Can You Legally Charge a Family Member for Storing Belongings They Never Agreed to Pay For?
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Reviewed & verified by A. Jason Velez, Esq.*
Managing Attorney, 1LAW · Last reviewed January 21, 2026
Legal Inquiry
Consumer Legal Issue
Since june 21, 2022 I have been storing a family members belongins in my garage free of charge. february 27, 2025 I verbally told them that if their items are still in my garage by march 15, 2025 they would have to pay me $125 a month. march 15th came and I sent a text message asking if they were getting their items or paying me. they stated they were not paying me and would get their items the following tuesday which would have been march 18th. they never got their items. days, weeks and months have passed. they never said anything about setting up a date to get their stuff. so I started adding up the money that would be owed every month since I was still storing their items. december 23, 2025 I sent a certified letter demanding payment and that they retrieve their items within 30 days of them receiving the letter.
When you’ve verbally told them that continued use of your property to store their possessions will cost $125 a month.
Attorney Answer
The record doesn't show whether your family member actually received the certified letter or ever responded to it, and either way, you cannot simply impose a monthly storage fee on someone who explicitly refused to agree to pay it.
Storing the items for free since 2022 created a bailment, but a bailment alone doesn't create a debt — charging for storage requires either the other person's agreement or a court order, and neither exists here since they told you directly they would not pay. This is a disputed, non-contractual situation, not an enforceable fee arrangement. Illinois storage liens, though, are not limited to commercial facilities: under 770 ILCS 45/1, every person who has furnished storage for a chattel at the request of its owner has a lien on it for the contract price or, if no price was agreed, the reasonable worth of the storage, and that Act carries its own foreclosure procedure. For claims of $2,000 or less, the Labor and Storage Lien (Small Amount) Act, 770 ILCS 50/1 and 50/2, gives a lien to anyone who furnished storage at the request of or with the consent of the owner, and lets it be enforced by a commercially reasonable public or private sale once the chattel goes unredeemed for 90 days (dollar limit and waiting period as of publication). Whether a lien attached here turns on whether the belongings were left with you at your family member's request or with their consent — a fact question worth an attorney's review — and it is disposing of the items outside those statutory procedures, not the lien itself, that would expose you to liability for conversion. A claim for the reasonable value of storage provided (quantum meruit) is a civil claim, and under Illinois Code of Civil Procedure § 13-205, claims of this kind generally must be brought within five years of when each amount accrues.
What you can do:
1. File a small-claims action seeking the reasonable value of storage provided since 2022.
2. Separately petition the court to compel removal of the items if they won't retrieve them voluntarily.
3. Keep your text messages and the certified letter as evidence of your repeated demands.
4. Have a local attorney review the timeline before more time passes.
⏱ Time limits apply. Recovering storage costs under an unwritten arrangement is governed by Illinois's five-year limitations period under Code of Civil Procedure § 13-205, running separately from when each month's amount accrued — a local attorney should review your timeline promptly to confirm what's still recoverable.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I charge someone for storing their belongings if they never agreed to pay?
Not automatically — a storage fee generally requires either the other person's agreement or a court order; simply announcing a fee doesn't create an enforceable debt on its own.
Can I dispose of someone else's belongings if they won't retrieve them?
Not on your own terms, but Illinois storage liens are not limited to commercial facilities: 770 ILCS 45/1 gives a lien to anyone who furnished storage for a chattel at its owner's request, and for claims of $2,000 or less 770 ILCS 50/1 and 50/2 allow a commercially reasonable public or private sale once the item goes unredeemed for 90 days (limit and waiting period as of publication). Disposing of the property outside those procedures is what exposes the storer to liability.
How can I recover the value of storage I provided for free?
A civil claim for the reasonable value of services provided is often available, though it is generally subject to a state's statute of limitations for filing such a claim.
