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Self storage automation, built around your platform

Self storage automation, as we build it, sits around the management platform you already run. Your self storage software holds the units, customers and invoices. We build what joins it to the rest: booking, payments, arrears, sale notices and rent increases. Stores average 2.6 staff, so the hours matter.

The SSA UK's 2026 report counts 3,143 stores, and over 90% offer online booking. What is left sits between systems: a Direct Debit that fails late, a gate that must follow the ledger, a rent increase that needs Direct Debit notice.

Start a projectWhat we would build

Where the time goes

  • Enquiry to move-in

    Enquiry-to-sale conversion fell across online, phone and walk-in enquiries in 2024. A move-in then means photo ID and proof of address under the voluntary Tick Box code, where a store follows it, a signed licence agreement, a Direct Debit mandate or card, and an access code.

  • Arrears and overlocking

    Reminders go out around the due date (Storman's example: two days before, two after, a final one at five), then a late fee, and access is suspended (overlocked) on the operator's schedule. A Direct Debit can fail after its due date, so timing decides who gets locked out.

  • Sale of goods

    When arrears run on, the end point is a sale: written notices, a waiting period, an inventory and an auction, which can be held online through a site such as iBidOnStorage. Then comes an account of what the sale raised and cost.

  • Churn and rate changes

    Churn has been just under 100% a year since 2023: a store with 400 occupied units needs about 400 new customers a year to hold occupancy. Operators increasingly price dynamically, and expect to raise existing customers' rates more readily than new customers'.

The systems you already run

We build around them, so nobody has to move their work to a new platform.

  • Storable Edge and SiteLink

    Storable's management platforms. Storable Edge has a documented REST API, with credentials created by the facility's own user, covering units, tenants, leads, ledgers, payments and gate codes. SiteLink has an API support contact, but we found no public documentation.

  • Stora

    Online sales, payments, a website builder and access-control integrations. Its public API uses access tokens or OAuth 2.0 and sends webhooks, on the Advanced, Premium and legacy higher-level plans.

  • Storeganise

    Bookings, automated invoicing and chasing, and multi-site management. Its open API is documented on each operator's own instance, with admin API documentation on request, and it sends webhooks.

  • Space Manager, Storman and Kinnovis

    Three more management platforms. Space Manager mentions API connectivity for custom integrations, but we found no public documentation for it or Storman. Kinnovis publishes documentation for its Kinnovis Connect API.

  • Access control and Direct Debit

    PTI, Nokē and OpenTech run gates, keypads and smart locks. OpenTech has an API developer portal (sign-up and approval needed); for PTI and Nokē we found no public API. GoCardless documents its Direct Debit API.

What we would build

  • Arrears to sale, with the evidence kept

    One workflow from overdue to late fee, overlock, notice, waiting period, inventory and sale. Each notice goes by the method the law or your licence requires, a dispute stops it, and every step is dated. Scottish stores get their own track.

  • Booking and move-in on your platform's API

    A booking journey that shows the total price with VAT and mandatory fees, records an express request to start within the cancellation period, collects ID, sets up a mandate or card, and writes the rental back to your platform.

  • Payments that match the ledger

    Direct Debit and card events posted to the ledger as they happen, with Direct Debits held as pending until they clear or fail. Access follows what has been paid, so a paying customer is not locked out.

  • Rate changes and notices

    Proposed increases put through an approval step, then sent with the notice your licence and the Direct Debit Guarantee require. Every notice, reply and new rate is recorded against the customer.

Rules we build around

The software keeps the dates, records and evidence these ask for. The duties stay with you, and we would check how they apply to your business with you.

  • Value Added Tax Act 1994, Schedule 9, Group 1, item 1(ka)

    Since 1 October 2012, self storage has been excluded from the land exemption, so storage charges carry standard-rate VAT, subject to three exceptions. Where space could serve several uses, HMRC advises getting the customer's written confirmation of actual use, reviewed periodically.

  • Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, s.12 and Schedule 1

    A bailee may sell uncollected goods after written notice by registered letter or recorded delivery, at least three months ahead where money is owed, and not while a dispute about the goods has the customer questioning or refusing payment. It does not extend to Scotland. Check with your solicitor.

  • Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, s.230

    In force since 6 April 2025. The price in an invitation to purchase must be the total, including VAT and mandatory fees such as an admin fee. For a rolling monthly contract, that is the price per period.

  • Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013

    Online and phone bookings by consumers carry a 14-day cancellation period. Storage can start sooner only at the customer's express request, and a customer who then cancels pays a proportionate amount only if they were given the required information.

Where AI helps

AI should not approve a customer, overlock a unit or send goods to sale on its own. Those decisions touch someone's belongings, and some turn on judgement, such as whether a reply is a dispute about the goods. A named person decides.

  • Reading ID and proof of address at move-in and comparing them with the booking, with the store manager checking the documents are genuine and the person matches.
  • Sorting replies to arrears notices into promise to pay, change of address, hardship or dispute, with your credit controller reviewing every dispute and hardship case.
  • Drafting an inventory of a unit from photos before a sale, as iBidOnStorage's AuctionLens does, with staff checking it against the unit.

Software we built and still run

  • StoreBay

    We designed, built and run StoreBay, self-storage management software: online booking and an operator website, billing and invoicing, card payments, Direct Debit through GoCardless on the operator's own account, late-payment chasing by email, licences signed online, a customer portal, a back office, and an API with webhooks.

    How we built StoreBay

Questions

Will you replace our management software?

Usually not: we build around it. Storable Edge, Stora and Kinnovis publish API documentation, Storeganise documents its API inside each operator's instance, and Space Manager mentions API connectivity. For Storman and SiteLink we found no public documentation, so we would ask the vendor first.

Can Scottish stores follow a different arrears process?

They need to. The power of sale in the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 does not extend to Scotland. We would build a separate track, with its steps set from your licence and your Scottish solicitor's advice.

Can lock-outs run automatically?

Most platforms already link access to payment status. The work is in the exceptions: payment plans, disputes, and Direct Debits that fail late. We build rules for those, so access follows the ledger, not the calendar.

How do rent increases work with Direct Debit?

The Direct Debit Guarantee normally needs 10 working days' notice of a change in amount, and your licence sets its own period. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an increase without a consumer customer being free to end the licence can be challenged as unfair.

Related

Other industries: Letting agents, Logistics.

Sources

Every rule, date and figure on this page comes from the sources below, checked on 31 October 2026. Rules change: check anything that matters with the source or your adviser.

The 40 sources

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