Your main priority as a rental property owner is to protect the condition of your investment and to preserve its value. However, you should be thinking about your residents as well. Keeping your residents safe is part of your responsibility as a landlord. If the property or the living conditions are in any way uninhabitable or unsafe, you could be looking at a lot of liability.
You also want to keep your residents safe and happy because you’re a good person.
We have some ideas on how to ensure your residents and your property are safe. As professional
Sacramento property managers, safety is a priority.
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 residents 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.
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:
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 residents wait for things like heat, air conditioning, running water, electricity, and other issues directly related to habitability.
Residents are less tolerant of having strangers in their homes, thanks to the pandemic. We don’t blame them. Keep your new and existing residents safe by providing contact-free showings, lease signings, and maintenance visits whenever possible.
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 residents 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 residents 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 Sacramento property management assistance, please contact us at Sacramento Delta Property Management.
910 Florin Road, Suite 100, Sacramento, CA 95831
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Sacramento Delta Property Management, Inc.
