An ECRI in self storage is an existing customer rate increase, a rent increase sent to a tenant who's already in the unit. Because most storage rentals run month to month, your facility can reprice a tenant with notice instead of waiting for a lease to end.
Public Storage calls the number of long-term tenants it can raise an important factor in its revenue growth (Public Storage 2025 10-K). Done badly, an ECRI empties units you'll re-let for less.
Why your longest-staying tenants pay above street
The pattern is simple. Win the move-in with a low rate, then raise it over the stay. In 2025, Public Storage tenants moving in paid an average of $12.80 per square foot a year, while the tenants moving out paid $20.30 (Public Storage 2025 10-K).
So the tenants leaving were paying about 59% more per foot than the tenants replacing them (Public Storage 2025 10-K). The two groups differ in unit mix and market, but much of that gap is likely accumulated increases.
How operators set and time an ECRI
Two decisions make an ECRI: who gets one, and how big.
On who, Public Storage says it generally raises rent for tenants who've been in at least five months, and does it every six to twelve months (Public Storage 2025 10-K). Extra Space says its existing tenants generally get an increase at least once a year (Extra Space 2025 10-K).
The tenure floor matters. A tenant who's been in a year has a full unit and a real hassle if they move it.
Extra Space reports that tenants who vacated its same-store properties had stayed about 17 months on average, and Public Storage says more than half its tenants had been renting for over a year at the end of 2025 (Extra Space 2025 10-K, Public Storage 2025 10-K).
On how big, Public Storage describes the trade-off plainly:
"The level of rate increases to long-term tenants is based upon evaluating the additional revenue from the increase against the negative impact of incremental move-outs, by considering tenants' in-place rent and prevailing market rents, among other factors." (Public Storage, 2025 Form 10-K)
That's the right frame for an independent too. The question is how many tenants can leave before the increase stops paying.
What a 10% ECRI is worth on 100 of your tenants
Here's a worked example. Swap in your own assumptions.
These tenants already pay well above street, so treat this as the high-risk case. Tenants nearer street cost less when they leave.
Take 100 eligible tenants in 10x10s, each paying $150 a month. The street rate for the same unit today is $110. You send a 10% increase, so each tenant goes to $165, or $15 more a month.
If nobody leaves because of it, the group pays $198,000 over 12 months instead of $180,000. That's $18,000 more.
Some will leave. Say a vacated unit sits empty for two months and then re-lets at the $110 street rate. Over the year it brings in $1,100, against the $1,980 the tenant would have paid at the new rate. Each extra vacate costs you $880.
| Scenario | Revenue over 12 months | Versus no increase |
|---|---|---|
| No increase | $180,000 | |
| Increase, nobody extra leaves | $198,000 | +$18,000 |
| Increase, 8 extra vacates | $190,960 | +$10,960 |
The number to know is the break-even. Divide $18,000 by $880 and you get about 20. The increase pays as long as fewer than about 20 of every 100 notified tenants move out because of it.
Change one assumption and the answer moves. If a vacated unit takes four months to re-let, it brings in $880 for the year, each extra vacate costs $1,100, and the break-even drops to about 16 tenants.
How fast you fill an empty unit sets how hard you can push current tenants, which is why the marketing that drives move-ins and the rent roll belong in the same plan.
How to set an ECRI at your self storage facility
- Pull the rent roll. For every tenant, list the move-in date, current rent, unit type and today's street rate for that unit type.
- Set eligibility. Pick a tenure floor and leave out anyone raised in the last six months. Leave out delinquent tenants too, since a bigger bill rarely gets paid faster.
- Size each increase against the gap to street, not as one flat number. A tenant already far above street has the most reason to shop around.
- Run the break-even with your own numbers: the monthly increase, times 12, times the number of tenants, divided by what one extra vacate costs you. Write down the vacate count you'll accept before anything goes out.
- Hold back a control group. Leave a random one in ten eligible tenants out of this round.
- Send notice the way your rental agreement and your state's law require.
- Measure at 60 and 90 days.
Running several facilities? Do this for each one separately. A portfolio average hides the facility where vacates jumped.
How to tell whether it worked
Count vacates in the notified group and in the control group over the same window. Divide each by the number of tenants that group started with.
That's the churn measure Public Storage reports, units moved out over occupied units at the start of the period. Its same-store churn was 18.2% for the second quarter of 2026 (Public Storage Q2 2026 10-Q).
The difference between your two groups is the move-outs the increase caused. Compare it with your break-even. Under it, the increase paid. Over it, size the next round smaller or raise the tenure floor.
Mistakes that cost money
One flat increase for everyone. It overcharges the tenants already above street and undercharges the ones still near it.
No control group. Without one, every vacate looks like the ECRI's fault, or none do.
Forgetting that street rates move. Public Storage's average move-in rent fell 6.5% in 2025 (Public Storage 2025 10-K). When street rates fall, every vacate re-lets for less and your break-even falls with it. Rerun the math each round.
Ignoring emergency rules. After wildfires and floods, state and local rules have limited how far operators could raise rents on existing tenants, as both Public Storage and Extra Space note in their filings (Public Storage 2025 10-K, Extra Space 2025 10-K). Check before you send.
Pretending tenants can't see your prices. Your facility website shows every tenant today's street rate, which is why step 3 sizes by the gap.
The ECRI calendar belongs in next year's budget beside the marketing plan. This week, pull the rent roll and count the tenants who've been in more than a year without an increase. That count tells you what the next round is worth.