Your main priority as a rental property owner is to protect the condition of your investment and to preserve its value.
However, your residents need to be a priority, too.
As a responsible landlord, you need to think about the safety of your tenants. If the property or the living conditions are in any way uninhabitable or unsafe, you could be looking at a lot of liability.
There’s also a pandemic happening, and tenants need to be safe from exposure to a highly infectious and deadly virus.
As professional Temple City property managers, safety is a priority, and we have some tips on how to maximize your property for the safest possible conditions.
Crime Prevention in Temple City Rental Properties
No one wants to think about worst case scenarios. Help your residents prevent the dangers that might be lurking in the neighborhood, the city, the community. Crime isn’t something that most of us think about every day, and that’s what the criminals are counting on.
Be preventative. Make sure all doors and windows lock securely at your rental properties. Ensure there’s enough exterior lighting so that tenants feel safe walking from their cars to their home. Trim back any tall bushes or trees that may be obscuring the view out of windows. Offer alarm systems. All of these things will make residents feel more secure and reduce the risk of being victimized.
Keeping Tenants Safe from Deferred Maintenance and Emergencies
As an owner, you need to keep your property habitable and well-maintained. This includes working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. Make sure the HVAC system is working the way it should and make preventative measures like gutter cleaning, pest control, and dryer vent vacuuming a priority.
At the very least, we recommend:
- Checking and cleaning refrigerator coils.
- Flushing the water heater.
- Servicing and inspecting your HVAC.
- Cleaning lint out of dryer vents.
When a tenant does report a maintenance need, take care of the issue right away. Document when it was reported and what you did to solve the problem. Don’t make your tenants wait for things like heat, air conditioning, running water, electricity, and other issues directly related to habitability.
COVID-19 Concerns and Pandemic Safety
Prospective tenants will want to see the property as safely as possible. Many landlords and property managers are providing contactless, self-showings that allow prospective renters to see the home on their own, without anyone else present. We recommend you use technology that enables this, or work with a leasing company that can help facilitate this.
Repairs will continue to be necessary. When you need to send a vendor or contractor over to the property, take a few precautions. We recommend:
- Asking the tenants not to be at home when the repair is made.
- Requiring masks and gloves to be worn whenever possible and safe by your maintenance team.
- Instructing your vendors or contractors to provide extra cleaning on any surfaces that were touched during the repair.
- Taking extra pictures and notes to document who was in the property, what was done, and what the end result looked like.
If tenants are unable to leave during the repair, make sure they understand the requirements of social distancing and advise them to wash hands and clean thoroughly before and after the maintenance vendor is in the property.
These are just a few of the things you can be doing right now to keep your residents safe. If you’d like some extra support or any Temple City property management assistance, please contact us at ZenPro Property Management. We can tell you more.
