (2025 Georgia Code)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), a public sale includes offering property on a publicly accessible website that regularly holds online auctions, and no license is required. A sale is deemed commercially reasonable if at least three independent bidders attend at the advertised time and place. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), before any sale or other disposition the occupant may pay the amount needed to satisfy the lien plus reasonable expenses and redeem the property. A good-faith purchaser at the lien sale takes the property free of others' rights even if the owner did not comply with the requirements. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), if no one buys at the public sale and the owner has complied, the owner may otherwise dispose of the property and must notify the occupant. Any sale must be held at the facility or the nearest suitable place to where the property is stored. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)
• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), the owner may satisfy its lien from sale proceeds and must hold any balance for the occupant or notified secured party; if unclaimed within two years of the sale, the balance is handled under Georgia's Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act. The owner's liability never exceeds the sale proceeds, and an agreement's value limit is deemed the maximum value of the property stored. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)

Vehicles, boats and trailers

• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-213(a), if the property is a motor vehicle, trailer, or watercraft and rent and charges stay unpaid for 60 days after they were due, the owner may have it towed instead of foreclosing on the lien, and the owner is not liable for it or for damage once the tower takes possession. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-213 (2025 Georgia Code)

Ending a rental, and special cases

• Under O.C.G.A. 10-4-218(b)-(c), an owner may end or not renew a rental agreement by written notice delivered by hand or verified mail, giving the occupant at least 14 days after delivery to remove everything. Until then the owner may restrict access to removal during normal business hours, and may dispose of property left after the notice date. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-218 (2025)
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-214 requires an owner whose rental agreement is with a service member to comply with the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. 3901 et seq.), and says the article does not stop parties from creating additional rights and duties in the rental agreement. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-214 (2025)
• O.C.G.A. 10-4-215 says rental agreements entered into before July 1, 2013, and not extended or renewed after that date remain valid and enforceable under their own terms or other Georgia law. Justia – O.C.G.A. 10-4-215 (2025)

Questions

Dates, rules and hours can change. The organizers have the final word: Lumpkin County Government