Crime around Your Rental Property
Prepare to Prevent
Providing secure housing for your tenants is a landlord’s responsibility. Certainly you cannot prevent every possibility of crime, but you can prepare your property to discourage break-ins and other property crimes.
But preventing crime is your tenants’ responsibility, too. Your job is to provide them the means to protect themselves, and educate them on ways to stay safe.
Here are a few ideas:
Window and door locks: This might seem obvious, but strong, working locks on all windows and doors are an absolute must. Do not allow your tenants to change locks. You must be able to have access in case of emergency.
Have a zero-tolerance policy on drug use: Your lease should state that illegal drug use is not allowed anywhere on your property, at any time, by any one. Evict any tenants who break this rule, and your other tenants will see that you do not tolerate it. They will likely appreciate your attempts to keep them safe.
State in your lease whether or not firearms are allowed on your rental property. Check with your lawyer on this one, as you may not be able to prohibit legal firearms. You may certainly prohibit illegal weapons!
Maintain adequate exterior lighting. Motion lights are a great way to provide safety just when it’s needed—and to discourage would-be prowlers.
Make sure doors and windows are not covered by shrubs or trees. Visibility is vitally important—break-ins occur more often when the perpetrator is hidden. If you plant anything near a window, consider shrubs with stickers to make illegal attempts to access more painful!
Tenant screening is the number one way to prevent crime! Increase safety by ensuring that you have law-abiding, honest tenants in your properties by conducting tenant background checks. They and their friends and visitors are less likely to be involved with drugs and other criminal activity. Many burglaries are carried out by friends, visitors, or acquaintances of residents.