For property owners, vandalism of residential property is a pressing issue, as vandals targeting roughly 15% of American homes yearly cause expensive damage to a rental home. This damage often leads to the detriment of property values, making preventing vandalism a top priority for landlords and property owners. Vandals look for easy targets, but with the right precautions, your rental can avoid becoming a target for vandals.
Simple Safety Measures for Rental Properties
- Adequate exterior lighting. Vandals are drawn to dark spaces, desiring to do their dirty work out of sight. Motion sensor lights are highly effective and energy-efficient options that tenants will appreciate.
- Secured fences with locked gates. To prevent vandalism at your rental property, install a secure locking gate with your fence. Vandals are normally eyeing easy targets, so having to climb over a fence or get through a locked gate will go a long way toward deterring them from the yard.
- Bushes or shrubs with rough bark, thorns, or pointy leaves. The added greenery will uplift your property’s aspect while presenting a painful challenge to any unwanted visitorsattempting to get overly close to the home.
- Good quality window coverings. Vandalism is a crime of opportunity; they usually only strike if they think nobody is home. Having the windows overlaid with blinds or drapes will raise doubts about whether or not someone is home, especially if a light or two is left on at all times. It just might convince them to look for another target.
Conclusively, if vandals do strike, it’s important to clean up the mess as soon as possible. Quickly painting over graffiti and addressing any further damage maintains your property’s condition and can discourage a vandal from targeting it again, helping to prevent your rental home from further harm.
Following these simple guidelines can prevent your rental home from becoming an obvious target for vandals. At Real Property Management Dairyland, we suggest full-service property management, which involves regularly monitoring your properties in Cudahy and nearby and arranging for repairs and maintenance when needed. If you would like more details on how to safeguard your home, please contact us online or by 414-400-0016 today.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
