Senate committee updates self‑storage law to reflect electronic rentals and modern lien searches

Sen. Justin Boyd presented House Bill 1652 as a modernization of Arkansas’ self‑storage statutes to reflect electronic leasing and modern records. The bill makes multiple changes sponsors said would provide clearer legal protections for both owners and tenants.

Under the proposed changes, a rental agreement may be written or electronic and an occupant’s use of a unit together with payment for 30 days would be treated as acceptance of the rental agreement when a signed agreement does not exist. The bill also would require occupants to disclose known lienholders and would allow facility owners to use a commercially reasonable, potentially statewide, method to search for liens before selling stored property under the lien process.

Michael Hall of the Arkansas Self Storage Association told the committee the changes update longstanding statute to reflect online applications, gate‑code based access and third‑party lien searches commonly used by banks and other creditors. "We're not asking for anything new" in terms of electronic notice, Hall said, but sponsors argued the changes would make the law consistent with modern business practice and improve tenant protections when contracts are formed electronically.

Committee members asked about squatters, notice methods (including e‑mail), and whether facilities would have to verify lienholders; sponsors said the statute already requires a county clerk search and the change would allow broader commercially reasonable searches to protect lienholder rights.

Sen. Boyd closed and asked for a Do Pass; the committee approved the bill by voice vote.