“Storage” covers three products that behave completely differently in law. A self-storage licence gives you no exclusive possession and gives the operator a lien over your goods. A leased unit or arch gives you a tenancy and a repairing obligation. Open storage land is a planning question before it is a property one. And self-storage is standard rated for VAT whether or not there is an option to tax — which is not how any other kind of property letting works.
A leased unit gives you exclusive possession, a repairing obligation and, unless contracted out, security of tenure. A self-storage licence gives you none of those — the operator keeps possession and retains rights of access. Both can be right; you need to know which you are signing.
Since 1 October 2012 the supply of facilities for self-storage of goods is standard rated regardless of any option to tax. Letting a warehouse remains exempt unless opted. The test is the principal element of the supply, and getting it wrong changes your cost by a fifth.
Self-storage operators insure the building, not your contents, and their liability is limited by contract. They also take a lien — if fees go unpaid, uncollected goods can lawfully be sold after proper notice. It is in every agreement and almost nobody reads it.
Our fee is paid by the landlord or the operator. No fee to you and no retainer — and no reason for us to put you in a product that does not suit what you are storing.
Goods, stock, vehicles, documents or plant — and whether you need to work in the space, take deliveries, or just leave things there. That decides which of the three products fits and rules out most of the market immediately.
Lease or licence, the VAT treatment, access hours and vehicle access, insurance requirements, the repairing obligation if there is one, and the planning position on open land.
Damp and ventilation on arches and basements, floor loading, headroom at the door rather than in the middle, drainage on open land, and whether your insurer will accept the storage conditions at all.
Self-storage is a licence. You get a unit within a facility, the operator retains possession and rights of access, and the arrangement can usually be ended at short notice on either side. There is no security of tenure and no repairing obligation on you, which is the trade for the flexibility.
A leased unit — an industrial unit, a railway arch, a lock-up — is a tenancy. You get exclusive possession, you take a repairing obligation, and unless the lease is contracted out you have security of tenure under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. It is cheaper per square foot and it carries obligations that a licence does not.
Open storage land is a planning question first. Storing goods in the open is a use, and using land that was previously agricultural, vacant or something else for open storage is a material change of use requiring permission. Then come the practical points: surfacing, drainage and surface water discharge, boundary treatment and security, and whether the site has any contamination history that storage will make someone else’s problem later.
Ordinarily, letting commercial property is exempt from VAT unless the landlord has opted to tax. Self-storage does not follow that rule. Since 1 October 2012, the supply of facilities for the self-storage of goods is standard rated whether or not there is an option to tax, where the goods are stored in a relevant structure — a building, a unit, or a fully enclosed container.
The distinction from a warehouse letting is the principal element of the supply. Where storage is the dominant purpose, the supply is taxable. Where storage is incidental to something else — a shop with a stockroom, a sorting facility where the processing is the point — the liability follows the principal use instead. Letting a warehouse to a tenant who happens to store things in it is not the same as supplying self-storage facilities.
Because self-storage is a licence rather than a lease, the operator retains possession of the building and reserves rights of access to your unit — typically for inspection, for emergencies, and where fees are unpaid. Read those rights rather than assuming they mirror a landlord’s limited right of entry, because they generally do not.
The provision that matters most is the lien. Almost every self-storage agreement gives the operator a lien over the goods for unpaid charges, together with a right to sell uncollected goods after giving proper notice, drawing on the framework for bailees dealing with uncollected goods. In practice that means arrears can end with your property being sold, lawfully, to cover them. It is standard, it is enforceable, and it is one of the reasons the product is cheap to run.
Insurance runs the same way. The operator insures the building; you insure the goods, either through the operator’s scheme or your own policy, and the operator’s liability for loss or damage is limited by the contract. Check the limit, check what is excluded, and check whether your existing business policy covers goods stored off site — many do not without an endorsement.
Railway arches and basement units make up a substantial part of the cheap storage market, and they share a set of problems that do not show up on a viewing in July. Damp and condensation are the main one: masonry arches move moisture, ventilation is often minimal, and goods that would be fine in a modern unit can be ruined over a winter. Ask what the humidity is like in February, not what it is like today.
Then the practical constraints. Headroom at the door rather than at the apex, because the door is what limits what you can get in. Floor loading and surface condition. Vehicle access, turning and whether unloading blocks a public highway. Access hours, which on managed estates and arch portfolios are frequently restricted. And the repairing obligation, which on an arch can be unusual because the structure itself is an operational railway asset — establish exactly what you are responsible for before you sign, not by inference from a standard lease.
Most storage sits in B8, storage and distribution, which is outside Class E — so there is no permitted flexibility to change to another use without an application. From 1 April 2026 storage property falls on the standard multipliers: 43.2p below £51,000 rateable value, 48.0p from £51,000 to £499,999, and 50.8p at £500,000 and above, applied to the whole rateable value.
Small business rate relief still matters at this end of the market: full relief below £12,000 rateable value, tapering to £15,000, where you occupy only one property. On a small arch or lock-up that can be the difference between a viable cost and an uneconomic one, and it is worth checking the assessment rather than assuming the quoted rent is the whole picture. Empty rates on storage property carry the six-month industrial exemption rather than three, after which full rates fall due.
Almost always a licence, and yes it matters. Under a licence the operator retains possession of the building and reserves rights of access to your unit; you have no exclusive possession, no security of tenure and no repairing obligation. That is the trade for being able to take space this afternoon and leave next month. A leased unit or arch is the opposite: exclusive possession, a repairing obligation, and security of tenure under the 1954 Act unless contracted out. Neither is better in the abstract — but the terms you should be reading are completely different.
Because self-storage does not follow the ordinary rule for property. Since 1 October 2012 the supply of facilities for the self-storage of goods has been standard rated regardless of any option to tax, where the goods are kept in a building, unit or fully enclosed container. Letting a warehouse remains exempt unless opted — the difference is whether storage is the principal element of the supply or incidental to something else. If you are VAT registered it is recoverable and the point is administrative. If you are not, it is a straight 20% on your cost.
If charges go unpaid and proper notice is given, yes. Almost every self-storage agreement gives the operator a lien over the stored goods for unpaid fees and a right to sell uncollected goods after notice, using the framework that applies to bailees holding goods nobody collects. It is standard across the industry and it is enforceable. The practical protections are keeping the account current, keeping your contact details up to date so notices actually reach you, and reading the notice provisions before you sign rather than after arrears build up.
Damp, first. Masonry arches move moisture, ventilation is often minimal, and goods that survive a summer viewing can be ruined over a winter — ask what conditions are like in February. Then headroom at the door rather than at the apex, floor loading and surface, vehicle access and whether unloading blocks a highway, and access hours, which on arch portfolios are frequently restricted. Finally the repairing obligation, which on an arch can be unusual because the structure is an operational railway asset. Get it stated explicitly rather than inferred from a standard lease.
Usually, yes. Storing goods in the open is a use in planning terms, so putting open storage on land that was previously agricultural, vacant or in some other use is a material change of use requiring permission. Beyond the consent itself, expect questions about surfacing, surface water drainage and discharge, boundary treatment and security, and hours of operation. If the site has an industrial history, a desk study is worth doing before you take it on — contamination liability under Part 2A can reach a current occupier where the original polluter cannot be found.
