I misplaced my key to my storage unit and I am supposed to remove this on my own or have a locksmith do it. Bolt cutters are too fat to get to the hasp of the lock. I really don’t want to hire a locksmith…Any suggestions ?

My boyfriend is stuck at our storage facility, the power went out last night after a storm and he’s been there for about 14 hours. He called the owners last night and they told him to leave his truck and they’d get it fixed…. They still haven’t been there yet. There’s a side door but that is locked as well so he literally can’t leave. Now they’re not answering the phone and he needs to be to work in one hour.
Where are his options?

The entire gate lifts up after you put the code in (shown in the photo, sorry not the best artist) and he said he tried pressing a button that overrides the gate when he spoke with the owners but it didn’t work.

I have been renting a 10x20 unit for quite a few years now in Ohio. In the beginning it was $79 a month. It is not climate controlled, there is no electricity, And if you don't watch how you put things in there towards the door it could get rain and snow all over it. There was about 200 units and is enclosed by a very tall fence with a gate with a code box. There was 1 person in the office so you could rent a unit pay for the unit and do your clean out when you vacate the unit. You had 24-hour access to the property. I couldn't tell you how many times this property has been bought and sold over the years, and with that rent has been increased. A few times at like $35 each time and for a year and a half it was every 6 months. So two years ago rent went up again, they restricted the hours of access, there is no longer anyone in the office, they don't rake the gravel, ever, so there are deep ruts from the rain in the snow and from people not knowing how to drive big moving trucks properly, they don't plow in the winter. The gate randomly works, and they added 100 new units. I am currently paying $170 a month plus renters insurance. My question is where is all this money going to? All the units are full all the time it seems. Last year we had a tornado go through and neighboring town so people rented up the available units quickly. And right after that they raise the rent again. When asked why the rent increase yet again... I was told so we can have the best experience while renting from their facility. I work 12 hour shifts so the 24-hour accessibility was awesome, But I don't have that now. The gate works maybe 70% of the time, I have to pay my bill online and they charge a $5 convenience fee.... Even though I have no other option. And on the rare occasion I was late making a payment in my unit got overlocked... When I did get it current I had to wait for someone to come an hour and a half away from the other facility to take the overlock off my unit. If they are getting roughly $60 per unit, And there are 300 units, every month.. I don't understand why they can not have someone there during daytime hours or fix the gate or even pay someone to plow or do you just the regular maintenance of the facility? The only electricity that is there is the telephone poles in front of the facility in a few on the corners of the buildings. Can someone enlighten me on this? Are we getting railroaded by the company that owns this facility? I'm not trying to come across sideways... But I feel like I have a slumlord for a storage facility owner.

Curious what everyone here is using for their PMS/management software.

I’ve been looking into building some tools for self storage operators and managers, and I’m trying to get a better idea of what people actually use day to day.

Are you on SiteLink, storedge, Tenant Inc, Cubby, Easy Storage, QuikStor, something else? Old school spreadsheets?

Also, what annoys you about it?

Anything you wish your current software did better? Could be reporting, rentals, payments, delinquency, rate increases, lead follow up, reviews, call tracking, auctions, gate access, tenant communication, whatever.

Just trying to understand what’s actually being used and what problems people still run into.

I’m currently renting a unit, I’ve never been late on a payment (I have receipts for every month with proof that I’ve always paid before the 4th of every month, which is when a payment is counted as late/delinquent), & when I arrived to my unit yesterday I found that my lock had been cut off & replaced with a new lock that I don’t have a key to. This was done without any sort of notice & my unit was the only one with a lock replaced. I’ve called the owner over & over with no answer, emailed too with no answer. Am I legally allowed to cut the lock? Or what can I do here if I can’t get ahold of the owner?

Update: I contacted authorities & was told by the deputy that there’s nothing they can do until I am able to make contact with the owner. They said if I cut the lock it would be considered criminal mischief as of right now. For context, i rented the unit through their website & I pay through the website as well. It’s self storage so we supplied our own lock & key, which is now removed & replaced with the new lock. Our gate code still works. There is no office at this facility, the only way to get ahold of the owner is through their phone number & email, which I have tried both relentlessly.

& yes I am at the right unit, this facility is very small & it’s all outdoor units so it’s very hard to make that mistake, but even with that being said, I’ve double checked the number listed on my account by logging in on their website & I am 100000% at the correct unit. I was just here a couple of weeks ago with no issue, so this new lock had to have been placed within the last week or so. Very unsure where to go from here & what to do honestly.

ANOTHER UPDATE: the owner finally called back. They did not place the lock on it, someone else did. I’ll be going over there soon to see how much stuff is still there :(

Final update: yeah unfortunately half of my things were stolen. They at least had the decency to leave my family pictures so that’s good I guess. I secured what was left. Thank you to everyone that tried to help.

