Safety Factors To Evaluate When Looking At Apartments For Rent
Posted on: 10 January 2017
When you wish to rent a unit in an apartment, it's in your best interest to identify several buildings and visit them consecutively. Doing so will give you an opportunity to thoroughly evaluate each of the apartments to compare their prices, unit sizes, and more. One of the things that you should be vigilant about noticing and comparing is the safety of each apartment. In some cases, you may get a gut feeling about how safe or unsafe you feel during a visit, but you can always evaluate the following factors to help determine which apartment would feel the safest to rent.
Door Security
Pay attention to building's exterior and interior doors. The exterior access points to the building should be locked and equipped with access panels that residents can swipe with a card to gain entry. This should also be the case for doors inside the building, including the door to the laundry room, mail room, and gym. When you get a chance to tour the residential units, note the security of the doors. Ideally, they should be durable steel or solid wood doors, and the inside should have a deadbolt and a chain-style lock or something equivalent.
Security Cameras
You'll feel better living in an apartment building that has plenty of security cameras. When you're outside the building, take a look for any visible cameras — you should see them around the doors, mounted to light posts in the parking lot, and in other such areas. Inside, you want to see video cameras in the lobby and hallways, as well as in each elevator. Feel free to ask the rental agent how the feed from these cameras is being used. Ideally, you want to learn that the apartment has an on-site security officer who is in a room watching the cameras' feed.
Parking Situation
Apartments can have a variety of parking situations, and you should always take time to walk through the parking garage or lot and note how you feel walking from where you might park your car to the building's nearest entry. Consider if the parking area and the pathway from the parking lot/garage to the building is properly lit. If residents use a parking garage, make sure that access to it is limited to residents; you want to see an access panel on each of the garage's doors. You should also look for security posts that feature buttons that can be pressed to summon the authorities.
To begin your search for an apartment, check out a complex like Meadowdale Apartments.
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