Landlords and property managers have a duty of care toward their tenants. When residents sign a lease, they have a reasonable expectation of proper maintenance and protection during emergencies. Property managers must communicate with their tenants to ensure that everyone understands their rights and responsibilities, especially during emergencies.
During crisis situations, property managers must communicate quickly and effectively with their residents. This is especially crucial when law enforcement personnel are involved; managers must have methods for alerting residents to active threats in their neighborhoods or housing complexes. Alert notifications may also need to provide critical evacuation or shelter-in-place orders. Property managers must be able to communicate time-sensitive information to residents, such as planned power outages or inspections.
Property management challenges
There are many unique responsibilities that property managers have. They must ensure that residences and grounds are properly maintained in accordance with state and local codes and community bylaws. Additionally, property managers must keep residents apprised of planned events, such as maintenance, facility closures, holiday celebrations and changes to the standard office operating hours.
Many communities and property managers rely on outdated communication methods, like a local bulletin board or physical flyers. These methods are often ineffective, failing to reach all residents in a timely manner. Additionally, property managers have no way of knowing which residents have received critical information, which can be especially problematic when it comes to work orders or issues with rent payments.
Threats to managers and residents
There are many potential threats that property managers must plan for. They must prepare to respond to and recover from local emergencies, such as fires, civil unrest and severe weather. Additionally, illness outbreaks can be especially problematic in apartment complexes with high-traffic common areas, such as pools and laundry facilities.
Property managers must remain aware of regional incidents that can affect their residents. For example, chemical spills and hazardous material containment breaches can create severe environmental threats that may require evacuation. Large-scale events like these require property managers to work together with local government organizations and keep their residents informed of hazards, response measures, and emergency contact information.
Other potential threats include property damage that requires immediate attention, such as burst water pipes or malfunctioning HVAC systems. Property managers must also identify and address potential interpersonal issues, such as feuding neighbors, domestic violence, aggressive pets and noise ordinance violations.
Communication solutions for property managers
Reliable communication can mitigate many of the threats that property managers and residents face. For example, multichannel, multilingual emergency alerts can help ensure that residents stay safe and receive critical information during an emergency. Automated email and text notifications are far more reliable than traditional flyers or automated phone tree calls. Plus, a comprehensive mass notification system allows property managers to track message receipt data, so they know which residents remain uninformed.
Emergency alerts are essential, but it’s also important to provide residents with reliable methods for communicating with landlords and property managers. Polls and anonymous tip technology simplify this process, allowing residents to quickly respond to questions or report concerns without revealing their identities.
Finally, property managers must have incident management tools so they can coordinate emergency response activities. Uncoordinated emergency response procedures are inefficient and ineffective; critical steps can be missed while other tasks are duplicated. A comprehensive incident management platform solves these issues by facilitating fast, reliable communication between property managers and first responders. Landlords can quickly share critical data, including floor plans, contact details and accessibility information (if necessary), with 9-1-1.
Protect your residents
Landlords and property managers need to protect their physical properties and their residents. Ineffective emergency response procedures can lead to casualties, financial losses and potential lawsuits. Non-emergency operations also require property managers to maintain connections with their residents, local authorities and property owners.
Rave Alert simplifies emergency alerts and time-sensitive communications. Managers no longer need to spend time and resources printing and distributing physical flyers or personally visiting residents to pass on updates about rent, maintenance or events. Our system automatically sends notifications via voice, email and SMS text, and automatically integrates with social media and digital signage, ensuring that residents receive critical information as quickly as possible.
We also offer two-way communication and polling tools that simplify interactions with residents. Managers can use these tools when scheduling maintenance appointments or community events. Polls can make it easier to gather information about potential changes or to verify a household’s status or safety during an emergency. Residents can also send questions, and messages are automatically routed to the correct department or recipient, reducing the need for voicemails and phone tag.
Finally, property managers can use our incident management tools to collaborate with 9-1-1, local authorities and first responders during crisis situations, such as severe weather, fires and active shooter situations. Our mobile safety tools and incident management platform offer critical support to landlords and property managers as well as their residents. To get more information about our pre-built systems or customizable mass notification solutions, contact our team.
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