As a landlord one of your biggest concerns is the safety of your tenants. You want them to feel safe and secure inside of their apartment. Making sure you are having regularly scheduled inspections to maintain proper maintenance is the first step to ensuring peace of mind for your tenants and yourself.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Making sure to check and replace your CO detectors is extremely important! Carbon monoxide, aka the silent killer, is responsible for more than 400 deaths every year. Although winter is prime time for such occurrences you should be cautious and vigilant all year round.
Here are some tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Have your furnace, water heater and any other gas or coal-burning appliances serviced by a qualified technician every year
- Do not use portable flameless chemical heaters indoors
- Have your chimney checked and cleaned every year, and make sure your fireplace damper is open before lighting a fire and well after the fire is extinguished
- Never use a gas oven for heating your home
- Never use a generator inside your home, basement or garage or less than 20 feet from any window, door or vent; fatal levels of carbon monoxide can be produced in just minutes, even if doors and windows are open
- Never run a car in a garage that is attached to a house, even with the garage door open; always open the door to a detached garage to let in fresh air when you run a car inside
Stairways & railings
Repairing cracks, loose or rotting flooring ad making sure railings are secure will help to reduce one of the most common accidents – tripping/falling. Try to keep areas where there are stairs well lit to reduce risk of falling.
Fire
Just as you want to keep your CO detectors up to date you want to do the same with the fire alarms and replace as needed. In addition, having a simple note or reminder by the dryer to always clean out the link trap can be a great idea. Sometimes in our crazy lives we forget to do such a simple task- one that could cause serious harm. A simple reminder never hurt anyone!
Change the locks!
Sounds like a no-brainer! Always be sure to change the locks after a prior tenant has moved out. No one but yourself and the new tenant(s) should have a key to the property. Check to see that all locks are working properly, not just on the doors but on the windows.
Ensuring safety for your tenants is one of the most important jobs you have as a landlord. Taking these steps can help to decrease any potential harm to your tenants and your property.