Charleston is one of the most family-friendly cities in South Carolina. Although the city offers a relatively safe living environment, it is better to take certain safety measures in your rental to keep yourself and your renters guarded against mishaps like fire, gas leakage, or extreme weather conditions.
As experienced property managers in Charleston, we highly recommend you have essential safety equipment in a rental home and offer tenants a secure living. It is also important to acknowledge that it is your duty to assess and minimize the potential risks for your property and tenants.
Some safety equipment for risk-free living in a Charleston rental are:
-
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Landlords are legally required to install smoke detectors in their properties. Ensure that you install smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors on every floor and outside every sleeping area in your rental property. Check these devices every month and ensure that the batteries are changed regularly to keep them operational at all times.
-
Fire Extinguishers
A fire can spread very quickly through the house and take a very short time to burn the place down, if not controlled in time. Hence, we highly recommend placing at least one fire extinguisher on every floor of your Charleston property. Place one in the kitchen and one by the fireplace, as the chances of fire outbursts are higher at such locations. Place the other ones a little farther away so that in case of outbursts, people are able to reach at least one of them.
-
A First-Aid Kit
A first-aid kit is one of the must-have safety equipment in a rental home. It can come in handy in any situation, from daily nail-cutting mishaps to extreme situations like third-degree burns. Place items like moleskins, band aids, sterile gauze dressings, safety pins, tweezers, antiseptic cream, and skin-rash cream.
-
Motion Sensor Security Alarms
Trespassing cases have increased in Charleston, so installing motion sensor security alarms to protect your property and tenants from risks like theft and vandalism is a good idea. These motion sensor devices can capture any human or animal movement and trigger an alarm that alerts the tenants. These can be particularly helpful for the elderly or the disabled, as they get alerted immediately and can call for help right away.
You can adjust the timings of the devices to activate the motion sensor alarms to avoid false alarms during the day when the tenants might be away. If your locality is not particularly safe, these alarms can help your tenants sleep peacefully at night.
-
Smart Doorbells
The best way to protect your tenants from robberies, break-ins, or other risks is by installing a smart doorbell in the home. This allows the tenants to view the people at the door and communicate with them through the microphone attached to the doorbell without opening the door.
-
Safety Ladder
If there happens to be an unfortunate event like a fire outbreak in your Charleston home, a safety ladder can save lives. While fire extinguishers can lower the flames to an extent, a fire can still flare up uncontrollably. Hence, we suggest you install a ladder adjacent to a couple of windows so that the tenants can easily escape and safely get out of the property at such times.
As the saying goes, preparing and preventing is better than repairing and repenting. To ensure that all the safety equipment in a rental home is fully functional, work with one of the best property management companies in Charleston, Meridian Residential Group. We have been in the Charleston rental business for over 20 years and prioritize the safety of your properties and the tenants over anything else.
We provide single-family and multi-family property management in the Charleston, SC area, including North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, and Moncks Corner, among other cities.
For more information, contact us at Meridian Residential Group.
