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SCRASAVER

Subchapter III. Rent, Installment Contracts, Mortgages, Liens, Assignment, Leases, Communications Service Contracts

50 U.S.C. § 3958: No SCRA Storage Auction Without a Court Order

Official heading: Enforcement of storage liens

In one line

Stops a storage facility, repair shop, towing yard, or any other lien holder from foreclosing or enforcing a lien on your property during service and 90 days after without first getting a court order.

  • Covers liens for storage, repair, or cleaning of the servicemember’s property, and any other lien on that property
  • The court order must be granted before foreclosure or enforcement; a knowing violation is punishable by fine or up to one year in prison

Text checked October 9, 2026

What § 3958 does to your money

Storage units, repair shops and tow yards all hold liens that let them sell your property when a bill goes unpaid. During any period of military service and for 90 days after, a person holding a lien on your property or effects may not foreclose or enforce it without a court order obtained first. “Lien” includes liens for storage, repair or cleaning, and a lien “for any other reason”.

In the court case, the judge may act on its own and must act on your request when service materially affects your ability to pay: stay the proceeding as justice and equity require, or adjust the obligation. The debt does not disappear. Storage rent and repair charges still accrue, and the lienholder can still pursue them; what it cannot do is skip the court and auction your household goods or your car.

Knowing violations are punishable by a fine and up to one year in prison. The Justice Department has used this section against towing companies that sold servicemembers’ vehicles and storage operators that auctioned units without court orders; those cases are in the enforcement record below.

Guides on this site that apply § 3958

Enforcement record: 7 Justice Department cases

Cases in the site’s DOJ enforcement ledger about the conduct § 3958 governs, newest first, each transcribed from the Justice Department’s own record.

  • Vehicle Management Solutions, Inc. (VMS) (2026)

    Settlement (May 28, 2026): $220,000 to compensate the servicemembers and a $60,000 civil penalty to the United States, plus revised policies, procedures, and training materials.

  • Morningstar Properties, LLC, d/b/a Morningstar Storage (2024)

    Consent order (entered November 1, 2024): $80,000 for one servicemember, $5,000 each for two more, a $40,000 civil penalty, and SCRA-compliant policies and procedures.

  • City of El Paso, United Road Towing, and Rod Robertson Enterprises (2023 to 2025)

    United Road Towing (June 30, 2025): a $57,935 settlement fund and a $24,980 civil penalty. City of El Paso (August 26, 2025): SCRA-compliant policies, training, and a $20,000 civil penalty. Rod Robertson Enterprises (October 30, 2025): a $140,000 settlement fund and a $20,000 civil penalty.

  • Target Recovery Towing (2020)

    Consent order (entered September 29, 2020): $17,500 to the servicemember, a $2,500 civil penalty, and new policies and procedures.

  • PRTaylor LLC, d/b/a Father & Son Moving & Storage (2020 to 2021)

    Consent order (entered November 2, 2021): $60,000 to the servicemember, a $5,000 civil penalty, annual SCRA training, SCRA safeguards written into its storage contracts, and compliance checks before enforcing any storage lien.

  • United Tows, LLC (2020 to 2021)

    Consent decree (entered July 26, 2021): $40,000 in total to five servicemembers, a $10,000 civil penalty, new policies, and training.

  • Shur-Way Moving and Cartage (2019)

    Consent decree (entered August 2, 2019): $20,000 in damages to the servicemember, a $10,000 civil penalty, and revised policies.

The full text of 50 U.S.C. § 3958

From the United States Code, 2024 Edition, current through January 6, 2025, as published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office on GovInfo (retrieved October 10, 2026). No amendment enacted after the edition cutoff was found on Cornell LII or in GovInfo’s compiled SCRA (amended through Pub. L. 118-159, Dec. 23, 2024). House style: the Code’s em dashes before a list are shown as colons, and en dashes as hyphens or “to”; no word of the text is changed.

(a) Liens

(1) Limitation on foreclosure or enforcement

A person holding a lien on the property or effects of a servicemember may not, during any period of military service of the servicemember and for 90 days thereafter, foreclose or enforce any lien on such property or effects without a court order granted before foreclosure or enforcement.

(2) Lien defined

For the purposes of paragraph (1), the term "lien" includes a lien for storage, repair, or cleaning of the property or effects of a servicemember or a lien on such property or effects for any other reason.

(b) Stay of proceedings

In a proceeding to foreclose or enforce a lien subject to this section, the court may on its own motion, and shall if requested by a servicemember whose ability to comply with the obligation resulting in the proceeding is materially affected by military service:

(1) stay the proceeding for a period of time as justice and equity require; or

(2) adjust the obligation to preserve the interests of all parties.

The provisions of this subsection do not affect the scope of section 3953 of this title.

(c) Misdemeanor

A person who knowingly takes an action contrary to this section, or attempts to do so, shall be fined as provided in title 18, or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

Enacted and amended by: (Oct. 17, 1940, ch. 888, title III, §307, as added Pub. L. 108-189, §1, Dec. 19, 2003, 117 Stat. 2851; amended Pub. L. 111-275, title III, §303(b)(7), Oct. 13, 2010, 124 Stat. 2878.)

What changed, and when

The Office of the Law Revision Counsel’s amendment notes for § 3958, newest first.

  • 2010: Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 111-275 amended subsec. (c) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (c) related to penalties.

Effective date: Section applicable to any case not final before Dec. 19, 2003, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108-189, set out as a note under section 3901 of this title.

Every section of the Act, including the short administrative ones without their own page, is on the section-by-section index.

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