Residents
Owners
There’s no minor or major crime when you’re thinking of the security of human lives and properties. They’re all just the same - a crime. Since criminal minds are present almost everywhere, landlords and property managers should make sure that their rental properties and tenants are safe and secure.
To improve the security in rental properties, landlords and property managers should take note of this security checklist.
Know How Risky to Crime Your Location Is
Look at historical records, crime statistics, and crime forecast reports to determine the crime risk in your locality. Check them by categories, such as physical assault, robbery, theft, and sexual crimes to identify the likelihood that these crimes would happen. It’s also crucial to know how the authorities are handling such crimes to protect the residents.
Create a Proactive Security Plan
Develop a proactive security plan for your rental property instead of enforcing security procedures with no definite direction to respond to particular issues as they happen. Find the best way to alleviate each type of security risk in your area. Make a priority list with the most common crime category on top and allocated the highest budget.
Have Balanced Security Measures
A balanced security plan, electronic security systems, and physical security procedures tend to be more effective in preventing crime in your rental property. Remember that security isn’t a product but a process. There’s no one-off security measure or system that can provide 100 percent security to your place.
Train and Educate Tenants about Security
Your tenants play a significant role in improving the security of your rental property. So, you need to educate and give them security awareness training. You can do this through in-person meetings, social media, and newsletters to keep reminding them how to make themselves and their residence more secure.
Tell them about the importance of reporting crimes immediately to the police and the landlord or property manager. This way, the authorities can monitor similar incidents happening in the vicinity and identify the increase and frequency of crime in the area.
Landlords and property managers should inform tenants when there’s a growing trend in any particular type of crime and tell them to follow proper security measures. Communication is crucial in keeping your rental property and the tenants safe.
Install Good Lighting on the Property
Garages, parking lots, entrances, and walkways should be fitted with good lighting to deter criminal minds from doing their thing and make tenants feel more secure. The mentioned areas should have at least 10 Lux or one foot-candle of illumination. There should be an even distribution of light to avoid these areas from becoming too dark or too bright.
Maintain Proper Landscaping
Criminals take advantage of hiding behind long shrubs and vegetation when doing their shady activities. So, make sure that you do proper landscaping by trimming the shrubs and trees in your rental property to increase visibility and spot suspicious activities easily.
Don’t let shrubs go taller than three feet, and the bottom of tree canopies must be at a minimum of six feet off the ground.
Strengthen the Doors and Windows
Make sure that doors have security astragals and latch guards to prevent intruders from force opening them. For wood doors, install reinforcement kits. You can also install security studs to outswing doors with exposed hinges that anyone can remove easily.
Aside from doors, you should also strengthen the windows. You can install window bars or window film to deter intruders. Also, consider putting auxiliary locking devices to reinforce the original window locks.
Prevent Tailgating
Intruders may find ways to sneak into your rental property as tenants enter or leave. The solution to this security problem is to tell your tenants to ensure that doors are closed behind them when they enter or leave the building. Also, educate them to be more careful when unknown individuals are hanging around the rental property.
Install Security Cameras
Security cameras can help discourage criminals from doing shady activities in the vicinity of your rental property. You can install these devices in your building to record and monitor all sorts of activities.
If you spot any suspicious stuff in the area, you can submit the recorded video to the police authorities for investigation. However, you shouldn’t rely solely on using security cameras because criminals are too brave and smart now in doing their crimes. You still need to implement other security measures in your rental property to keep your tenants safe.
Final Thoughts
The security of your rental property and the tenants living in it must be your top priority. As a landlord or property manager, you should implement security measures and procedures to ensure that criminals are deterred and prevented from doing their activities. You can coordinate with security experts to develop a security plan for your rental property.
