RCW 22.28.040 Procedure when rent is unpaid.

If the amount due for the rental of any safe or box in the vaults of any safe deposit company shall not have been paid for one year, it may, at the expiration thereof, send to the person in whose name such safe or box stands on its books a notice in writing in securely closed, postpaid and certified mail, return receipt requested, directed to such person at his or her post office address, as recorded upon the books of the safe deposit company, notifying such person that if the amount due for the rental of such safe or box is not paid within thirty days from date, the safe deposit company will then cause such safe or box to be opened, and the contents thereof to be inventoried, sealed, and placed in one of its general safes or boxes.

Upon the expiration of thirty days from the date of mailing such notice, and the failure of the person in whose name the safe or box stands on the books of the company to pay the amount due for the rental thereof to the date of notice, the corporation may, in the presence of two officers of the corporation, cause such safe or box to be opened, and the contents thereof, if any, to be removed, inventoried and sealed in a package, upon which the officers shall distinctly mark the name of the person in whose name the safe or box stood on the books of the company, and the date of removal of the property, and when such package has been so marked for identification by the officers, it shall be placed in one of the general safes or boxes of the company at a rental not to exceed the original rental of the safe or box which was opened, and shall remain in such general safe or box for a period of not less than one year, unless sooner removed by the owner thereof, and two officers of the corporation shall thereupon file with the company a certificate which shall fully set out the date of the opening of such safe or box, the name of the person in whose name it stood and a reasonable description of the contents, if any.

A copy of such certificate shall within ten days thereafter be mailed to the person in whose name the safe or box so opened stood on the books of the company, at his or her last known post office address, in securely closed, postpaid and certified mail, return receipt requested, together with a notice that the contents will be kept, at the expense of such person, in a general safe or box in the vaults of the company, for a period of not less than one year. At any time after the mailing of such certificate and notice, and before the expiration of one year, such person may require the delivery of the contents of the safe as shown by said certificate, upon the payment of all rentals due at the time of opening of the safe or box, the cost of opening the box, and the payment of all further charges accrued during the period the contents remained in the general safe or box of the company.

The company may sell all the property or articles of value set out in said certificate, at public auction, provided a notice of the time and place of sale has been published once within ten days prior to the sale in a newspaper published in the county where the contents of the safe or box is located and where the holder chooses to conduct the sale. If the holder chooses not to sell the contents at public sale, the contents shall be delivered to the department of revenue as unclaimed property.

From the proceeds of the sale, the company shall deduct amounts which shall then be due for rental up to the time of opening the safe, the cost of opening thereof, and the further cost of safekeeping all of its contents for the period since the safe or box was opened, plus any additional charges accruing to the time of sale, including advertising and cost of sale. The balance, if any, of such proceeds, together with any unsold property, shall be deposited by the company within thirty days after the receipt of the same, with the department of revenue as unclaimed property. The company shall file with such deposit a certificate stating the name and last known place of residence of the owner of the property sold, the articles sold, the price obtained therefor, and showing that the notices herein required were duly mailed and that the sale was advertised as required herein.

[ 2011 c 336 § 651; 1983 c 289 § 1; 1923 c 186 § 4; RRS § 3385. Formerly RCW 22.08.050, 22.28.040.]