Texas · self-storage lien guide
This is informational, not legal advice. Texas Property Code Chapter 59 can be amended and reinterpreted; verify every requirement below against the current official statute and confirm with your own attorney before you act on it.
Not attorney-reviewed. We wrote this guide directly from the statute text and secondary compilations of Chapter 59; it has not been reviewed by a licensed Texas attorney.
Statutes change. Chapter 59's enforcement provisions have been amended before — this page reflects our reading of the statute as written on 10 August 2026, and later amendments won't be reflected here automatically.
Chapter 59 gives a facility two ways to enforce its lien: through a court judgment (judicial foreclosure), or contractually — seizing and selling the property without going to court, provided the lease and the notices follow Chapter 59. § 59.041 This guide covers the contractual path, since that's what most facilities rely on.
This notice goes to the tenant, and it can be delivered in person, by e-mail, or by verified mail, sent to the tenant's last known e-mail or postal address. § 59.043(c) E-mail delivery has its own conditions — see the gotchas below. It must contain:
| Required element | Cite |
|---|---|
| An itemized account of the claim | § 59.043(a)(1) |
| The lessor's (or the lessor's agent's) name, address, and telephone number | § 59.043(a)(2) |
| A statement that the contents of the storage space have been seized under the lien | § 59.043(a)(3) |
| A statement that if the claim isn't satisfied on or before the 14th day after delivery, the property may be sold at public sale | § 59.043(a)(4) |
| A statement, underlined or in conspicuous bold print, asking any tenant in military service to notify the lessor of that status | § 59.043(a)(5) |
The lessor can also require written proof of military service before treating a tenant as covered. § 59.043(b)
This one isn't delivered to the tenant personally — it's the public advertisement of the sale itself. By default, it runs once in each of two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the facility sits. If no such newspaper exists in that county, the facility posts a copy at the facility and at least five other conspicuous locations nearby instead. § 59.044(b) It must contain:
| Required element | Cite |
|---|---|
| A general description of the property | § 59.044(a)(1) |
| A statement that the property is being sold to satisfy a landlord's lien | § 59.044(a)(2) |
| The tenant's name | § 59.044(a)(3) |
| The address of the self-service storage facility | § 59.044(a)(4) |
| The time, place, and terms of the sale | § 59.044(a)(5) |
"Place" can be a physical address — the facility itself or somewhere reasonably nearby — or the address of a website, if the sale is conducted online. § 59.045(a)
When the property seized is a titled or registered vehicle, motorboat, vessel, or outboard motor, Chapter 59 requires a separate notice, sent by verified mail to the last known owner and to each holder of a lien recorded on the title or registration, no later than 30 days after the facility takes possession. § 59.0445 That notice states the amount owed, requests payment, and explains that the property may be sold at public auction if the charges aren't paid before the 31st day after the notice is mailed or published. The owner or lienholder can reclaim the property any time before that 31st day by paying what's owed.
Day 0 is the date the Notice of Claim is delivered to the tenant — Chapter 59 doesn't set a required number of days a tenant must be behind on rent before that notice can go out; the rental agreement decides what counts as default.
Treat day ~25–26 and day ~30 as floors, not target dates. Section 59.042(c) counts sale timing from "the 15th day after" first publication or "the 10th day after" posting, and exactly how inclusively those days count is a judgment call the statute doesn't spell out — build in a buffer rather than scheduling a sale for the theoretical earliest day. The Day 0 anchor itself is also method-dependent: how "delivered" is measured can differ depending on whether the Notice of Claim went out by verified mail, e-mail, or in person, so the date your 14-day clock actually starts can shift with the delivery method you choose.
Non-judicial seize-and-sell only works if the rental agreement itself states that power "as underlined or printed in conspicuous bold print." § 59.041(b) That's not something a notice can fix after the fact — it has to already be sitting in the lease the tenant signed.
Texas defines verified mail as any method of mailing that provides evidence of mailing. § 59.001 Certified mail satisfies that definition, but it isn't the only option — any evidenced mailing method qualifies.
The Notice of Claim must include a statement, underlined or in conspicuous bold print, asking any tenant in military service to notify the lessor. § 59.043(a)(5) That's separate from the actual protections a servicemember has under Chapter 59's own military-service provision, which exist independent of the notice and can bear on whether a sale can proceed at all. § 59.010
You can deliver the Notice of Claim by e-mail only if the rental agreement separately says so — in underlined or conspicuous bold print — and the tenant elected to provide an e-mail address. § 59.043(d) Without that clause, e-mail isn't a valid delivery method.
Chapter 59 doesn't set a minimum delinquency period before the Notice of Claim can issue. When a tenant is "in default" is whatever the rental agreement says it is, not a fixed number of days written into the statute.
LienFlow tracks these deadlines and generates the notice for you to review and file — $49/mo when your state launches.
Reserve your spotThis guide is built from Texas Property Code Chapter 59 — Self-Service Storage Facility Liens — primarily Subchapter C, §§ 59.041 through 59.046, plus § 59.0445 for titled property. We read the statute text through secondary compilations rather than a clean pull of the official code, and this page has not been reviewed by a licensed Texas attorney. The statute is the authority here, not this page — confirm every date and requirement against the current official code and your own counsel before you rely on it. Written 10 August 2026.