Eleven kinds of record leave the old system when you switch. Some import as a single number. Ledgers, lien stages, military flags and signed leases do not, because the law reads their detail.
Almost all of it, but not all of it the same way. A self storage data migration moves eleven kinds of record, and only some of them survive being boiled down to one number. Tenant contacts and units import as simple rows. Ledgers, lien stages, military flags and signed leases need their detail, because the law reads that detail. California is a good example: once rent has gone unpaid for 14 consecutive days, the owner may send a preliminary lien notice, and it must itemize every amount owed and the date it came due. A balance carried over as one line cannot produce that notice.
What a self storage data migration covers
Here is the full list, with the export format that holds up and the failure each one is prone to. The sections after the table take the risky ones in turn.
| Record | Export it as | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant contacts | CSV, one row per tenant | Alternate contact and second address dropped |
| Units and rates | CSV, one row per unit | Unit 0102 arrives as 102 |
| Active rentals | CSV: tenant, unit, start date, rate, rent day | Rent day lost, so the first bill lands on the wrong date |
| Ledger | CSV of every charge and payment, with dates | Imported as one opening balance |
| Lien and delinquency stage | Report listing stage, date reached and how each notice was sent | The cycle restarts, or jumps ahead of the statute |
| Military status | Flagged list with service dates | No column for it on either side |
| Signed leases and addenda | One PDF per document, named by tenant and unit | Left behind when the old account closes |
| Notes and call history | CSV with date and staff name per note | Cut short, or split across columns |
| Excess lien sale proceeds owed | List of sale date, tenant and amount | Forgotten, since the unit has a new renter |
| Gate codes | CSV, column formatted as text | Leading zeros stripped |
| Saved cards | Nothing you handle: processor to processor | Card numbers end up in a spreadsheet |
Ledgers: bring the lines, not the total
Take an illustrative California tenant. Rent of $129 came due October 1 and went unpaid, a $20 late fee posted October 6, and you cut over on October 8. Import a single opening balance of $149 dated October 8, and the notice your new system prints a week later shows one charge with the wrong due date. Section 21703 of the Business and Professions Code wants each amount and the date it came due.
So for anyone with a balance, bring every open charge as its own line with its original date.
Paid-up tenants are different. A zero balance is a zero balance, and their old history can stay in an archive. Keep that archive readable: the IRS tells businesses to keep records for 3 years by default, and 7 years when they claim a bad debt deduction.
Lien stages, and the date each one started
The software knows a tenant is in lien because a date passed and a notice went out. Lose those two facts and the new system either treats the tenant as current or starts the count again.
California's notice must give a termination date at least 14 days after mailing, and it goes to an alternative address the tenant supplied, which is the field most often dropped in a contact import.
Before cutover, pull a report of every tenant past due: the stage, the date they reached it, which notice went out, how it was sent, and where the proof of mailing is. Check that list against the new system the day after import, tenant by tenant. This list is where an import mistake most easily turns into a wrongful sale.
The military flag nobody exports
Federal law adds a stage your state statute does not mention. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a lien for storage cannot be enforced without a court order while the tenant is in military service and for 90 days after it ends. A knowing violation carries a fine, up to a year in prison, or both.
Export the flag with the tenant record. If the new system has no field for it, put it somewhere staff will see before any lien step runs, and record when the service ends so the 90 days can be counted.
Signed leases do not need signing again
The federal E-SIGN Act settles this. A requirement to keep a contract is met by an electronic record that accurately reflects it and stays accessible, in a form that can be reproduced, for as long as the law requires. Subsection (d)(3) says such a copy also satisfies a rule demanding the original.
The catch is the word accessible. A lease that lives only inside software you have cancelled is not accessible to anyone. Export each signed lease, addendum and protection plan election as a separate PDF, named so a person can find tenant 4471 in unit 0215 without the old login.
Notes and call history
Notes carry promises to pay and the reason a fee was waived. They are also the field most likely to break an export.
A note with a comma or a line break in it splits into extra columns unless it is wrapped in double quotes, the convention RFC 4180 set out for CSV files in October 2005. A quote mark inside a note has to be doubled. Open a sample of the export in a text editor and look at five long notes before trusting the rest.
Self storage data migration traps in a spreadsheet
Most exports get opened in Excel at some point, and Excel changes data on the way in without asking. Microsoft documents each of these behaviors in its Excel support articles, and the row, cell and digit limits are on its specifications and limits page:
- Leading zeros are removed, so gate code 0427 becomes 427 and no longer matches the keypad.
- Numbers keep 15 significant digits. Anything past the 15th becomes a zero, which ruins long reference numbers.
- A cell holds 32,767 characters, enough for most notes but not a decade of them pasted into one field.
- Workbooks on the 1904 date system sit 1,462 days apart from the default 1900 system, so a pasted date that Excel does not convert moves by four years and a day.
- One sheet stops at 1,048,576 rows. Ledger history for several sites over many years can run past that.
Format code and unit columns as text before pasting, or keep the files out of Excel altogether.
Money you owe tenants after a lien sale
This one is easy to miss because no active rental points to it. In Texas, when a sale brings in more than the lien and the sale costs, Property Code section 59.046 has the operator notify the tenant of the excess and hand it over if they ask within two years of the sale. Only after two years does the operator own it.
Export every sale with a surplus: date, tenant, last known address, amount and whether notice went out. Other states set their own rules on surplus, so check yours before deciding how far back to go.
How the import works in Smart Storage Software
The importers take CSV files for customers, units and active rentals, map your old column names to ours, catch duplicates, and show a preview with validation before anything is written. Once in, each tenant profile holds the payment ledger, signed documents, notes and contact history together. The CSV import for tenants, units and rentals handles the record types in the first three rows of the table above. For the other eight, ask any vendor on your list, us included, where each record lands and get the answer in writing.
Keep the old system readable after cutover
Disputes and surplus claims arrive after the switch, sometimes years after. Keep a complete export somewhere you control for as long as the IRS periods and the Texas two years run.
Start with the past-due report. It changes every week, so it is the one export to pull last and check first.
Questions about moving storage data
Can I import only the balances and start fresh?
For tenants who are paid up, yes. For anyone behind, keep the line-by-line detail. California's preliminary lien notice has to itemize each amount owed and the date it came due, and a single opening balance cannot show that.
How long should I keep the old software readable?
At least three years, the IRS default for business records. Seven years if you claim a bad debt deduction. In Texas, a tenant can claim excess lien sale proceeds for two years after the sale, so those records need to outlast that too.
Do renters have to re-sign their leases after the switch?
No. Under the federal E-SIGN Act, an electronic copy meets a retention requirement if it accurately reflects the original and stays accessible, in a form that can be reproduced, for as long as the law requires. Export every signed document as its own file.
What if a tenant in lien is on active military duty?
Stop and check before any sale. Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a storage lien on a servicemember's property cannot be enforced without a court order during military service and for 90 days after it ends. Make sure that flag survives the import.
