Back to School, Back to Safety: Make Sure Your Property Gets an ‘A’

It’s that time of year again: Back to school season. Now is a good time for landlords to assess their rental properties for any issues that could prevent their tenants or neighbors from staying safe during their commutes to and from school.

If you have a new tenant with children who moved in during the summer, it’s nice to let them know the bus route and approximate bus times, if you know them. At the very least, give them the name and number of the school their children will be assigned to. And if your property includes or is adjacent to a school bus stop, make sure there are no safety hazards in the area. Remove anything on the ground that might hinder small children from getting there, and prune back any branches or other vegetation that could interfere with a bus driver’s line of sight.

Likewise, if you know that neighborhood children use your property as part of their commute to school, make sure signs are in place at proper crosswalk areas and nothing on the property will impede them from reaching their destination.

If tenants have gotten into the habit of parking in spaces that might hinder a school bus from passing by safely, now’s the time to remind tenants about the parking rules on the property and make them aware that children will be out walking during morning rush hours commutes.

It only takes a little effort to make sure everyone stays safe this school year.

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Hire a Tenant Screening Service That Tailors The Reports to Your Needs

Every tenant is different, and therefore no two rental applications or tenant screening reports will look the same. Each time you’re vetting potential tenants, it’s of the utmost importance to get the necessary background information about them to ensure they are who they say they are, with the job they claim to hold, and the clean rental history they say they have.

But every circumstance is a little bit different, and you shouldn’t be forced to pay for a lump of tenant screening services if you don’t necessarily need all of them. Perhaps you already have verified a person’s employment. Perhaps they’ve provided you with a recent copy of their credit report. Whatever the circumstances are, you should hire a professional tenant screening service that is willing and able to tailor the screening service to your needs, only generating those reports you really need and not wasting your time and your applicant’s money with frivolous checks and duplicate reports.

When searching for the right tenant screening service, find out whether they offer different levels of background screening services. Research until you find a reputable company that offers everything from single a la carte screening services, to full-service background screening packages that check everything from employment verification and previous eviction reports to criminal records and sex offender registries. 

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