Storage near you

A self-storage unit is a locked room or locker in a facility that you rent by the month, load yourself or with hired help, and visit whenever the access hours allow. It suits long stays and people who need to get at their things now and then. You hold the key, which also means you're responsible for how everything is packed and stacked.

A portable storage container is dropped off at your home, you fill it at your own pace, and it either stays on site or goes to the company's yard until you call for it. It saves a trip to a facility and a second loading, but it needs a flat, accessible spot, and your city may require a permit if it sits on the street rather than on your property.

With warehouse storage, the mover loads your belongings, often into wooden vaults or sealed crates, and keeps them in its warehouse until delivery. Casual access is rare, but one company handles everything from pickup to delivery, which suits a move with a gap between homes.

When a move has a gap, whether it's a few days or a few months, the simplest arrangement is often to let the mover keep the load rather than unloading into a self-storage unit and reloading it later. Every handling adds time and another chance of damage, so fewer transfers usually mean fewer problems. On a long-distance move, the same arrangement is called storage in transit; our long-distance moving page explains how it fits with delivery windows.

A standard drive-up unit is essentially an unheated garage: it freezes in January and can get hot and damp in July. That's fine for patio furniture, tools, tires and bikes, but repeated cold, heat and humidity can crack wood, lift veneers, fade photographs, spot papers with mildew and damage electronics. Climate-controlled units, usually inside a heated building, keep conditions far steadier through the year.

Read the rental agreement before you load anything. It sets the billing period, the notice you must give to leave, whether the rate can go up and with what notice, the access hours and gate codes, who else may enter the unit, whether a particular lock is required and what happens after a missed payment. It usually also lists what you can't store and limits the facility's responsibility for your belongings.

Your home or tenant insurance may or may not cover belongings kept off-site, and coverage in storage can be narrower than at home. Call your insurer, say where the unit is and roughly what's in it, and ask what's covered, up to what amount and against which risks, such as theft, fire or water damage. Many facilities sell or require their own protection plan; compare it with your policy before you accept it, and keep a photo inventory of what goes into the unit.

Storage facilities and movers keep lists of prohibited items, and ignoring them can void your contract or your protection. The Office of Consumer Affairs names live plants, certain food products and flammable items among the things movers may refuse to transport or store.

If storage charges go unpaid, the operator isn't simply stuck with your belongings. In Ontario, the Repair and Storage Liens Act gives a storer a lien on the goods it stores, equal to the cost of its services, and the right to keep them until it's paid. The Government of Ontario explains that the lien claimant may then sell the goods, keep them or donate them to charity by following the procedures set out in the Act, and that at any time before a sale the owner can pay the lien amount, including the storer's reasonable expenses, and get the goods back. Other provinces have their own rules, and your contract describes the steps the facility follows, so read the late-payment clauses and keep your contact details current.

For other problems, such as damage, missing items or charges that don't match the contract, put your complaint in writing and try to settle with the company first. Outside Quebec, the Office of Consumer Affairs directs unresolved disputes to your provincial or territorial consumer affairs office. In Quebec, the Office de la protection du consommateur outlines a written repair estimate and a formal notice before court when goods in a mover's care are damaged.