Storage is a typical form of service provision. For a fee, the custodian agrees to accept, keep and return certain property to the depositor. By the way, the terms "depositor" and "depositor" are derived from the storage term - "luggage", which existed in the Russian pre-revolutionary legislation.
Terms of the contract of storage in civil law
Storage obligations may arise not only from the contract itself, but also appear by force of law. A vivid example is a supply contract in which a supplier has not fulfilled its obligations to supply a certain quantity of goods or an agreed quality. In this case, such a supplier is obliged to accept goods not transferred to the buyer for safekeeping. Another example is a thing found until it is returned to the person who lost it, by default it is considered accepted for safekeeping.
Subject of the contract
Any item that has no restrictions on free circulation can act as a storage item. This may be goods, securities, cash, documents.
There are no restrictions on the storage of real estate, but it is also not directly provided for by applicable law, therefore, there are no grounds for invalidating such transactions.
Property rights are not subject to storage, due to the fact that physically transferring them to another person is not possible.
Storage Contract Form
An essential condition of the storage agreement for the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is the form of its conclusion. Such contracts must be concluded in simple written form. For individuals, a written form is provided if the value of the subject of the contract exceeds ten times that established at the time of the minimum wage.
A simple written form is not only a contract or a check, but also a license plate, which can be transmitted in a hotel or in a left-luggage office at a train station.
In court proceedings, if the written form of the contract was not followed, then reference to witness testimony is possible only in two cases:
- if the dispute is about the identity of the thing that is returned by the keeper;
- in case of transferring things for storage in emergency conditions, for example, during a natural disaster in a certain territory.
Who is entitled to conclude a storage transaction
The essential conditions of the storage agreement include the legality of signing such agreements on both sides. Any person with full legal capacity may act as a depositor. For example, in order to hand over your luggage at a hotel, you just need to be registered there. In the case of a small household transaction, the depositor may not have full legal capacity.
A third person may also act as a depositor if he has full grounds for the temporary possession of another's property, or his rights derive from the provisions of the law.
A legal entity, an individual can act as a custodian, individual entrepreneurs without the status of a legal entity. Non-profit organizations may be engaged in storage only if there is a certain amount of special legal capacity, for example, if such an enterprise has one of the goals of professional activity - the storage of certain things.
Shelf life
The concept, legal nature and conditions of the storage agreement do not imply a mandatory indication of the term of the storage agreement, it can be concluded even before the depositor demands it.
If the storage period is specified in the contract, the custodian is not entitled to contact the depositor with the requirement to take his property ahead of schedule. In a consensual transaction, the custodian may refuse to accept the property if the term for its transfer to storage has been violated.
Duties of the parties
The terms of the storage agreement provide for a complete and clear description of the rights and obligations of both parties to the transaction.
The duties of the keeper. The custodian is obliged not only to accept the storage of a certain thing, but also to ensure its full safety until the moment of transferring it back to the depositor. The custodian is obliged to carry out his services in person, without transferring any rights to a third party. In no case is he entitled to use the subject of storage for personal interests. He must return the stored thing to the depositor in the same form in which it was transferred.
The rights of the keeper. The essential conditions of the storage contract include the rights of the custodian. So, he has the right to receive remuneration for his services if the transaction is onerous. The custodian has the right to reimburse the costs associated with the delay in the storage agreement due to the fault of the depositor. Terminate the contract unilaterally if the delay in the contract amounted to more than half of the contract. The keeper has the right to refuse to accept things for storage if it poses a threat to the environment or has certain dangerous properties.
Rights and obligations of the depositor. The depositor is obliged to pick up the subject of the transaction and pay the services of the custodian, if this is expressly provided for by the storage agreement. For example, the depositor’s obligation to pay for services relates to the essential condition of the storage agreement, and the custodian, in turn, is obliged to return the thing in full safety.
Termination of a storage transaction
Storage agreements are subject to the general rules for terminating business transactions. However, there are special conditions for early termination:
- the depositor has the right to withdraw from the contract of storage if he needed a thing earlier than provided for by the contract;
- if the custodian realizes that he cannot provide the necessary storage conditions, he is obliged to inform the depositor about this, if he does not take the necessary measures, the custodian has the right to sell such property;
- if during storage it is established that the thing has dangerous properties, the keeper has the right to destroy it, on the basis of Art. 894 Civil Code;
- if the depositor has delayed payment for storage by more than half of the period provided for by the contract.
You can terminate the storage agreement in court, but on the condition that the plaintiff, whether it is a custodian or depositor, was able to prove the materiality of violations of the transaction by the other party.
Safekeeping
Any enterprise sooner or later faces a logistic issue, goods must be stored and moved. Many logistics organizations offer safekeeping services.
