No matter where your property management franchise is, you should always be prepared for what lies ahead. As the business owner, it is your duty to be pro-active and responsible to prevent safety infractions BEFORE they occur.

Safety

You must make sure that the safety of your clients, customers, and employees is your top priority. Please call the local police if you feel your safety is compromised.

Impending Storm

Use common sense. Check and see what your neighbors are doing.

If you anticipate a severe storm (hurricane, blizzard, tornado, etc.), you should not operate.

You should give enough advance notice so that office employees and can get home safely.

If a lease signing needs to be canceled due to inclement weather, the office must contact the client to reschedule.

Power Outage

If it is only your location being affected, call the power company. Turn off air conditioners, computers, and other electrical equipment to protect them from power surges. Close the office if the security or safety of office employees is in jeopardy. Most outages are short.

Computers need to be backed up and protected with surge protectors.

Vehicle Safety

You must operate your vehicle according to the manufacturer’s operating instructions as well as according to all Federal, State, and Local laws.

All vehicles should come with the manufacturer’s operating instructions and those
instructions must be followed at all times. If you are missing instructions, contact the
manufacturer to obtain a copy. Make sure any employee operating vehicles know where the instructions are kept.

You must always follow the federal, state, and local laws regarding operating a vehicle.
You must follow the manufacturer’s guidelines and preventive maintenance schedules in order to minimize unscheduled repairs and down time.

All equipment and vehicles must be repaired immediately upon learning of the problem. This will save you time and money and will have a positive effect on clients’ perception.

You must maintain all equipment and vehicles in accordance with manufacturers’ maintenance schedules.

Key Security

Keys are to remain locked at all times. All keys leaving the office must be signed out.

Never allow the only set of keys to leave the office unless it is for a move-out inspection. You must make a duplicate copy if that is your only key. If you have no other alternative than to provide the only key, make sure you have taken a deposit or something of value to ensure that the key will be returned.

No one except authorized individuals should be allowed access to the key room. You must never allow vendors to retrieve their own keys.

All keys must be logged in and filed each day. It is the key person’s responsibility to follow up daily on keys that have not been returned, including vendors and Property Managers.

Keys should be tagged and filed by using only the house number. Never write an entire address on a key tag. In the event a property owner provides keys with full addresses, replace the key tag.

Keys should be stored in plastic tackle boxes (1”x 8”x 11”) in numerical order from street numbers. (Example: Box 1 includes numbers 1-100, Box 2 includes numbers 101-200, etc.)

Never issue keys to a tenant prior to everyone executing the lease, all monies are paid by certified funds, and a move-in checklist is complete.

Data Backup

It is recommended that you backup your files at the end of every business day and at the end of each week. The daily backups take care of information if a storm disrupts your computer or your computer faces technical trouble.

The weekly back-up is an insurance policy if a larger problem such as a fire destroying the zip drive and laptop.