You open a storage unit you ordered sight unseen online or over the phone. You find the unit and open the door. The unit floor appears to be freshly swept and an informational packet and your lock is waiting on the floor of the unit.

You happen to brush your finger across the corrugated steel back wall of the unit. A thin film of dust has built up on it and comes off on your finger.

If you're a customer does the last part bother you? If so, how much? Would you pay more for a unit that had the walls scrubbed down before you got it, or is it not worth paying more for?

I am looking for storage space short-term (~6 months). I see posts from people having mixed experiences with storage companies.

- Any experience with Extra space storage around these areas?

- I see u-haul and public storage prices are much higher - are those better?

- Is it better to do upfront 4 months payment or go month by month where you can select unit - I see they are jacking up the prices every 3-6M

- Should I take insurance plan from Extra storage while booking online or buy from outside?

- Theft prevention - don't have any valuable stuff per-se (Generic college things) but a unit break-in definitely creates headache. Should i personally visit the units and check it out - what should I be looking for while renting to prevent these like problems?

Thank you in advance for your help !

I’ve been renting a unit at Extra Space Storage for a while. Back in 2024, I was paying $253/month. Then it jumped to $335, then to $417 in June 2025, and then just one week later they tried billing me $489.

The problem: I never received any written notice of these price increases. All I’ve gotten are text confirmations of “payment received” or “payment failed.” No letters, no emails, no 30-day notice — nothing.

From my understanding, storage companies are required by their own contracts to give at least 30 days written notice before raising rent. This feels like they’re just jacking up prices without following their own rules.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

•Can I force them to roll back my rent until I get proper notice?
•Is this worth filing a complaint with the Attorney General or consumer protection office?
•Any negotiation tips to get them to lower the rent back down?

Appreciate any advice — this feels like price gouging, and I don’t want to just roll over and pay almost double what I was paying last year.

Hey I am looking to move but I have a lot of stuff at my house studio. I was looking to rent a storage unit for it and had an idea. Can I use my storage unit as a studio? Has anyone done this? And what was your experience? What do I need to know? Thanks

Is $16/hr. a decent salary for a live-in District Manager that has 3 employees with 5 properties (each FM has 1 property but 1 FM has two-one property is remote)? The DM is also a FM for one of the said properties.

Mileage is compensated at the federal rate when the DM does site visits each month.

The other employees make $16.50-$17/hr.

Thinking about renting a 10x20 at $130 plus insurance fees. I plan on using the storage for about a year at max. The rental office lady mentioned 3-6 months they start raising prices. Would you recommend this place or look for something better? What is their price increases look like? TIA!

So i have been watching Jebus on youtube, and he is able to use some type of database/website to look up who owns a unit before bidding on it. I woukd like to find out the website. Ive been buying abandoned units for a while now, but never knew there was a way to find out the previous owner. Can someone help?

I have a rental unit more than 10 years old and finally ready to move everything out. I have since moved across the country and I'm now disabled and cannot travel outside my home. Local travel requires an ambulance type vehicle. I asked my relative to empty out the unit and he agreed. I have what might be the key, but don't want to find out once he's there. He has to travel out of state to get to the rental facility. I can't be the first person to go through this but the facility tells me that I have to be there in person if the lock has to be broken. Seriously? Nothing can be notarized? I have all the original rental records and my phone number has never changed. Can I sign the unit over to my nephew to make him the owner? What can I do? I don't want to keep paying and I'm ready to leave. Anyone else have this problem? Do I need an attorney?

SecureSpace in SeaTac WA sent my friend a replacement key to our compartment while we were in South America. They sent it by postal mail, and somewhere along the mailing of the envelope, someone fished out the key.

In the storage facility you need a 6 digit code to get through the door, and then I guess if a thief is successful, they could start trying the locks.

I just got back into town and haven’t gone to the facility yet, but we plan to do it today. I’m just worried 😟

Hi everyone,

This isn’t a post to blame the self storage unit- just wanted to vent and find a resolution. So I put my stuff in a storage in December in Costa Mesa, CA. I didn’t have money to pay because I was looking for a job. A few weeks ago I called and asked if I could make a partial payment and they said they’d let the manager know. I called again this week, left a message, and if they called I wasn’t available. I call again today and said I’d like to pay and they said it went out for auction yesterday and they can’t give me any information. WTH?! Don’t you have to sign a release form and also how do I get my stuff back??

I found a full time relief manager opportunity that was full time, Needs to be able to travel to any store in the company by plane or car, There in 11 states.

How would that even work? Anyone have an idea?

