Exhibit 10.5

Strategic Storage Operating Partnership, L.P.

September 4, 2014

[                                     ]

111 Corporate Drive, Suite 120

Ladera Ranch, California 92694

Dear [                    ]:

Strategic Storage Operating Partnership, L.P. (the “Company” with its parent Strategic Storage Trust, Inc. “REIT,” and collectively with SSOP, “Company”) is pleased to offer you, as [                            ], the severance benefits described below in exchange for your agreement to protect the legitimate business interests of the Company following your separation from employment. Capitalized terms in this letter are defined on Attachment A.

SECTION 1: BENEFITS

Upon your Separation from Service and your compliance with the obligations set forth below, you will be entitled to receive certain separation benefits. No payments will be due under this agreement unless and until you have a Separation from Service. Your benefits are, as follows:

Benefits Upon Voluntary Separation from Service

If you voluntarily terminate your employment with the Company, you will be entitled to a separation payment totaling Ten Thousand Dollars and no/100 cents ($10,000.00). This payment will be made to you in one installment within thirty (30) days of the date of your Separation from Service. The Company will withhold from any amounts payable to you all legally required federal, state, city and local taxes.

Benefits Upon Separation From Service For Cause

If the Company terminates your employment for Cause, you will be entitled to a separation payment totaling Ten Thousand Dollars and no/100 cents ($10,000.00). Before terminating your employment for Cause, the Company must provide to you written notice of the grounds warranting termination for Cause and give you at least thirty (30) days after such notice to cure and remedy your conduct to the reasonable satisfaction of the Company, in which event, any termination after such cure shall be termination Not for Cause. This payment will be made to you in one installment within thirty (30) days of the date of your Separation from Service. The Company will withhold from any amounts payable to you all legally required federal, state, city and local taxes.

Benefits Upon Involuntary Termination, Not for Cause or Due to Change in Control

If the Company terminates your employment for any reason other than for Cause, and there has been no Change in Control, you will be entitled to receive separation payments totaling an amount equal to one (1) times the sum of (i) your Base Salary for the applicable fiscal year and (ii) your Target Bonus for the first fiscal year of operation and thereafter as the average bonus received over the most recently completed fiscal years until such time as three full years has occurred at which point the averaging used will be three.

These payments will be made to you in equal monthly installments over twelve (12) months beginning on the first day of the month following your Separation from Service, provided that all installments are completed no later than December 31 of the second year following the year in which your Separation from Service occurs. (If the total amount of these severance payments exceeds the 409A Separation Pay Limit, then the amount in excess of that limit will be paid to you in a lump sum on March 15 of the year following your Separation from Service.) The Company will withhold from any amounts payable to you all legally required federal, state, city and local taxes.

Benefits Upon Death or Disability

If you die or terminate employment due to a Disability, you (or your estate) will be entitled to receive separation payments totaling an amount equal to your Base Salary through the end of the applicable fiscal year, plus any accrued but unpaid Target Bonus (in addition to any proceeds of any disability/death benefits and accelerated vesting of any equity awards if provided for in any equity incentive plans or other equity plans of the Company then in force).

These payments will be made to you or your estate, as applicable, in equal monthly installments over twelve (12) months beginning on the first day of the month following your death or Separation from Service, provided that all installments are completed no later than December 31 of the second year following the year in which your death or Separation from Service occurs. (If the total amount of these severance payments exceeds the 409A Separation Pay Limit, then the amount in excess of that limit will be paid to you or your estate in a lump sum on March 15 of the year following your death Separation from Service.) The Company will withhold from any amounts payable to you or your estate all legally required federal, state, city and local taxes.

Benefits Upon Involuntary Termination Due to Change in Control

If, within two (2) years of a Change in Control, either the Company terminates your employment without Cause or you terminate your employment for Good Reason, you will be entitled to receive separation payments totaling an amount equal to two (2) times the sum of (i) your Base Salary for the applicable fiscal year and (ii) your Target Bonus for the first fiscal year of operation and thereafter as the average bonus received over the most recently completed fiscal years until such time as three full years has occurred at which point the averaging used will be three.

These payments will be made to you in equal monthly installments over twelve (12) months beginning on the first day of the month following your Separation from Service, provided that all installments are completed no later than December 31 of the second year following the year in which your Separation from Service occurs. (If the total amount of these severance payments exceeds the 409A Separation Pay Limit, then the amount in excess of that limit will be paid to you in a lump sum on March 15 of the year following your Separation from Service.) The Company will withhold from any amounts payable to you all legally required federal, state, city and local taxes.

SECTION 2: CONDITIONS TO RECEIVE SEVERANCE BENEFITS

In order to receive the severance benefit payments described above, (except in the event of death) you must live up to certain conditions. If you fail to do so, your right to receive severance benefit payments will end immediately. These conditions are:

SECTION 3: OTHER PROVISIONS

[Signature page to follow]

If the foregoing is acceptable to you, please so indicate by signing a copy of this letter where indicated below and returning it to the Company.

Very truly yours,

STRATEGIC STORAGE OPERATING PARTNERSHIP, L.P.

