Why Store Security Matters to Me

In most municipalities, landlords or property managers are required to have the smoke detectors and fire alarms in their housing units inspected regularly. Depending on where you live, this service may be done by a government agency, or you may be required to have it done by a certified inspection service. In either case, it is important that you follow these tips to ensure the process goes smoothly for you, your residents, and the inspectors.

Give your residents more warning than is required by law.

In most states, unless there is an emergency situation, landlords must give their tenants advanced notice in order to enter an apartment. Your state may require 24 or 48 hours notice, but if you want the fire alarm inspections to go smoothly, you had better give your tenants more notice than this. A week, or even two weeks, is ideal, so they can plan to be home if they prefer and clean up any messes they might find embarrassing.

Inform your tenants of the inspections in more than one way, so they don't miss the warning.

Tenants can easily overlook a flier placed under the door; it can get placed in the mail pile and overlooked until the inspection date has passed. They can accidentally delete an email. Notify your tenants that you'll be coming into their unit to do fire inspection in more than one manner. use fliers and email. Post something on your social media pages for all residents to see. Call your tenants if you only have a few of them. Just make sure there is no way they can miss the memo.

Ask your tenants to ensure pets are secured.

When you inform tenants that an inspector will be entering their units, ask that they secure their pets on the day of the inspection. For dogs, this means locking them in a crate or a room where there are no fire alarms you need to access. For cats, this usually means locking them on a room without fire alarms. Some residents whose dogs are not crate trained will need to arrange to take them to a friend's house or doggy daycare for the day if they won't be home. This is why it's so important that you give plenty of notice.

As long as you give tenants proper notice that a company like Tri Communications Security Services Inc will be inspecting the fire alarms and make sure they secure their pets, your inspections should go smoothly. If tenants take issue with you entering their homes to do these inspections, show them documentation that it's required by law, and gently explain that this action is for their own safety.