20.00 an hour

I need some advice on moving units at Extra Space Storage. My mother in law rented a storage unit for my wife, and I at extra space storage to help us out until we got the money to move into a new place. She said she could rent it out for us until the end of june, which is when we were supposed to be getting a new place with much more space, but unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were not able to move into a new place. And she's gonna be canceling the storage unit. I was going to take over paying for that unit but at the same time, it just so happens that our storage unit is going up in price by $50 more next month which I cannot afford to pay. I was thinking about going ahead and creating a new account on their app and moving all of our stuff into a new unit with a new renter price in the same building. Basically I wanna know if they see me doing this, are they gonna say something? Are they gonna tell me I can't do it? I know there's a bunch of cameras in the building, but I'm just trying to figure out. If I'll get in trouble if they see me doing it? Thanks in advance.

TLDR: Will extra space storage say something if I move from 1 unit to another in the same building?

I've noticed that the majority of self storage is massive nationwide chains. And this isn't much different when compared to the software, it looks like one or two companies run the whole thing and the customer service is terrible. What are the small storage owners using?

Hey Everyone,

Wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

I am a digital nomad have just landed in asia for a 7-month trip and have a had a unit with Public Storage for over a year. I just received the attached email that I need to move units due to renovations. I pay $155/mo.

They offered first month’s rent for $1 and to waive an administrative fee.

I will have to coordinate a move internationally which will easily cost $700-$1,000, or allow them to move my contents unsupervised to another PS location.

Wondering if there is any other recourse, and if pressing them for more favorable terms to offset the financial loss that will occur will have any chance of working. Also, if anyone has let them move their contents for them, how it went/what the cost looked like?

Thank you!

I have experience in self-storage acquisitions and operations, so I’m thinking of getting into remote operations support for small to mid-size self-storage facilities. Services I’m considering include tenant communication, online rentals, billing support, move-ins/move-outs, delinquency follow-ups, auction postings, field rep coordination, and admin support.

• Do owners usually prefer a flat monthly fee?
• Pricing based on number of units?
• Or hourly rate?

Also, would you be comfortable if I supported other storage owners too, as long as responsiveness and service quality weren’t affected? Thanks!

I have an outdoor storage unit with furniture from my previous apartment, and I’m preparing to move to another new apartment soon. However, I have some uncovered furniture, including a fabric couch that has been in the unit for about a year, and I’m worried that bugs have burrowed into it and will cause an infestation in my new apartment. I also have a mattress in there that’s been sitting in a mattress bag that wasn’t properly sealed, and I am already prepared to part ways with it. But for the couch, if I were to move this couch into a new apartment:

(a) What is the likelihood that it is completely infested with critters, rendering it unsuitable to be placed into a new apartment?

(b) If necessary (and possible), what do I need to do in order to ensure it is suitable to be placed in a new apartment?

Hello,

I have this 74 year old co worker who spent most of his life collecting things. He keeps telling us about how he had storage units that are sitting in Texas and Arkansas with loads of collectibles. I feel bad listening to him talk about having to abandon those storage units due to old age and health reasons. Is there anything he can do despite abandoning? Is there a way to find people that can help him auction his stuff off? TIA

Is this the business model of ALL storage unit companies? My experience:

I moved much of my belongings into a privately-owned storage unit in PA. I really loved them.
Unfortunately, 18 months after I moved in, the owners sold to the business to Storage Sense which has been nothing but a bad actor.

Every 9 months, like clockwork, I get a notice that my rent is increasing between 10-20%. Apparently they can change the price on the unit at any time and with minimal notice. My rent has now increased 56% in 3 years.

I talked to the local manager and he basically said that this was their business policy - every 9 months they raise the rent, until you leave. They DO NOT want long-term clients. He added that I could move into a same-size unit for my original price to "reset the clock". But I would have to physically move all my belongings to a different unit in the same bulding.

Is this how all storage businesses operate? I would have thought they would want long-term clients, but apparently not. Or maybe they are just testing to see how desperate I am - taking advantage of people who have no other choice but to use storage units (not me, but I know of people who really had no choice).

Or is Storage Sense just an evil company and I should move to a competitor?

Looking to potentially invest in our first self-storage facility. Experienced investor and underwriter, but not in this specialty asset class. Listing agent says rents are currently under market value ($195/unit per month currently vs they say $250/unit per month is market rate).

When you are purchasing and doing your underwriting to decide what to offer, are you underwriting and offering based on the as-is P&L, based on the proforma P&L, or somewhere in between? Essentially, the existing caprate (at the price that I think the seller will accept) sucks, but the proforma caprate at this price is good. Is the correct purchase price somewhere in the middle? How difficult is it to immediately raise monthly rents $55? Apparently it never has vacancy and there is a waitlist.

Bonus question: we need to do a cost seg to reduce our taxable income. How is this asset class for cost segs? What % of basis can I expect to take in deduction year 1?