Agreed and accepted this 4th day of September, 2014

[                        ]

ATTACHMENT A

The following definitions apply to the attached Executive Severance letter:

“Base Salary” means a base salary as approved by the General Partner, and as may be adjusted from time to time.

“Cause” means any of the following, as determined in the reasonable discretion of the Board of Directors, after providing you specific charges and the opportunity to respond thereto: (i) your willful and continued failure to substantially perform your substantially duties as an officer or employee of the Company, which failure, if curable, is not cured within thirty (30) days after written notice is given to you thereof, (ii) any material action by you which involves willful misfeasance or gross negligence, (iii) the requirement of, or direction by, a federal or state regulatory agency which has jurisdiction over the Company to terminate your employment, (iv) any conduct, action or inaction by you which causes substantially diminished good will or otherwise is deemed substantially harmful or contrary to the interests of the Company, (v) your conviction of any criminal offense which involves dishonesty or breach of trust, or (vi) any intentional and material breach or violation by you of a material term, condition, or covenant of any agreement between you and the Company or condition of your employment, including the Company’s Code of Conduct.

“Change in Control” means the first to occur of any of the following events:

a.     The consummation of the acquisition by any person (as such term is defined in Section 13(d) or 14(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “1934 Act”)) of beneficial ownership (within the meaning of Rule 13d-3 promulgated under the 1934 Act) of twenty-five (25%) or more of the combined voting power of the then outstanding voting securities of REIT;

b.     The consummation of: a merger or consolidation if REIT stockholders immediately before such merger or consolidation do not, as a result of such merger or consolidation, own, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent (50%) of the combined voting power of the then outstanding voting securities of the entity resulting from such merger or consolidation in substantially the same proportion as their ownership of the combined voting power of the voting securities of REIT outstanding immediately before such merger or consolidation;

c.     the date a majority of members of REIT’s Board of Directors is replaced during any 12-month period by Directors whose appointment or election is not endorsed by a majority of the members of the Board of Directors before the date of the appointment or election; or

d.     a dissolution or liquidation of Company, or the date that any one person, or more than one person acting as a group acquires (or has acquired during the 12-month period ending on the date of the most recent acquisition by such person or persons) assets from the Company that have a total gross fair market value equal to or more than 40 percent of the total gross fair market value of all of the assets of the Company immediately before such acquisition or acquisitions. For this purpose, gross fair market value means the value of the assets of the Company, or the value of the assets being disposed of, determined without regard to any liabilities associated with such assets. There is no change in control event under this paragraph when there is a transfer to an entity that is controlled by the shareholders of the transferring corporation immediately after the transfer.

“Code” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) and the regulations promulgated thereunder.

“Confidential Information” means any data or information that is important to the Company, is competitively sensitive, and is not generally known by the public, and includes, without limitation: (1) the sales records, profit and performance records, pricing manuals, models and related materials, sales manuals, training manuals, selling and pricing procedures, and financing methods of the Company; (2) customer and tenant lists, the special demands of particular customers and tenants, and the current and anticipated requirements of customers and tenants for the properties, products and services of the Company; (3) the specifications of any new properties, products or services under development by the Company; and (4) the business plans, marketing strategies, and internal financial statements and projections of the Company. “Confidential Information” does not include information that is or becomes generally known to the public; or was already known by you prior to employment by the Company; or that you obtain from an independent source having, to your knowledge, a bona fide right to use and disclose such information; or that the Company approves for unrestricted release by express authorization.

“409A Separation Pay Limit” means the lesser of 2 times your annual compensation or two times the Code Section 401(a)(17) limit, as indexed ($510,000 total for 2014), as determined in compliance with Treas. Reg. §1.409A-1(n).

“Good Reason” means that you terminate your employment with the Company because, within the twelve (12) month period preceding your Separation from Service, one or more of the following conditions arose and you notified the Company of such condition within 90 days of its occurrence and the Company did not remedy such condition within 30 days of such notice:

a.     a material diminution in your base salary as in effect on the date hereof or as the same may be increased from time to time;

b.     a material diminution in your authority, duties, or responsibilities; or

c.     a forced move to a location more than sixty (60) miles from your place of business.

“Separation from Service” means the termination of your employment with the Company for reasons other than death or Disability. Whether a Separation from Service takes place is determined based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the termination of your employment and whether the Company and you intended for you to provide significant services for the Company following such termination. A change in your employment status will not be considered a Separation from Service if:

a.     you continue to provide services as an employee of the Company at an annual rate that is twenty percent (20%) or more of the services rendered, on average, during the immediately preceding three full calendar years of employment (or, if employed less than three years, such lesser period) and the annual remuneration for such services is twenty percent (20%) or more of the average annual remuneration earned during the final three full calendar years of employment (or, if less, such lesser period), or

b.     you continue to provide services to the Company in a capacity other than as an employee of the Company at an annual rate that is fifty percent (50%) or more of the services rendered, on average, during the immediately preceding three full calendar years of employment (or if employed less than three years, such lesser period) and the annual remuneration for such services is fifty percent (50%) or more of the average annual remuneration earned during the final three full calendar years of employment (or if less, such lesser period).

“Target Bonus” means your target annual cash performance bonus as determined as a percentage of your Base Salary by the General Partner.