If you manage an apartment complex, you want to do everything you can to protect your residents to the best of your capabilities. Offering families a safe living environment will be imperative to the success and reputation of your complex. It will also help you to create trust and a sense of well-being within the community, which is the best way to get long-term tenants. This article will give you advice on ways you can better secure your complex.

Have gated entrances

When you have an open complex that anyone can enter, you leave the entire complex open to potential troubles. Your parking areas can become a local hang out for teenagers in the area, criminals looking for cars to break into and even drug dealers. While these may be worst-case scenarios, they are still possibilities you want to do your best to avoid.

Gated entrances also keep cars from entering the parking area that shouldn't be there. Allowing cars to freely come and go can create a lot of problems with the parking situation within your apartment community.

Install proper lighting

The entire complex should be well-lit during the night time hours and in all areas. If you have any dark areas throughout the complex, these are going to be the areas where you have problems with vandalism or other types of crimes. You want bright lighting that stays lit, motion detecting lights are great for homes but not good for apartment settings. If a light burns out, make sure your maintenance crew is on it and replaces the bulb immediately.

Lock restricted areas during closed hours

If there are areas you don't want tenants to have access to at night, then the best way to protect those areas is to have locks on them that need to be unlocked each morning by your staff. Examples of these areas can include the swimming pool, the laundry facilities and the rec room.

Hire a security guard

Having a security guard, from a company like S&S Security Services, on the premises is a great way for you to prevent any type of criminal activity taking place on your property. Just the known presence of a security guard can significantly cut down on potential crime. If anyone does attempt to participate in a criminal activity, the security guard will be there to intervene and subdue the criminal until law enforcement gets there to arrest them.

Now that you know how to create a safer living environment for your tenants, you can get started on making those changes.