No matter the season, prioritizing resident safety is something all property managers should take seriously, but there’s nothing like plummeting temperatures to create the right conditions for a catastrophe. From slip and fall injuries to power outages, frozen pipes to falling ice, winter is not for the faint of heart. Residential property managers must be extra vigilant this time of year to ensure their buildings are properly maintained.
According to numerous studies, the most common complaints in multi-residential settings pertain to poor upkeep of common areas. This includes disorganized management, maintenance requests going ignored, inadequate security, and insufficient lighting. Add in the hustle and bustle of parcel deliveries, slippery walkways, and outdated security systems, and your building’s lobby is suddenly a breeding ground for disaster.
“Apartments and condominiums today have more security concerns due to the increased prevalence of online shopping, food delivery, and transient populations from short-term rental services,” explains Jason Chiu, Professional Services Group Manager with Axis Canada. “Poor management and maintenance will exacerbate this problem. We commonly see badly maintained exterior doors becoming unintended routes of entry, while security and surveillance systems are focused on the more predictable entry points. Routine and timely maintenance will help ensure a safe environment and mitigate liability concerns, such as slip and falls, by providing clear paths of travel.”
If tenants, staff, or visitors do encounter an issue when entering or leaving the building, their concerns should be addressed in the timeliest manner possible. The best property managers have systems in place to receive tenant feedback in real time and resolve matters quickly to the best of their ability. This especially holds true if there is a safety hazard, such as an icy walkway or a slippery entrance. Slip and fall injuries account for thousands of hospital-visits each year, and if negligence can be proven by the injured party, the building owner will be held accountable.
Of course. weather conditions can change quickly, creating hazardous conditions in a blink of an eye. But Chiu points out that having a good maintenance history will go a long way toward keeping residents happy. On the other hand, failing to carry out basic maintenance tasks, or having a reputation for responding to concerns slowly and without urgency, will foster tenant dissatisfaction and lead to other security complications.
This is where technology comes in. Tenants today want and expect to feel safe in their homes, and more and more they are seeking out rental properties that offer modern security features above and beyond well-lit pathways and manually locked doors.
“A modern security solution that provides good surveillance, post-event investigation, communication, and access control is increasingly important as part of providing a safe and secure multi-dwelling building,” Chiu says. “Today’s end-to-end solutions come with extensive portfolios, with intercoms, answering units, access units, and more. A building could be outfitted top to bottom with offerings from a single company, or it could integrate new products into an existing building management system.”
One major benefit of such a system is that it allows property managers to control who has access to the building and impose restrictions on individual entrances using customizable timeframes. For example, service elevator entrances or other access points may be locked overnight, requiring everyone to enter and leave from the same area.
High quality intercom systems are another smart investment gaining popularity in the multi-residential space. Controlled remotely, these systems give residents the ability to see who’s seeking access to the building even when they’re not at home.
“Modern intercom systems have made significant advances in usability and integration,” Chiu says. “For property managers, they are easy to install, configure, and maintain—and with the right security features in place, it frees managers up to focus on the other important aspects of running their building.”
The bottom line, according to Chiu, is that tenants should feel safe in their homes and trust they can count on their management to act quickly and decisively when it’s called for. As holiday shopping continues to ramp up and the winter weather brings more hazardous conditions, resident safety and wellbeing are priorities that shouldn’t be overlooked. Ensuring open lines of communication, keeping pathways and entranceways clear, and investing in a modern building security solution are three ways property managers will meet and exceed the expectations of their tenants…for the long-run.
Jason Chiu is the professional services group manager with Axis Canada.