Responsible storage is the lack of the need to acquire your own warehouse capacity, you do not need to build or rent a warehouse, hire personnel, charge him wages and purchase equipment for warehouse maintenance. The custody warehouse should be fully equipped, it not only fully regulated logistics processes, it also has an attractive appearance, it is clean and beautiful. In such warehouses, the question of sobriety of movers does not arise.
Distinctive features of the warehouse for safekeeping and leased warehouse:
- the essential terms of the custody agreement include individual services, palletizing or other complex services;
- no need to purchase warehouse equipment and hire staff;
- complete safety of the subject of the contract, even if the aircraft falls into the warehouse;
- the possibility of continuous expansion of storage space;
- the ability to pay only the actual storage.
Naturally, such services are not cheap, and there are no ideally universal storage facilities, however, a custody warehouse is a great opportunity to refuse to rent a room and save money.
The essential conditions of the custody agreement include the right to exercise. In some cases, the depositor may negotiate with the custodian the conditions for the sale of the stored property. For example, if the depositing entrepreneur is confident that he will not be able to timely deliver the goods to his buyer, he can transfer this function to the custodian. The proceeds from the sale belong to the depositor. The contract may provide that funds for the storage and sale of property are deducted from the sale amount.
Similar conditions are contained in the storage agreement with the pawnshop. In this case, if the loan funds are not returned within the agreed period, the property of the depositor may be sold by the custodian.
Delivery and storage
According to general rules, a supply contract is a type of sale transaction. Under the terms of the contract, the supplier agrees to transfer the subject of the contract to the buyer, who, in turn, will pay for the delivery.
The legislation obliges the buyer to accept for safekeeping the goods that he refused, notifying the supplier of his decision. The supplier, at the agreed time, may, at his discretion, dispose of the goods, pick them up, or sell them to a third party. If the supplier did not meet the agreed deadline, then the buyer has the right to act with him at his discretion, to realize it. If the buyer's refusal of the goods is not provided for by the terms of the contract or legislation, the supplier has the right to demand payment for the goods not accepted.
There is also such a form of supply agreement with the terms of the storage agreement. The buyer can agree with the supplier that the subject of the contract is transferred to him at a certain moment, and until that date the supplier assumes the obligation to store the acquired material assets. Naturally, the storage service should be provided for a fee.
Warehouse storage
The legislation distinguishes storage contracts in a warehouse in a separate category. An essential condition of the storage agreement at the warehouse is the regulation of legal relations of legal entities that carry out independent professional activities for the provision of warehouse services. The rule of law in this case does not regulate relations in warehouses, which are a structural unit of a particular enterprise.
There are two types of warehouses:
- common use;
- departmental warehouses, that is, serving certain structures, for example, military warehouses.
Departmental have the right to store non-core goods, but this is a right, not an obligation.
Warehouses can carry out:
- Separate storage, that is, each product retains the right of the owner to own it.
- Anonymized storage, that is, property is stored on a generic basis, while belonging to different persons on the basis of ownership. In this case, the custodian undertakes to return to the depositor an equal number of things of the same kind that were transferred for storage. Such warehouses are much preferable in economic terms, but the depositor has a great risk of getting back a thing that is not fully consistent with certain signs of the one that was transferred to storage.
The depositor under this type of contract has the right to verify his property. If storage is carried out on an anonymity basis, samples may be taken to verify the property transferred for storage.
A condition for concluding a storage agreement at a warehouse may also be the processing of the subject of the agreement, for example, painting or drying, packaging.
A special type of storage in a warehouse - with the condition of its use by the keeper. Such agreements have signs of a loan, so the risk of actual destruction of the stored property passes entirely to the custodian.
Pawnshop storage
A pawnshop is a commercial enterprise that provides loans secured by certain things. In this case, the essential condition of the storage agreement is that the depositor can only be an individual, and only property with a consumer purpose can be the thing transferred for storage. The contract with the pawnshop is public, urgent, and the subject of the contract is subject to evaluation. The keeper, in this case the pawnshop, is obligated to insure the property received from the depositor in his own favor, for the entire value that was determined when evaluating the subject of the contract.
Storage of valuables in a bank
This type of transaction is also public in nature. The bank must have a license for valuation actions. The subject of the contract may be:
- securities;
- precious stones and metals;
- documents and other values.
As a confirmation of the acceptance of the property for storage, the bank issues a special registered document to the depositor, which is the basis for the return of the valuable thing. Contracts for the provision of individual safes and cells fall into this category. These agreements may provide for the possibility of the depositor to carry out certain actions with his property within the walls of a banking institution. In this case, the bank only prevents illegal entry into the premises where valuables are stored.
There are many more types of storage contracts, both public and not. There are also complex storage contracts, for example, when transporting passengers. A storage agreement can be part of not only a complex, but also a mixed agreement, for example, a contract for a transport expedition, where the driver or forwarder will be responsible not only for the delivery of the goods, but also for their safety until the moment of transfer to the recipient.