Rental Property Security
Just like any major investment, you need to take the proper steps to protect your investment in a rental property. If you’re preparing the property for new tenants, you may be preoccupied with making sure the house looks good and that everything functions. But don’t forget about rental property security. Securing a rental home can be a little more complicated than securing your own residence. Landlords are often left weighing the potential for tenant legal issues against the desire to have peace of mind about the security of their rentals, but this dilemma doesn’t have to be so stressful.
Secure Locks
Any secure home starts with secure locks. With Locksmith Pro, you can be assured of quality residential locksmithing, whether you need lock installation, rekeying services, or lockout services. Beyond locks, there are some other very simple—and often inexpensive—steps you can take to keep your rental or vacation home safe, even from afar, and reduce your own stress. Here are some of the best tips.
Have a Pro Manage Rental Properties
There’s no better way to secure a home than to have a set of helpful eyes watching over it. So, before you invest in any other security measures, invest some time into finding the right property manager to help secure, oversee, and maintain your rental home.
Property Manager
Not only will a property manager help reduce your worries over home security—especially if you live far away—but your property manager can also help you screen potential tenants, which can offer you even more peace of mind about who is staying in your home. Conducting legal screenings can be tricky for even the most well-meaning landlords, however, so having a pro handle these checks is often the best move to prevent any legal issues.
Invest in Ample Outdoor Lighting for Rentals
Would-be criminals tend to operate under the cover of night. As such, leaving your rental in the dark could open the property up to potential break-ins and vandalism, which could result in additional stress and additional expenses, even with homeowners insurance. As such, it’s important to explore your policy and understand what it covers, including anything related to damage, losses, and break-ins.
Rental Property Security with Outdoor Lighting
Fortunately, you can help secure your home—and also help boost the curb appeal of your rental property—with outdoor lighting. You should take care to light any dark corners or spaces around the yard but also consider installing motion-sensing lights to help deter criminals. In addition to lighting for property security, also consider personal safety and light walkways, pathways, and any other areas where people could trip at night.
Research Legal Issues with Home Security Systems
For homeowners, a home security system offers multiple benefits in addition to providing property protection. A security system can be a good idea for rentals as well, but you need to know which features you can legally install in a rental home.
Security Cameras
For example, security camera laws tend to vary, but it’s generally not a good idea to place cameras in areas where residents or tenants would have a reasonable expectation of privacy. That includes areas inside the home or areas where cameras can peer into the home. Additionally, if your home is a short-term rental, you can use cameras to secure your property, but you need to be aware of disclosure rules and you also need to know how those cameras can impact rental rates.
Take Extra Security Steps to Secure Vacation Rentals
All of the measures above can help keep both residential rentals and short-term vacation rentals secure. If your home is used as the latter, you can take extra precautions to give yourself peace of mind. Since you will have multiple tenants coming in and out of your short-term rental, consider using a keyless entry system instead of old-fashioned locks.
Keyless vs Rekey
Keys are far too easy for tenants to copy, and since short-term renters aren’t screened as carefully, you could be leaving your property and future guests open to theft and break-ins. If you live in your property, also think about putting personal items in a storage unit so you don’t have to be concerned about renters and guests taking off with something irreplaceable.
Protect Your Rental Property
Protecting your rental property from theft and crimes is one of the simplest ways to protect your real estate investment. Just be sure that you know which steps are appropriate and which are effective so that your efforts to secure your rental property do not turn into serious legal issues. If you’re still concerned or stressed about securing your rental home, then you should definitely follow the first step and hire a property manager. At the end of the day, you want your rental to be a place that attracts great tenants!
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